British Politics

Matt Hancock is to hold a Downing Street press conference on Covid-19. The health secretary will provide an update from Number 10 at 3pm. It comes amid speculation that more areas of England are heading for a Tier 4 lockdown. Earlier, fellow minister Robert Jenrick denied there would be any changes to coronavirus restrictions before […]

Companies faces further chaos at Britain’s border after Brexit after a fund set up to help them process customs paperwork ran out of cash. HMRC said almost all the money from the Customs Grant Scheme – an £84million-pound programme to train staff and set up new IT systems – has run dry, leaving businesses at the risk of continued […]

Former Number 10 director of communications Alastair Campbell has branded Boris Johnson the c-word over his handling of Brexit and the coronavirus. In the article, titled “Alastair Campbell: Boris Johnson is a c*** and has condemned us all to a Covid dystopian hell”, The New European‘s editor-at-large rips into the prime minister as well as […]

NHS leaders have called on Boris Johnson to extend the Brexit transition period by a month, as it warns that no-deal could risk the health of patients during the Covid-19 crisis. Faced with an alarming rise in Covid-19 infections, they say that a month delay will take the NHS out of “the immediate danger zone, and […]

Brexit and the coronavirus crisis has seen Labour jolt past the Tories in the latest YouGov voter intention poll. Keir Starmer’s party now sits four percentage points ahead of the Tory Party gaining 41% of the vote – a four point jump from the last survey conducted on December 15-16. Meanwhile, the Tories suffered a two point dip – leaving […]

A former government adviser has urged Boris Johnson to secure a Brexit trade deal, warning scenes at Dover port could be repeated if does not. Ex-Tony Blair adviser and The New European contributor Lord Andrew Adonis said the prospect of the British government “inflicting this state of chaos” was “utterly unthinkable”. Lord Adonis told the BBC it […]

A column by Boris Johnson accusing Labour of the “putrefaction of the honours system” has re-emerged hours after he ennobled a former Tory donor against the advice of the peerage watchdog. Peter Cruddas was one of 16 new peers appointed by Downing Street on Monday in an announcement that was slipped out after MPs had returned home for Christmas. […]

Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick insisted there will be no further changes to the Christmas plans despite speculation that more areas of England could be moved into a Tier 4 lockdown. The communities secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the Covid operations committee will examine “what more we know now about the new variant” […]

A loophole will allow Boris Johnson to meet with family over Christmas – despite the fact his official residence is in Downing Street in London – which is in Tier 4. The Financial Times reports the rule, which came into effect on December 2 and was updated on December 14, means Johnson and his partner […]

Boris Johnson has been warned his future as prime minister will rest on the Oxford vaccine. Katy Balls, the deputy editor of the Spectator, has claimed that with Tories “fuming” over new coronavirus restrictions and no parliamentary scrutiny, they want to see a clear “exit strategy”. Number 10 has previously hinted at a return to normal by […]

Hundreds of truck drivers stuck in a lorry park near Dover have been left without water and the only toilet has been blocked, according to a fellow driver delivering supplies to them. More than 1,500 lorries are backed up in Kent, while the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel remain closed to traffic leaving the country, […]

A British musician has been lauded after saying it was a “grave error” for the country to Brexit in the middle of an international crisis. Yungblud, whose real name is Dominic Richard Harrison, caught Twitter users’ attention when he called on the government to extend EU trade talk and avoid the UK “legitimately running out of […]

A transport head has said Brexit will cause traffic jams at British ports “like we have never experienced”. Road Haulage Association policy director Duncan Buchanan warned that the UK faced a “very serious” disruption to supply chains as a result of Brexit. Buchanan had been fronting an emergency meeting of the Common’s business and industrial strategy committee when he […]

Boris Johnson has overruled the peerage watchdog to make former Tory treasurer Peter Cruddas a life peer. The move went against the advice of the House of Lords Appointments Committee. A statement posted on the gov.uk website said: “The House of Lords Appointments Commission was invited by the prime minister to undertake vetting of all party […]

