Media

Sky has brought the rights to a television drama about Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his first year as prime minister. This Sceptred Isle is a five-part series focusing on Johnson’s appointment as prime minister, the Covid-19 cases in the UK, through to him falling ill with the virus, and the arrival of his […]

Ministers are ‘psychologically incapable’ of owning their mistakes and are to blame for the UK’s death toll, James O’Brien has said in a swipe at No 10’s coronavirus record. O’Brien accused ministers of “doing the same thing again and hoping for a different result”. The comment comes as Oxford University research showed the UK has the worst […]

A Piers Morgan impersonator prank-called Donald Trump on Air Force One last year, the Good Morning Britain presenter has revealed. The former president only realised he had been pranked when he called Morgan on his way to vote in Florida last year. The incident allegedly took place in October but only emerged in an interview […]

Boris Johnson faces the “mother of all arguments” next month when he comes under pressure to loosen the lockdown while the NHS remains seriously stretched, a government adviser has predicted. Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), warned that intensive care units will still be strained even as […]

Independent SAGE member Professor Christina Pagel has criticised Priti Patel’s decision to issue new £800 fines for Covid rule-breakers, calling on the minster to “stop blaming the public”. Prof Pagel told LBC radio she was “so angry” at the announcement and said ministers should instead focus on tightening Covid restrictions than fining people who break them.  “They’ve […]

Liz Truss has said it is a “matter for the courts to decide” what genocide is, and not the government, despite having voted to scrap an amendment giving judges the power to do so. The international trade minister said British courts were best placed to determine the definition of genocide. The comments come after the government […]

The UK and the EU have clashed over the status the trading bloc’s ambassador in London should have. The UK government is refusing to grant Joao Vale de Almeida full diplomatic status offered to other ambassadors. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is insisting he and his officials should not have privileges and immunities afforded to […]

A Donald Trump supporter abruptly hung up on a national radio presenter after failing to cite examples of the former US president telling the truth. Steve from Islington rang James O’Brien to tell him there was a lot in the media which were lies about the outgoing US president. Steve then accused O’Brien of unfairly […]

With Donald Trump having officially vacated the White House, Twitter users wasted no time in bidding him their version of a farewell. Trump left 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue around 1pm GMT and made a final address at Joint Base Andrews airbase before leaving for his Florida home in Air Force One. The outgoing US president told supporters […]

Outgoing US president Donald Trump has given his strongest indication yet of returning to the political scene, telling supporters at a farewell rally that he would “be back in some form”. Trump thanked followers in his final official speech as US president at Joint Base Andrews airbase before departing for his Florida home in Air Force One. […]

Roger Daltrey has been accused of being a hypocrite after signing a letter calling on No 10 to help British bands tour EU countries after having previously dismissed concerns about the impact of Brexit on the UK’s music industry.  Daltrey, the lead singer of the rock band the Who, famously downplayed the effect of Brexit on bands touring Europe, once […]

Priti Patel has shrugged off suggestions Downing Street is to blame for Britain’s high Covid death toll, saying now is not the time “to talk about mismanagement”. The home secretary said there were “a range of reasons” for the UK’s appalling death toll but said it was not right to draw attention to them at the moment. […]

Piers Morgan has urged Priti Patel to resign after 400,000 criminal records disappeared from the national crime database. The home secretary has come under mounting pressure to take responsibility for an error that led to hundreds of thousands of police records being deleted from UK-wide databases. Data was wiped from the Police National Computer (PNC) – which […]

GB News is reportedly attempting to hire pro-Brexit commentators Nick Ferrari and Julia Hartley-Brewer to present parts of its 24-hour news channel. The news channel will serve a conservative audience with presenters with strong opinions and attitude and aims to give a voice to viewers angered by feeling abandoned by the BBC. It has been compared […]

NHS Test and Trace boss Dido Harding has defended paying consultants £1,000 a day. Harding, a Tory peer, told the Commons Public Accounts Committee that she felt it was “appropriate” to seek help from the private sector in “extreme emergency circumstances” such as the Covid-19 pandemic. David Williams, the Second Permanent Secretary at the Department of […]

A Brexiteer MP has been criticised after suggesting Downing Street should break the Northern Ireland Protocol agreed to by Boris Johnson. Tory backbencher John Redwood was told to retire by a Twitter user after using the social media platform to call for the dumping of the Northern Ireland Protocol. “The government needs to give urgent attention to […]

A new television drama is to focus on Boris Johnson’s first year in Downing Street, with particular focus on his handling of the pandemic, his own experience with Covid-19, and the birth of his son Wilfred. The drama, to be produced by Freemantle, will focus on the private lives of the prime minister and his […]

