Media

A Russian-owned firm was hired to carry out key works in the £2.6million renovation of No 9 in an undisclosed contract to get it ready for White House-style television briefings. An inside source told HuffPost UK that Megahertz undertook essential work, including the installation of computers, cameras, microphones and a control desk to get the building […]

South African comedian Trevor Noah has taken aim at the royal family and Boris Johnson during his stint as host of this year’s Grammy Awards. Noah, who hosts the late-night satirical news programme The Daily Show in the US, made fun of the prime minister during a comment about UK pop star Harry Styles. The comedian joked that […]

LIZ GERARD on what is behind the contrast in coverage between the two royals. Why does the press hate Meghan? Why does it give her such a hard time and Prince Andrew such an easy ride? It must be because of her colour, her nationality, her gender, her wokeness. Or so at least one planet in […]

The vendetta between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the press cannot end well for anyone. That’s it then. They’ve gone for good. Driven out by the press. There have been plenty of instances where newspapers have been accused of hounding celebrities and royals and every time the same defences are wheeled out: “They want the publicity […]

Union leaders said the Rishi Sunak’s silence on pay for public sector workers was “deafening”. Officials of unions representing hundreds of thousands of public sector workers and civil servants described Rishi Sunak’s Budget as an “insult”. Many public sector workers face a pay freeze this year despite calls for an increase because of their efforts […]

Once noted for climate scepticism, the Express has now launched a green campaign. LIZ GERARD assesses the extent to which newspapers can ever comprehensively switch their stance.  Under new management! It’s a sign we’ll be seeing a lot when we finally emerge from this pandemic, as collapsed enterprises are rescued or people decide they’ve had enough after […]

TIM WALKER on the fallout from the the Duchess of Sussex’s legal victory over the Mail on Sunday. The Duchess of Sussex‘s legal victory over the Mail on Sunday and what she called its “illegal and dehumanising practices” represented a defeat, too, for the newspaper group’s editor-in-chief Paul Dacre against Geordie Greig, his successor as editor of the Daily Mail. Mandrake […]

Boris Johnson said he felt “like OJ Simpson” as he struggled to pull on a pair of gloves. The prime minister made the reference to the moment in Simpson’s murder trial when the US actor and sports star had difficulty putting on gloves thought to have been used in the killing of his ex-wife, Nicole […]

A French journalist has called into question Britain’s vaccine strategy after pointing out the UK lagged behind the EU in fully immunizing its population. Writing in the Guardian, Jean Quatremer, of the French newspaper Libération, said the reality of the UK’s vaccine drive was “a little more complex – and not quite such a stunning UK […]

There is not a journalist alive unaware that Boris Johnson struggles with the truth. Yet this seems to make them less questioning not more, says ALASTAIR CAMPBELL. With an admitted bias born of being columnist and editor-at-large, I would argue that The New European has been among the very best new additions to the UK media […]

TIM WALKER on the list of the chancellor’s engagements, and the mystery of the missing BBC Boris Johnson documentary. When it comes to ingratiating himself with the media, Boris Johnson will be alarmed to learn that his ambitious chancellor Rishi Sunak, pictured, is beating him at his own game. In the third quarter of 2020, Sunak ate out to help […]

Current and former editors of Britain’s newspapers have joined forces to call for an investigation into the government’s handling of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. In an open letter, they asked for a probe into a Cabinet Office unit named the Clearing House after it was alleged to have profiled journalists and blocked FOI requests. No […]

A government-funded body has launched an internal investigation after one of its employees spent thousands of pounds on high-end chocolates a few days before Christmas. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) launched a probe into a potential breach of its finance policies after Business Insider made it aware that £6,248.40 had been spent on a corporate […]

Former Labour MP Glenda Jackson has said former prime minister Theresa May was treated badly by the country because she was a woman. The actress and former MP, 84, told the Radio Times the previous Conservative leader was poorly treated by her own party, as well as others. She made the comments while discussing her […]

A Tory MP has been accused of spreading “dangerous misconceptions” about Covid-19 after he called for an end to England’s lockdown. Sir Christopher Chope made a number of claims about the coronavirus which a government adviser described as “outright falsehoods”. Stephen Reicher, an adviser to the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), took aim at […]

Elton John has called on the government to renegotiate a better settlement for musicians after they were largely ignored during Brexit negotiations. The British pop icon accused Boris Johnson of having “screwed up” by failing to reach an agreement with the EU for visa-free tours by British musicians. John said Britain’s Brexit negotiators either “didn’t care about […]

