News and Opinion

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL argues Labour viewed Brexit as a tactical inconvenience – and because it could not adequately address the topic it meant their other messages were ignored. What feels like years ago, just before Theresa May threw in the towel, I was with George Osborne, to interview him for GQ. Once the interview was done […]

CLAUDIA PRITCHARD on the new exhibition showcasing the influence of two Roman artists who pioneered the exuberance and ebullience of the ornate style. A portrait of the Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Picture: Biblioteca Marucelliana – Credit: Archant The goddess Medusa had a look so poisonous it turned men to stone. But she met […]

John McDonnell has insisted that Jeremy Corbyn was the right leader for the Labour Party, saying that the party ‘could have won in 2017’. The former shadow chancellor, who said he will not be in the next shadow cabinet, said Corbyn had been the right person to be at the helm even though he had […]

Rod Stewart is facing a backlash on social media after he congratulated Boris Johnson for his general election win. Thank you once again to my legions of fans who I will never take for granted. Bless you all and a Merry Christmas. Well done Robbie, well done Boris, no hard feelings Pete Townshend! - Rod […]

charlie connelly attempts to buck the current trend for cultural stalemates, by picking the best.. and worst of 2019’s literary offerings. The Capital by Robert Menasse. Picture: MacLehose – Credit: Archant As politics grows ever more cutthroat, with grandmothers climbed over, ambition getting ever more naked and politicians competing with each other to tell the […]

WILL SELF discusses the relationship between the horrors of 20th century death camps and how they are now memorialised. When – as over the last couple of weeks – I’m teaching Kafka’s Metamorphosis to young Britons from diverse heritages, I emphasise the oddity of its author’s own cultural context at the time of writing. This […]

Who is on Question Time tonight and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide… The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme airs its post-election show tonight, very much a bonus DVD extra for hardcore fans of Election 2019. But who’s on the panel – and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide… […]

There’s a Remain majority in Britain, says ANDREW ADONIS. But in the end Jeremy Corbyn once more stood in the way of demonstrating it. We just had the second referendum – but it was a second referendum on Corbyn, not on Brexit, which is why we lost. There was a Remain majority in the country. […]

Our speed might have accelerated but the destination is still unknown. Not much of a cliff-hanger, was it? Despite every squalid disappointment of this dull, dishonest election and all that driving rain, Boris Johnson’s winter gamble has paid off. Now his troubles really begin. He has refashioned his party in Nigel Farage’s harsher image and […]

The Tories are now left to own the Brexit project all by themselves – it’s time for an effective opposition to hold them to account. Let’s be honest: All prospect of stopping Brexit has now vanished; all notion of even ameliorating it is fantastic. It is not at all inconceivable that the whole process, governed […]

Jo Swinson has suggested that a female MP should replace her as leader of the Liberal Democrats. In a speech in central London following a dismal night for her party,Ms Swinson name-checked several re-elected MPs, including education spokeswoman Layla Moran and home affairs spokeswoman Christine Jardine, who had the “experience” to succeed her. She said […]

Singer Lily Allen has blamed racism and misogyny in Britain for handing Boris Johnson a majority. Allen, a supporter of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn, had been hoping for a majority for the opposition party in Thursday’s polls. But upon seeing the exit poll she took to social media to blame racism in Britain for putting […]

Pro-Brexit pub chain boss Tim Martin is £44 million richer as a result of the general election result. Despite backing Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, shares in Wetherspoons jumped nearly 10% by lunchtime on Friday, meaning Martin’s 32% stake is now worth £531 million. On Thursday night it was worth £487 million, meaning – on paper […]

After the final votes were counted, it has become clear that collectively, more people voted for pro-Remain and second referendum backing parties, though first past the post ensured the Tories were able to get a majority. So collectively more people voted for remain/second referendum parties, but of course that gives Boris a 'mandate' for his […]

