News and Opinion

Boris Johnson’s honeymoon period after the general election appears to be over with growing discontent from Tory MPs over his decision to allow Huawei a role in building the UK’s 5G network. Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has tabled an amendment which would ban “high-risk vendors” like the Chinese tech giant from the […]

Former home secretary Amber Rudd has been blocked from speaking at an event for International Women’s Day. Rudd was due to speak at an event at a student union event at the Oxford University, but was blocked after the student society voted to cancel it. It followed pressure from some students who claimed Rudd’s immigration […]

Taxpayers have stumped up a bill for more than £4bn to pay for Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, the Whitehall spending watchdog has claimed. The National Audit Office (NAO) said that between the EU referendum in June 2016 and March 31 this year, government departments will have spent at least £4.4 billion, while £6.3 […]

There are increasing calls to investigate Islamophobia in the Conservative Party after the UK’s human rights watchdog received a fresh dossier detailing allegations against more than 300 people. The dossier sent to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) reiterates allegations of Islamophobia against Boris Johnson. It also includes claims about MPs, party members, councillors […]

Boris Johnson refused to say if his family were happy about his baby news on live television. Boris Johnson squirmed when probed about his family life on ITV’s This Morning. Picture: ITV – Credit: Archant In an interview on ITV’s This Morning the prime minister looked flustered when he was asked about the reaction from […]

MPs will receive a pay rise of 3.1% from April this year – a figure that is above the rate of inflation. Announcing the increase, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) will raise MPs basic pay from £79,468 to £81,932 and will be effective from April 1. It follows a decision confirmed in 2018 by […]

Westminster has been told to ‘keep calm and carry on’ despite reports parliament could be shut down for five months over the coronavirus outbreak. Raising a report that parliament could be shut until September, Labour former cabinet minister Lord Adonis said: “This would be regarded as a very bad move I think on behalf of […]

The Scottish secretary Alister Jack wants Boris Johnson to reconsider his proposal for a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland by opting for a tunnel instead. Speaking during an evidence session in the Scottish parliament, Jack said a link between the two countries would boost the economies of Northern Ireland and south-west Scotland, while also […]

An online petition which calls for an investigation into the EU referendum will be debated in parliament after it reached the 100,000 signature threshold. There has been considerable concern about the way the EU referendum was held in 2016, with allegations of “serious misconduct” surrounding the vote. The Metropolitan Police handed files to prosecutors with […]

Denmark has become an increasingly attractive option for Britons looking to marry their European partners to secure residency rights before the Brexit transition period ends. JANE WHYATT explains why. Copenhagen may not rank among Europe’s most romantic destinations – although it certainly has its charms. Yet the Danish capital – along with other locations in […]

DAVID BARNES on the Victorians who were both attracted and repelled by the continent, and how those attitudes are echoed now When the Victorian art critic John Ruskin arrived in the Tuscan town of Lucca at the age of 26, he was bowled over by its architectural wonders. “Such a church!” wrote the young Ruskin […]

The new migrant crisis unfolding in the eastern Mediterranean is the result of earlier failures by the West, says PAUL KNOTT Doing nothing is not cost-free and ignoring problems does not make them go away. Europe and its allies should have learned these lessons long ago from the Syrian conflict and the migration crisis it […]

The return of David Davis spells more doom, says STEVE ANGLESEY. Seeking the ideal gift for someone you despise? On March 10, leave a ticket for them on the door of Chelsea’s lovely Cadogan Hall, and tell them you’ll meet them inside. Then, from a safe distance of several kilometres away, sit back giggling as […]

Like other countries in the region, Croatia is suffering from a demographic crisis which politicians seem powerless to prevent. SLAVENKA DRAKULIC reports. Many were mystified when, in December, a Croatian member of the European parliament became the Commission’s new vice president for democracy and demography. Not least people in her own country were taken by […]