The European Commission has appeared to have ended early Welsh and Scottish hopes of rejoining the Erasmus scheme. An EU Commission spokesperson told reporters that because Scotland and Wales were not independent countries but parts of the UK, that they would not be able to join the programme. Asked if the Commission had received a letter […]

MATT KELLY on big changes coming to The New European. This week, The New European begins a new chapter in its own peculiar story. What began as a four week pop-up experiment, run by Archant, a local media company based in Norwich, to chronicle the aftermath of the 2016 Brexit vote soon became a small but […]

The UK’s advertising watchdog has banned Ryanair’s “jab and go” holiday advertisement campaign, citing concerns it encourages the public to act irresponsibly once they had received the coronavirus vaccine. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned the two ads, which were the third-most complained-about of all time, mere days after the airline’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said […]

No 10 has begun distancing itself from a government minister who attacked a reporter for asking a question. Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch has come under mounting criticism after publishing the private correspondence she had with HuffPost UK reporter Nadine White about her absence from a government coronavirus advert targeted at the BAME community. Badenoch accused […]

James O’Brien has hit out at critics who have said Remainers are defending the EU’s decision to impose a hard border on the island of Ireland, simply because they are supporters of the bloc. O’Brien took some time during his show on LBC radio to address accusations that Remainers have failed to condemn the EU over […]

Number 10 has defended a minister as “great” after she launched an online tirade against a journalist for asking questions about her role. Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch accused a reporter of “creepy and bizarre” behaviour for asking why she had not appeared in a video promoting the Covid-19 vaccination campaign. Boris Johnson’s aides defended Badenoch […]

Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock have both been compared to TV characters in the latest poll that explored public perceptions of No 10’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Respondents said Johnson reminded them of Mr Bean while the health secretary was compared to the self-pitying Ian Beale from BBC’s EastEnders. A portion wished New Zealand’s Jacinda Arden […]

An anti-Brexit campaigner has called on politicians in Westminster and Brussels to “think more maturely” after the EU invoked Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Scientists for EU director Dr Mike Galsworthy said the “kerfuffle” over the weekend “in no way justifies burning £200billion on Brexit”. On Friday, EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen triggered Article 16 of […]

Boris Johnson is poised to appoint Paul Dacre as Ofcom chair, and offer him a peerage, it has been revealed. According to Whitehall and media source, Johnson is preparing to announce the appointment soon and will give Dacre a remit to target the BBC. Dacre stepped down as Daily Mail editor in 2018 but is still […]

The New European is under new ownership. The newspaper has been bought from Archant by its founder Matt Kelly and a consortium of investors including former New York Times CEO Mark Thompson and former FT editor Lionel Barber. Former Independent CEO Gavin O’Reilly becomes executive chairman of the new company, with Kelly assuming the role […]

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said he halted a post-Brexit review of workers’ rights because it was not a “constructive thing to do”. Kwarteng took over as secretary of state from Alok Sharma, who has been appointed full-time president of the UN Cop26 climate conference, three weeks ago. He told the BBC’s Political Thinking that […]

When the Yorkshire Post ran an accurate story about vaccines being diverted to other regions Tory ministers and MPs rounded on the newspaper. JAMES MITCHINSON, its editor, says their response raises several questions. You may not recall it. There have been so many, you may not even have seen it. Early June last year health minister […]

A government minister has defended the government’s decision to lock down when it did in March, despite saying that acting earlier “would have saved more lives”. Apprenticeships minister Gillian Keegan told Question Time that had the country locked down earlier and shut its borders then “we would have had a lower death toll for sure”. […]

A Tory MP has told Nicola Sturgeon to “grow up” after she questioned the necessity of Boris Johnson’s trip to Scotland. Steve Brine said the first minister was acting “childish” and said she should focus on “better things to do than worry about Boris Johnson” visiting Scotland. Speaking on BBC 2’s Politics Live, Brine said: “To […]

TV host Piers Morgan has been priced at 6/1 to become an MP by the end of 2031 – and 10/1 of becoming one by the end of 2021. The Good Morning Britain (GMB) presenter made headlines this week after a minister abruptly left the show mid-interview. Work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey terminated an interview […]

AstraZeneca (AZ) has denied pulling out of an EU vaccine conference, its chief executive has said as a row over supply continues to heat up. Chief executive Pascal Soriot withdrew company officials from a planned meeting with EU representatives on Wednesday, Sky News reported. The company denied the claims though – and said it was still scheduled. This comes as the […]