A quip from rugby union legend and sports pundit Brian Moore has perfectly sums up the cronyism over Brexit. The Remain-voting former English rugby union footballer expressed regret for voting against Brexit – because of the number of opportunities offered by the government to those that backed Leave. His comments come as more peerages were […]

A Number 10 insider has denied there has been a breakthrough in Brexit talks – describing leaked reports of a compromise as “bollocks”. Reports suggested the UK had offered a cut of around a third in the amount of fish EU vessels catch in British waters over a five-year period. That is down from an […]

James O’Brien has said an EU trade deal was inevitable and stated the reasons why in his final Brexit prediction of the year. Ahead of Michael Barnier updating EU ambassadors on the state of negotiations, O’Brien said he was confident a deal was in the works. “I can’t see it not happening, I can’t see […]

A former UKIP MP has been appointed by Liz Truss as a government trade advisor. Douglas Carswell, who defected from the Tories to UKIP in 2014, has become one of four new non-executive directors to the Department for International Trade (DIT) to “bring vast experience and expertise to the department at a critical time for the […]

Cracks in the Labour’s position on Brexit have been exacerbated after its leader in Scotland backed calls for an extension. Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said he supported an extension of EU trade talks in light of the Covid-19 crisis, putting his party at odds with UK leader Sir Keir Starmer. Downing Street has until December 31 to […]

Home secretary Priti Patel appeared to admit in television interviews that the numbers of lorries stuck in Kent waiting to cross to France is far greater than the numbers quoted by transport secretary Grant Shapps. More than 40 countries have banned flights from the UK due to a mutant variant of coronavirus spreading through the […]

A growing number of Leave supporters now believe voting for Brexit in 2016 had been “wrong”, new polling by YouGov has found. The latest figures from December 16 found voter regret among Leave supporters rose to 10-13%, up from 2-4% in August 2016. The portion of Brexiteers who believe leaving the EU was right has also fallen, […]

The government has reportedly planned to recall MPs to the House of Commons next week to vote on a possible deal between Westminster and Brussels over Brexit. MPs must be given at least 48 hours notice before returning to parliament, with the government unlikely to recall politicians over the festive period, even if a deal […]

A member of the government has called for Number 10 to end Brexit talks and move to a no-deal Brexit. Andrea Jenkyns, a parliamentary private secretary to Robert Jenrick, broke with the convention of collective responsibility for government decisions by turning to Twitter to issue the call. The junior member of government wrote: “No more […]

A BBC presenter has given a sobering assessment of the nation’s mood ahead of Christmas and a looming Brexit deadline in a minute-long clip. Ros Atkins captured the national sentiment in a cerebral monologue broadcasted on BBC World service. Soaking up news of the Dover port blockade, the uncontrolled spread of a new strain of Covid-19, […]

A rude song about Boris Johnson could bag the Number 1 slot in this year’s Christmas music chart, after peaking one place off in the downloads chart this week. Boris Johnson Is A F**king C**t was recorded by an Essex-based band with an equally sweary artist name – known as K**t and the Gang. The 56-second medley […]

A former Brexit Party MEP has accused Boris Johnson of deceiving voters over his commitment at the last general election and claimed that he is not delivering the Brexit people voted for. Ben Habib, who was a politician representing Nigel Farage’s party, claimed that the public did not vote by 52% to 48% to have […]

Boris Johnson has been criticised after being caught on camera laughing at the prospect of a no-deal Brexit at the latest daily Downing Street briefing. The prime minister laughed at a question from ITV’s Robert Peston when he asked about whether the UK was likely to leave the EU in the next week with a […]

Home secretary Priti Patel caused a legal storm with an “ill-advised” tweet about the deaths of 39 migrants while the people-smuggling trial was going on. On October 23, the anniversary of the tragedy, Patel’s Twitter account posted: “One year ago today, 39 people lost their lives in horrific circumstances at the hands of ruthless criminals. […]