British Politics

Disgraced former defence secretary Liam Fox has made it through to the second round of the race to become the next director general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Liz Truss, his successor at the Department for International Trade, announced that Dr Fox, the UK’s nominee for the top job has successfully navigated the first […]

Boris Johnson faces a mounting Brexiteer rebellion if the government pushes ahead with plans to extend legislation giving it emergency powers to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Prominent Brexiteers Peter Bone and Desmond Swayne have warned the prime minister could face significant opposition to extend to his emergency coronavirus legislation. The laws, introduced in April […]

A Tory MP has been owned by his cousin on Twitter who claimed the Brexiteer was a “rent a quote right wing clown” who was “no better than Farage”. Brexiteer’s cousin says he’s a ‘rent a quote right wing clown’ who is ‘no better than Nigel Farage’ Tory MP Conor Burns, who was forced to […]

Matt Hancock has refused to rule out another nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus but says the “great hope” is that people will heed current advice to help manage a “very serious” situation. Matt Hancock says national lockdown is ‘last line of defence The heath secretary said such a lockdown was the “last […]

A billionaire businessman has been slammed on social media for suggesting EU Brexit negotiators were a bunch of “bully boys” on BBC Question Time (QT). John Caudwell caused a stir on Thursday when he accused Brussels of short-changing Britain while it was a member of the EU. Phones4u founder John Caudwell on Question Time. Photograph: […]

“Let’s just pause and reflect on that, Cobra has not met since the 10th of May and we are facing the biggest health, economic and social crisis since the Second World War.” Asked when was the last time he had spoken to the prime minister, he told James O’Brien: “On the 10th of May.” The […]

First minister of Wales Mark Drakeford has slammed Boris Johnson for his ‘simply unacceptable’ approach to communicating with the devolved administrations. Drakeford said he has only received ‘one brief phone call’ from the prime minister since May 28, despite calling for better communications between the UK and Cardiff Bay, Holyrood, and Stormont. ”I think that […]

A Tory peer said it was “despicable” to blame the UK’s high coronavirus death toll on the government by suggesting it was the fault of “obese people”. Lord Ian McColl claimed the country’s obesity levels, population density, and popularity as a travel destination were to blame for its high death count. Speaking during a debate […]

A Tory peer has been caught swearing during a speech in the House of Lords. Lord Bethell mumbled the words “for f**k sake” when his internet connection was interrupted while delivering a speech on coronavirus. The House had adjourned for five minutes to deal with peer’s technological problems but unfortunately he did not fare better […]

YouGov polling has shown the Tory lead to have been wiped out for the first time since Boris Johnson became prime minister, as the public continues to take to Labour leader Keir Starmer. In a boost for Keir Starmer ahead of Labour’s virtual” party conference, a YouGov poll for The Times found both of the […]

Dominic Raab’s police protection officer has been suspended from duties after leaving his gun on a plane. The officer had been travelling with the foreign secretary on a visit to the US when he left his gun on a plane at London’s Heathrow Airport on Friday. The gun was reportedly found by a cleaner. A […]

An Italian newspaper has claimed that Boris Johnson took a trip to Perugia in mid-September as coronavirus infections rose. A statement from the city’s airport, reported in La Repubblica, said Johnson was in Perugia “over the past few days”, and a source told the newspaper that the prime minister “arrived on Friday September 11 at 2pm […]

Here is how your MP voted on Boris Johnson’s Internal Market Bill which attempted to override the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and international law. Labour’s amendment to block the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill from receiving a second reading was defeated by 349 votes to 213, giving the government a majority of 136. On the actual […]

The chair of the 1922 backbench Tory committee has told the prime minister he will not be voting for his Brexit bill. Addressing the House of Commons, Charles Walker initially used the opportunity to express his anger over the government’s coronavirus restrictions. ‘I am extremely concerned we are placing severe restrictions on people’s liberties without […]