Pressure for an Irish unity referendum is ‘almost inevitable’ if prime minister Boris Johnson pursues a hard Brexit, the Alliance Party leader has said. Her pro-Remain party took the North Down seat, the first to be declared in Northern Ireland, a relatively affluent Belfast commuter constituency. Sinn Fein is pressing for a referendum if, in […]

Cases of suspected voter fraud in several constituencies have been reported to police. Glasgow City Council reported three cases of alleged “personation” following Thursday’s poll while one incident was reported in Paisley and Renfrewshire North, the PA reports. The offence occurs when a person votes as someone else. It is understood one instance is being […]

The prime minister’s special adviser was goaded by journalists and Downing Street photographers as he returned to Number 10 after telling the UK media they ‘f**ked up’ the general election. Dominic Cummings, the ‘mastermind’ behind the 2016 Vote Leave campaign, had reportedly stepped down from his position as special adviser during the election campaign as […]

There has been a massive surge in the number of people searching online about how to move abroad after the Conservatives won the general election with the greatest majority since Margaret Thatcher. With an unprecedented majority which gives the Tories a mandate to get the UK out of the EU next year, hundreds of people […]

The shadow chancellor John McDonnell was called a ‘liar’ and a ‘terrorist’ at his constituency’s vote count as he was re-elected. A fight also broke out while McDonnell made his victory speech in the early hours of Friday morning. He was speaking after winning his Hayes and Harlington seat in London, which he has held […]

Jo Swinson lost her position as Liberal Democrat leader after she failed to be re-elected to her East Dunbartonshire seat, leaving a major question mark over who will lead the party next. As the party’s constitution requires the leader to be an MP, a leadership election will take place in the new year. Former deputy […]

The shadow chancellor John McDonnell has claimed that Labour ‘won the argument’ in this election campaign, but lost as a result of not being able to get through on Brexit. Confronted by reporters as he left his home the morning after voters went to the ballot, McDonnell said: “Brexit dominated the whole debate, and we […]

The former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell has blamed a failure of Labour to confront Brexit alongside a culture of nastiness in the party for the Conservative Party’s landslide majority. Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Campbell pointed to reactions to Labour’s spending pledges, divisions in the Labour party, and Corbyn being “dragged kicking and […]

Business leaders have reacted coolly to Boris Johnson’s landslide victory, asking him not to rush towards ‘arbitrary negotiating deadlines’ for Brexit and highlighting ‘question marks’ over plans for immigration and infrastructure. After the Conservative party achieved a historic election win with the slogan “get Brexit done”, the Institute of Directors (IoD) has released a statement […]

Dennis Skinner has been voted out of his Bolsover seat by the Tory MP Mark Fletcher after nearly half a century as the MP. His humorous heckles at the State Opening of Parliament became one of the endearing features of Commons life, but now, after 49 years as an MP, the laughter has stopped. The […]

The DUP’s failure in Northern Ireland in the general election and the SNP’s win in Scotland has put the future of the union back into doubt. The SNP made a series of gains in Scotland, with leader Nicola Sturgeon declaring that she has a “renewed, refreshed and strengthened” mandate for a second vote on Scottish […]

The former leader of the Liberal Democrats Jo Swinson has resigned from her position after being voted out of her own constituency in East Dunbartonshire. “Tonight’s result is obviously hugely disappointing, in East Dunbartonshire, and across the whole country with Boris Johnson winning a majority,” she said. Swinson lost her seat to the SNP’s Amy […]

SNP MP Joanna Cherry has said she will focus her energies on defending ‘Scottish democracy from Boris Johnson’ in the pursuit of a second independence referendum. The SNP MP for Edinburgh South West was returned to her seat with 24,830 votes and an 11,982 majority, in an election that saw her party win a landslide […]

Donald Trump has turned to Twitter in the middle of night to celebrate Boris Johnson’s election win. In a tweet likely to send shivers down the spines of Remainers, the US president tweeted that the UK could not look forward to a “massive new trade deal after Brexit”. The president tweeted: “Congratulations to Boris Johnson […]