Comedian and TV presenter Rufus Hound has used an appearance on ITV’s Dancing on Ice to shame the government over its handling the free school meals fiasco. Hound, a contestant on the show, joked that the only thing crazier than appearing on the programme was a government that refused to feed hungry children during the holidays. […]

Michael Gove and 13 Conservative MPs – including ministers and cabinet ministers – reportedly joined a social media platform favoured by the far right before it was forced offline last week. Nine Tory backbenchers joined Parler in an apparent show of support for free speech following Donald Trump’s clashes with Twitter over remarks he made following […]

Fine Gael politician Neale Richmond has claimed Leave.EU is “a threat to democracy” and should not be welcomed into the Republic of Ireland. Richmond warned members of the Irish parliament that the Brexit lobby group was a “politically subversive organisation” that was allowed “a foothold in our democracy, [and there] will be an absolutely detrimental effect”. Leave.EU, the domain […]

James O’Brien has schooled a Brexiteer refusing to accept new trade rules between the EU and the UK. Simon from Sevenoaks said taking back control of British waters was a major reason for his decision to vote Brexit but that he now feels disappointed it has resulted in the end of frictionless trade with the EU. Simons’ comments […]

The Scottish Tories have suspended a Holyrood candidate after he said people who were reliant on food banks were fat. Craig Ross also attacked anti-poverty campaigner and English footballer Marcus Rashford and said people filmed at food banks were “far from starving”, the Daily Record has revealed. Ross was a contender for the seat of Glasgow Pollok […]

Fishermen in Scotland have left UK waters and headed to Denmark to sell their fish in a bid to bypass new Brexit regulations agreed to by Boris Johnson. According to Danish newspaper Altinget, the fishing auction in Hanstholm has reported unusually high levels of interest from Scottish fishermen since January 1. “We are in dialogue with 10-15 new […]

Amber Rudd has said Boris Johnson has a “sort of language which he’s quite rightly nervous using in front of women” as the ex-home secretary hit out at the “boys’ club” atmosphere in the Commons. Rudd also accused the prime minister of going “backwards” on promoting women. The former cabinet minister said she quit Johnson’s […]

A former Ofsted chair has called for education secretary Gavin Williamson’s resignation, amid the continuing lack of certainty over what will replace cancelled GCSEs and A-Levels. In a letter to exams regulator Ofqual yesterday, Williamson said he would like “to explore the possibility of providing externally set tasks or papers, in order that teachers can […]

A man has got a tattoo of Boris Johnson’s face on his stomach in order to raise money for a woman to receive life-saving cancer treatment. Kenny Wilding, 41, from Kidderminster, said he got the tattoo to raise money for a family friend who was diagnosed with stage four rectal cancer in January 2019. Megan Smith […]

Last week, editor-at-large Alastair Campbell kicked off a debate as to what more Remainers could have done to stop Brexit. Here, writers, politicians and campaigners have their say. Mary Honeyball Former Labour MEPWe pro-Europeans must show humility. We lost. Leave won. Many Leave voters were on low incomes, over 50 and male. They viewed the EU […]

Miriam Margolyes’ blunt assessment of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson has won her a heap of praise online. The British actor said the US president was an “a*****e” and the British prime minister a “clown”. Asked for her reaction to recent events in the US during an appearance on Good Morning Britain, Margolyes said: “Like anybody […]

Tory MP Pauline Latham has downplayed pictures showing meagre free school meals by saying there were only ever intended ‘for lunch’. Appearing on Channel 4 News, the Derbyshire MP said she was appalled by the sight of some portions but sought to dismiss concerns children were not given enough food. “The schools decide whether they want […]

Prime minister Boris Johnson has paid tribute to the Daily Telegraph’s joint owner Sir David Barclay, who has died aged 86 after a short illness. Along with his identical twin Sir Frederick, Sir David built a vast business empire which began with hotels and expanded to include shipping, retailing and, since 2004, ownership of Telegraph […]

The government should not allow a British tech entrepreneur to be extradited to the US over fraud charges because the UK has “surrendered sovereignty” over its justice system for “too long”, former cabinet ministers have argued. Electrical engineering expert Michael Lynch is facing fraud charges in the US where authorities claim he overstated the value […]

A columnist has said Boris Johnson is incapable of “denying himself any pleasures” after he was spotted cycling seven miles away from his home for daily exercise. Current official government advice says exercise should be limited to once a day and within your local area, prompting accusations Johnson had broken coronavirus rules when he cycled around […]