A Labour MP has said he is ‘at a loss as to what the government is trying to achieve’ after he pointed out Margaret Thatcher would not have backed such the Brexit bill Boris Johnson is proposing. Darren Jones said he initially expected the Tories to listen to Nancy Pelosi’s remarks in America that if […]

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has warned Tory MPs not to follow the prime minister by breaking the law, telling them they have a ‘legal, moral and ethical’ duty to vote it down. He told the Commons: ‘This is a test for the House this evening, do not wait for the committee stage. Legally, morally, […]

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband has goaded Boris Johnson for being the man who ‘got Brexit undone’. The shadow cabinet member was filling in for Keir Starmer as politicians discussed the government’s Internal Market Bill, which plans to override parts of the Withdrawal Agreement. The former opposition leader sparked some angry looks from the prime […]

The government is set to face huge public backlash after deciding to add hunting and shooting clubs to the ‘Rule of Six’ exemption list. Prime minister Boris Johnson could have a new rebellion on his hands after it emerged grouse shooting and other ‘hunting’ with guns were exempt from new coronavirus restrictions, the Huffington Post […]

The government’s request that members of the public report people who break new lockdown rules has backfired spectacularly on social media. Twitter users found it irresistible not to mock the government which was asking UK citizens to abide by new domestic laws concerning the coronavirus while pushing ahead with plans to break international law. The […]

Former Tory prime minister David Cameron has said he has ‘misgivings’ about Boris Johnson’s Brexit plans, and urged people to look at the ‘big prize’. Cameron was asked about the prime minister’s possible breach of law in trying to override the Withdrawal Agreement. He said: ‘Passing an Act of Parliament and then going on to […]

Only a quarter of voters support Boris Johnson’s law-breaking plan to override parts of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, new polling suggests. The polling suggests that the government is in ‘deep trouble’ with voters over its admission it would break international law to change its Brexit plans. Some 47% of voters say planning to break the […]

Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme may be to blame for a uptick in coronavirus cases in the UK, a report suggests. An investigation by the University of Oxford said the scheme had led to an ‘extravagant’ surge in people eating out. ‘By the start of August, restaurant attendance had already bounced back […]

Readers praise EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who – unlike Boris Johnson – has shown himself to be a man of principle. Very interesting interview with Michel Barnier by Marion van Renterghem. The EU’s chief negotiator comes across as a person of principle and values. I won’t make comparisons with those on the UK side. […]

There will always be a place for the Liberal Democrats politically, argues a reader. One of the great lies told by Brexiters about the EU is that it seeks to squash national identity and subsume it all into a European superstate. Readers of this newspaper know that isn’t true and that Europe values and celebrates […]

Donald Trump’s comments about the military show that he’s only interested in self-service, writes MITCH BENN. As I mentioned here last week, there is an ongoing deluge of tell-all books written by former associates (and indeed family members) of president Trump, detailing his various alleged excesses and misdeeds and timed, one can’t help but suppose, […]

TIM WALKER on Radio 4’s censoring of Boris Johnson’s critics, Dominic Cummings’ Whitehall redecoration plans and the possibility that David Cameron might leave Twitter for good. Boris Johnson’s old friend and former Daily Telegraph colleague Sarah Sands passed on the editorship of Today to Owenna Griffiths at the end of last week. Sadly, even in […]

For Tim Walker, who stood briefly for the Lib Dems in Canterbury in the last election, Sir Ed Davey’s announcement the party would no longer push for Britain to rejoin the EU was ‘the last straw’ Short of The New European coming out for a no-deal Brexit, or the Pope renouncing Catholicism, it’s hard to […]

Former Lib Dem MEP Caroline Voaden on her new leader’s controversial decision not to endorse a policy to reverse Brexit There is no surprise in the arguments that rage on Twitter between the pro- and anti-Brexit brigades. But slanging matches between those of us who voted Remain are relatively new, and rather depressing. It’s clear […]