British Politics

A charity has challenged Nigel Farage over proposals to rebrand his Brexit Party as a new anti-lockdown organisation. The Reform think tank has written to the Electoral Commission to complain about the proposed name change, arguing it could lead to “voter confusion”. The think tank, which argues for public service reform, has also written to […]

Boris Johnson will not back down over the Internal Market Bill, despite it threatening to create early tensions with US president-elect Joe Biden, a cabinet minister has claimed. Environment secretary George Eustice said the government would reinstate controversial clauses that enable ministers to break international laws if Lords try to strip them out. Biden warned […]

Keir Starmer has reflected on Joe Biden’s win in America by warning the Labour Party that only a “broad coalition” can help recreate the win in Britain in 2024. Starmer used a Guardian article to point out a series of observations from Biden’s win in America, and his success in denying Donald Trump a second win. In […]

Environment secretary George Eustice has admitted that post-Brexit trade talks with America may have to start again following Joe Biden’s win, before claiming a deal is no longer “critical” to the economy. Eustice said it could be possible to pick up on US trade negotiations with Biden’s administration where they were left with Donald Trump, […]

A television news presenter has rolled her eyes after foreign secretary Dominic Raab gave an “astonishing” defence of Donald Trump’s approach to the US election result. The minister said that “in principle, yes, of course” all votes should be counted in a democratic election, having failed to make such a statement when Trump had been […]

England footballer Marcus Rashford has hailed the power of “kindness and compassion” after reporting that Boris Johnson had U-turned over providing free meals to disadvantaged children during the Christmas holidays. The prime minister personally phoned the Manchester United star on Saturday to alert him to the decision to lay on £170 million of extra funding for […]

Nigel Farage has been mocked after complaining about the result of the US election, which saw his good friend Donald Trump voted out of the White House. Farage’s wager came in response to Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, who had staked $10,000 on his former boss not winning a second term. Farage said he had […]

Boris Johnson has yet to get in touch with US president-elect Joe Biden after laying out the case for a close UK alliance with the new administration. “The United States is our closest and most important ally, and that has been the case president after president, prime minister after prime minister – it won’t change,” […]

US comedian Stephen Colbert has given a passionate speech denouncing Donald Trump and urged Americans to “stay cool” amid rising tensions over voter fraud. In an eight-minute-long monologue posted on Twitter, Colbert said the president had been acting like a “sad, frightened fraud” after alleging the US election had been rigged. On Thursday, major US networks stopped broadcasting […]

The latest voter intention polling by YouGov shows that Labour has jumped five points ahead of the Conservative Party. A survey by YouGov over November 4 and 5 shows Labour holding 40% of the vote compared to the Tory Party’s 35%. Latest Westminster voting intention (fieldwork 4-5 Nov) Lab – 40%Con – 35%Lib Dem – 7%Brexit […]

A Tory minister has been ridiculed after getting the population size of Liverpool wrong during an interview on a new pilot testing programme for coronavirus. Business minister Nadhim Zahawi said 2,000 troops would deliver thousands of coronavirus tests to people living in Liverpool city as part of a pilot programme to map the spread of […]

So what have we learnt this week in the dystopian Covid Brexit land that the UK seems to have become? That forecasts are just that and even a “reasonable worst-case scenario” might start looking optimistic. That you can only disregard the advice of experts, be they scientists or economists, for so long – the facts […]

Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon has been permanently banned from Twitter for suggesting the beheading of Anthony Fauci, America’s top public health adviser. Bannon said he wanted to “pike” Fauci and FBI director Christopher Wray’s heads as a “warning” to bureaucrats. Fauci, who Trump publicly slandered and suggested firing, has been assigned extra government […]

Boris Johnson has refused to answer questions over Dominic Cummings’ unpaid council tax bill during Prime Minister’s Questions. The prime minister sidestepped a question by City of Durham’s Mary Foy over allegations that Cummings had dodged a £50,000 council tax bill on buildings he failed to register with the local authority. The Labour MP said […]