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL reviews the personal and political messages in David Lammy’s new book Tribes. There is, the saying goes, a good book in everyone. David Lammy has written one. I will confess – when the Labour MP and former minister first contacted me and asked me to read it, I thought “oh no, not another […]

Parliament could be suspended until the end of September as part of proposals for tackling the coronavirus. The Times reports that as part of plans for parliament, the House of Commons and Lords could be stopped from returning to the chambers after the Easter recess. It would mean MPs rising on March 31st and not […]

Who is on Question Time tonight? Here’s your guide… The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme tonight comes from Tunbridge Wells, the one-time home of the Reverend Thomas Bayes. Bayes became famous for his theorem that the probability of an event is based on prior knowledge of conditions that might be related to it – grist […]

Farmers are waking up to the effect Brexit could have on their industry, says PETER HETHERINGTON. Farmers appeared reassured when the minister, who is currently Boris Johnson’s deputy, warned that British agriculture would suffer “considerable turbulence” from a no-deal Brexit. At least, they reasoned, a Tory government was on their side. Michael Gove went further […]

BONNIE GREER on the black swan circling germophobe president Trump. One of the first things that you learn as a scriptwriter is to keep your stories realistic. This means that your tale must be something that so-called ordinary people can grasp fairly quickly. American scripts, no matter how fantastical, are usually rooted in recognisable situations, […]

MICHAEL WHITE on how the coronavirus has finally forced Boris Johnson back into the spotlight and in front of the television cameras. Have you read or heard anyone dismissing rapidly-expanding precautions being taken to limit the spread of coronavirus as another Project Fear? Me neither. Apart from China’s totalitarian instinct to suppress the initial outbreak […]

Today programme listeners welcome the boycott by government ministers to not appear on the station, one of its presenters has claimed. Nick Robinson said he was glad health secretary Matt Hancock had become the first minister to appear on Today since the general election, but that it was now time to look at how political […]

The onslaught from Covid-19, not to mention populism, protectionism and climate change, means the obituaries are already being written for globalisation. JOHN KAMPFNER suggests they may be premature. Is globalisation over? On the face of it, the evidence is compelling. Some of the proof can be found in politics, some in economics. Some of it […]

A Tory Brexiteer MP has fumed that the government has not shown more support for his proposals for a Brexit bank holiday every June. Peter Bone’s June Bank Holiday (Creation) Bill passed its first hurdle in the House of Commons, with the second hearing expected on June 26th, the day Bone proposes the holiday takes […]

ANDREW ADONIS looks at the Spanish flu to help us understand the coronavirus outbreak. There is nothing like a pandemic to make politicians look ridiculous in their claims of national sovereignty and “taking back control”. As one cartoonist put it this week, in a bubble coming from the mouth of our beloved prime minister lecturing […]

EMMA LUCK on Paris St-Germain’s extraordinarily powerful fan culture and its dark and troubling history. What is the greatest spectacle in Paris? The Folies Bergère? Moulin Rouge? Pour moi, non. Rather, I’d recommend making your way to the Parc des Princes when Paris Saint-Germain are playing at home. The engaging drama you will find on […]

MITCH BENN says the right-wing media’s reaction to the prime minister’s announcement is hypocritical. So, our prime minister has announced having conceived a child “out of wedlock”, as our recent ancestors might have tersely put it, while still at least technically married to his last wife (one is given to understand that a divorce has […]

The Houses of Parliament have been flying the union flag upside down, it has been claimed. Jacob Rees-Mogg described the reports as “deeply troubling” after Conservative MP Robert Courts suggested that it had been that way for “some time”. He said: “I wouldn’t want to be seen to be too much of a stickler for […]

Former business secretary Andrea Leadsom has continued a feud with former Commons speaker John Bercow in the chamber – despite him retiring months before. Making a personal statement following her departure from the cabinet, she took credit for instigating the Brexit vote, and took a swipe at Bercow. She said: “With support from 200 colleagues, […]