News and Opinion

Government ministers only formally requested personal protective equipment (PPE) from Turkey on Sunday after announcing at a Downing Street briefing it was on the way. Housing minister Robert Jenrick told reporters at Downing Street’s daily press conference on Sunday that a ‘very significant additional shipment’ of PPE – around 84,000 tonnes, including 400,000 gowns – […]

There is a ‘pretty strong argument’ that peers should not be able to claim their daily allowance when attending proceedings from home, the lord speaker has said. Lord Fowler said he would chair the upper chamber from home, and all proceedings would be digital by Thursday. He said the House of Lords Commission would consider […]

Readers have their say on how the government’s handling of the coronavirus exposes the myths surrounding Brexit. One myth that has been exploded by coronavirus is the notion of British exceptionalism. The fiascos over ventilators, testing, PPE and the rules of lockdown has exposed the UK as not-really-that-special after all. How could such a country […]

A radio presenter has confronted a former Tory health minister over the real sum the government is committing to Public Health England’s [PHE] budget. LBC Radio’s Nick Ferrari asked Baroness Nicola Blackwood why she was ‘seeking to mislead my listeners’ after she refuted the presenter’s claim that PHE’s budget was £4.51 billion. The former health […]

Polling expert Sir John Curtice has said that Boris Johnson has gone from a ‘very, very strong position’ to one that is considerably ‘weaker’. The pollster and professor of politics said that the government’s agenda ‘has been torn to shreds’ by the coronavirus outbreak. Curtice told the Express: ‘The government’s given the go-ahead for HS2 […]

US media has reported that Kim Jung-Un is in ‘grave danger’ and in a ‘fragile condition’ after unspecified surgery. Speculation about Kim’s health was raised after he missed a celebration honouring his late grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sung on April 15. He had been seen four days before that at a government meeting. […]

Labour leader Keir Starmer will break tradition and take on the prime minister’s replacement, Dominic Raab, in a round of Prime Minister’s Question on Wednesday afternoon. Usually, the leader of the opposition will appoint his deputy to take to the dispatch box when the prime minister is away, but these unprecedented times have called that […]

As we head towards the end of April, Downing Street has reportedly started to distance itself from a pledge the health secretary made at the start of the month to test 100,000 people a day for coronavirus. Number 10, which did not pass comment initially when the target was set by Matt Hancock, insisted that […]

Up to fifty MPs will be allowed in to the House of Commons when it resumes after Easter recess, but the rest will log in using video links. To approve the new ‘hybrid’ arrangement, the House will need to sit physically on Tuesday to vote the plans through. Strict social distancing arrangements will be in […]

An Electoral Commission has highlighted the issues encountered within the system during the 2019 general election. The Electoral Commission, in its report into how the 2019 general election was run, said there were ‘high levels of satisfaction’ with how the vote and the process for registering was carried out. But it issued a warning about […]

Piers Morgan has claimed Donald Trump is more focused on winning re-election in November than working with the establishment to tackle the Covid-19 epidemic. Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain. Photograph: ITV. – Credit: Archant The Good Morning Britain presenter told CNN that president Trump’s handling of daily press briefings was putting American lives at […]

Remainer author Sir Phillip Pullman has said that the government frontbench ‘should be resign’ if it was proven the government put Brexit before joining schemes that would protect healthworkers during the coronavirus outbreak. Author Philip Pullman. Photograph: Michael Leckie/PA. – Credit: PA The best-selling His Dark Materials author used a blog post to claim that […]

An ardent Boris Johnson supporter has leapt to the prime minister’s defence after it emerged the country’s leader missed five COBRA meetings in the lead up to the coronavirus outbreak. The man, known as John from Guildford, told LBC listeners during the James O’Brien show: ‘I think this is a great big media blow-up. Do […]

Experts warn that overusing hand sanitiser during the coronavirus epidemic could have the opposite effect in trying to prevent ill-health. WINSTON MORGAN issues a warning. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, scientists and governments have been advising people about the best hygiene practices to protect themselves. This advice has caused a significant surge in […]