Nadhim Zahawi has become the second Tory minister to repeatedly refuse to condemn Donald Trump’s election fraud comments. The minister for business joins foreign office secretary Dominic Raab in shirking away from criticising Trump’s allegations that the US election has been ‘rigged’. Speaking with the BBC on Wednesday, Raab said it was ‘common practice’ for the British government not […]

A Brexiteer has claimed that more British politicians should be like Donald Trump after the US election result showed the president performing better than expected in the polls. Simon Wolfson, the pro-Brexit boss of Next, said Trump’s success should be a “wake-up call” to politicians here. He told Question Time: “It does amaze me that Trump […]

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab is isolating after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus. Raab will work remotely during 14 days of isolation after being told of a recent close contact’s positive test on Thursday, a spokesman for the cabinet minister said. It follows Brandon Lewis last week having to self-isolate […]

Nicola Sturgeon is planning to ignore Westminster’s veto on holding a second independence referendum, a leaked party memo has suggested. The National is reporting that SNP MPs Angus MacNeil and Chris McEleny will have their motion debate alternative legal routes to independence during this year’s party conference approved. Dubbed “Plan B”, the motion suggests Holyrood should take the UK government […]

Robert Buckland has blamed the public for a second national lockdown after suggesting a lack of ‘compliance’ was the reason for harsher coronavirus measures. The justice secretary said a “tiny group of people” had been breaking Covid-19 regulations and that there was a “huge challenge” to get the public to follow the rules this time around. Speaking with the BBC, Buckland: “Sadly, it’s been […]

Andrew Neil has said he is enjoying his “new-found freedom” since leaving the BBC and used his final appearance on the news channel to criticise the SNP. Neil made the most of his presence on Politics Live to blast the SNP on the issue of poverty in Scotland. The now ex-BBC broadcaster claimed that people being “left behind” in parts […]

The prime minister will host a new coronavirus briefing as England entered a national lockdown for a second time. NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens will join the Downing Street event at 5pm on Thursday. It is unlikely that any new measures will be announced, but it follows chancellor Rishi Sunak revealing that furlough has […]

MITCH BENN on why he would almost be as bad as Boris Johnson. There’s a very useful expression which succinctly encapsulates the difference between the concepts of knowledge and wisdom. As is sometimes the case with such modern aphorisms, I’ve heard a few different versions of it, and I’m not sure with whom the phrase […]

The Test and Trace system has reached the lowest ever proportion of contacts of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England, a day after Boris Johnson said it had achieved a “remarkable feat”. Four in 10 close contacts of people who tested positive are still not being reached by the system, at the same […]

Labour has long been seen as a party of factions, while the Tories just had ‘tendencies’. But, asks TIM BALE, are the Conservatives now also splintering?  ‘You’re joking. Not another one!’ – not just Brenda from Bristol in the spring of 2017, reacting to Theresa May calling a snap election, but also Tim Bale (whose […]

In a deeply personal essay, writer PETER GUMBEL explains how the waning of national identities, combined with Brexit, has led him to reassess his own sense of who he is. November 9 is a day heavy with significance for my family: on that date in 1938, my maternal grandfather was arrested in his German hometown […]

Rory Stewart has called Boris Johnson the “most accomplished liar in public life” in a personal swipe against the prime minister in an article in the Times Literary Supplement. Stewart, who was of 21 rebel Tory MPs fired for voted against Johnson’s Brexit agenda last year, accused Johnson of being an opportunist who created the “historical forces” […]

STEVE ANGLESEY on how it doesn’t matter if Trump is in The White House in January as the intolerance, rage and loathing he has boiled up will remain. Everyone was surprised but them. As America’s election headed to VAR with the pollsters having got it wrong again, members of a British pro-Trump group on Facebook had […]

While all countries are grappling with coronavirus, France is also facing another profound crisis. JASON WALSH reports As France hunkers down for its latest coronavirus confinement, or lockdown – announced last week by Emmanuel Macron – the country knows it is heading into a period of unease, angst, economic devastation and death. And yet the […]