An outspoken Remainer has called for Britain to ‘revisit’ the Brexit referendum after the coronavirus pandemic. Author Phillip Pullman said that politics ‘had to change’ in response to Covid-19, and called on the Labour Party to help re-frame the argument about Brexit. In a blog post, His Dark Materials writer Pullman condemned the government for […]

Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair has called on Boris Johnson to appoint a minister focused solely on the coronavirus response, and to establish a government department with responsibility for tackling the outbreak. Blair told Sky News that creating a department – or allocating senior ministers and business experts to tackle issues such as PPE […]

Newspaper calls for the lockdown to be lifted are out of step with public opinion. CATHERINE HAPPER says cabinet ministers would be wise to ignore the any rash decisions. In times of crisis and widespread concern about decision-making, the public are extremely reliant on journalists to put their questions to those in power. If there […]

A former chief scientific adviser has said that he cannot a recall a Cobra meeting which was not attended by the prime minister of the time. Professor Sir David King, who was chief scientific adviser from 2000 to 2007, was asked about The Sunday Times investigation in which a Whitehall source claimed the government ‘missed […]

The Scottish government has called for a two-year extension to the Brexit transition period due to the coronavirus outbreak. Mike Rusell, the constitution secretary is urging the UK government to attend a joint meeting involving all ministers from the four nations to discuss the approach to Brexit during the Covid-19 outbreak. He wants the a […]

The government has been accused of ‘hiding behind scientists’ over the coronavirus outbreak at a time when there is ‘chronic failure of commonsense and leadership’. The allegations were made by Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan when he interviewed Oliver Dowden over his decision to allow the Cheltenham festival to go ahead days before the […]

The city renowned as Israel’s 24-hour capital has produced music fit for its reputation, says SOPHIA DEBOICK In few places has music been so important in defining a nation as in Israel. As early as the late 19th century, well before the state’s foundation in 1948, music was seen as a way to promote unity […]

Downing Street has hit back at newspaper reports about Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus, accusing the Sunday Times of ‘falsehoods’ and ‘errors’. The article claimed the Johnson administration ‘just watched’ as the death toll mounted in Wuhan, China. A government spokesman said: ‘This article contains a series of falsehoods and errors and actively misrepresents […]

EU citizens rights campaigners The3Million have said that ‘numerous’ EU nationals are being refused Universal Credit because of their settlement status. In a letter to the home secretary Priti Patel and work and pensions secretary Thérèse Coffey, the group warned that EU nationals with ‘pre-settled status’ were being turned away from essential benefits because they […]

Former Home Office civil servant Sir Philip Rutnam has formally launched legal action against Priti Patel. The department’s ex-permanent secretary is claiming ‘constructive dismissal’ in the claim submitted to an employment tribunal on Monday morning, civil servants’ union the FDA confirmed. Rutnam quit his post in February amid allegations of bullying behaviour by home secretary […]

Two-thirds of Britons want to see an extension to the Brexit transition period, with most preferring a longer extension until the coronavirus crisis has been resolved. The Focaldata poll, commissioned by cross-party campaign group Best for Britain and HOPE not hate, comes ahead of the first of three newly scheduled negotiating rounds between the UK […]

Iain Duncan Smith was left fuming in a live television after a presenter refused to accept blaming China as an explanation for the government’s slow response to the coronavirus outbreak. Iain Duncan Smith appears on Sky News to talk about the Sunday Times report on the coronavirus. Photograph: Sky News. – Credit: Archant The Tory […]

On the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Embassy siege, Richard Luck recalls the Britsploitation romp it inspired.. a film that spectacularly failed to do justice to the heroes it wanted to laud. Have your say Send your letters for publication to The New European by emailing letters@theneweuropean.co.uk and pick up an edition each Thursday for […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY on a new book which takes us to a much storied corner of Europe. Confinement breeds wanderlust. If the current situation is teaching us anything positive it’s how to appreciate freedoms of which we thought practically nothing before, from seeing pasta on the shelves in a supermarket to throwing some clothes into a […]