News and Opinion

The family of Jack Merritt, who was killed in the London Bridge terror attack, has denied that they have received any condolences from Boris Johnson despite statements saying otherwise from No.10. Merritt’s father Dave accused the prime minister of using the attack as an “opportunity” after Johnson immediately called for tougher sentencing in its wake. […]

Boris Johnson’s press secretary has turned breakfast television airwaves blue when he swore at a reporter live on television for trying to get an interview with the prime minister. Boris Johnson’s press secretary shocks Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain. Photograph: ITV. – Credit: Archant Good Morning Britain have been trying to […]

Ann Widdecombe has refused to apologise for using the term ‘golliwog’ on WhatsApp, complaining that there are no words these days that can be used without people being offended. The Brexit Party candidate used the offensive term “golliwog” in a WhatsApp group chat with Brexit Party activists in Plymouth. The term refused to apologise for […]

The prime minister has ducked out of yet another interview on the BBC at the last minute, even though every other party leader made an appearance. Boris Johnson was expected to appear on the Jeremy Vine BBC Radio 2 show on the day before the election, but, according to the show’s host, his press team […]

A global organisation that tackles disinformation online has found that nearly 90% of all adverts by the Conservatives are misleading, while not a single advert produced by Labour has caused concern. A global organisation that tackles disinformation online analysed every ad promoted by the three main political parties on Facebook in the first four days […]

A third-placed Liberal Democrat candidate in an ultra-marginal seat has made a dramatic announcement – telling voters to back the Labour rival to stop Boris Johnson gaining a landslide win. Brendan Devlin, the Lib Dem candidate in Stockton South, issued a series of tweets this morning backing Dr Paul Williams – the constituency’s MP for […]

James Corden has delivered a pitch-perfect performance as Boris Johnson attempting to join in with ‘cool kids’ Macron and Trudeau at Nato. Nato leaders appeared to mock Donald Trump at a reception during the Nato summit in London. Picture: PA – Credit: PA Following the humiliating footage of world leaders gossiping about Donald Trump at […]

New polling analysis by YouGov predicts the Tories’ majority has more than halved since the last analysis was performed a fortnight ago. YouGov’s multilevel regression and post-stratification poll is commonly known in the industry as ‘MRP’ and seeks to predict the outcome of Britain’s general election on December 12. The MRP polling attempts to provide […]

A Tory minister says he wants to ‘look again’ at the campaigning rules behind tactical voting and the materials produced for it. Tory justice secretary Robert Buckland said that there was something ‘sinister’ behind the campaign to stop Conservative candidates winning in the election. He claimed that he had seen leaflets urging people to vote […]

Third-placed Liberal Democrat and Labour candidates in 20 seats are being asked to halt campaigning in favour of the Remain-supporting candidate with the best chance of helping to prevent a Boris Johnson landslide. The last minute calls come from campaign group Vote for a Final Say as a new poll suggests a small group of […]

Social media posts that appear to debunk the story of a boy left on a hospital floor have been disavowed by several people on whose accounts the message was posted. A post originating on Facebook has been widely circulated making claims that the picture, of Jack Williment-Barr forced to sleep on the floor of a […]

After Boris Johnson’s latest stunt, in which he drove a JCB through a wall labelled ‘gridlock’, Labour have made the perfect rejoinder. The prime minister drove the tractor marked ‘get Brexit done’ through the stack of polystyrene blocks to the astonishment of assembled press in a Staffordshire JCB factory. The unsubtle visual metaphor was seized […]

Business leaders have spoken out against Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal after new research shows a ‘flatlining’ economy soon after he took office. According to ONS figures, there has been zero growth of the economy between mid-August and mid-October this year – a performance that outspoken anti-Brexit businesswoman Deborah Meaden demonstrates a “flat and faltering economy”. […]

How the Tory government’s health pledges have backfired. Health secretary Matt Hancock, a keen rider, galloped out on Star of Bengal for a photo opportunity at Newmarket. Picture: Matt Hancock/Twitter – Credit: Archant Matt Hancock and a horse walk into a bar. The barman asks: “Why the long face?” And Matt Hancock replies: “It’s because […]

Playwright jonathan maitland on the challenges of dramatizing the fastest moving story of our time. When writing a play about real events and real people – the rivalry between Mozart and Salieri for example – it’s helpful if the events are historic. In the case of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, the events in question took place […]

In the latest development to the Love Actually saga of videos seen during the Christmas election campaign, Boris Johnson has been mocked in a parody of his own video, with Donald Trump edited to be knocking at the door. After Labour’s Dr Rosena Allin-Khan released a video in the style of one of Love Actually’s […]

Psychologist STEVEN TAYLOR on what happens to societies when power accrues around certain personalities, and why it’s more important than ever we exercise our democratic vote. Throughout history, one of the human race’s biggest problems has been that people who rise into positions of power tend to be precisely the kind of people who should […]

French writer MARION VAN RENTERGHEM on the double-speak of her country’s leaders who claim this week’s election will bring certainty to Europe. Last weekend, as I listened to French government minister Amélie de Montchalin speaking on the radio about Brexit, I had the sense that our leaders now look at you Brits with the same […]

American playwright BONNIE GREER likens the general election to theatre – and says it could be a performance with a deeply unsatisfactory ending. One of the most satisfactory aspects of being a foreigner, and choosing to remain one as much as possible, is the stance that can be taken. It means it is possible to […]

While the prime minister and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage were visiting the North East, the ex-Sunderland FC manager Peter Reid warned the public about voting for either of their parties. Reid also accused both Boris Johnson and Farage of lying and tricking the people of the region. In an explosive rant targeting both leaders, […]

The general election is a big important part of the battle for the Remain movement – but the war won’t be over on Friday morning. I know the home stretch going into an election is supposed to be all about clarity and unity of purpose, and the last thing you want to be presented with […]

The billionaire TV mogul Lord Sugar has unsurprisingly endorsed Boris Johnson to be the next prime minister, despite calling the prime minister a ‘criminal’ just a couple of months ago. Lord Sugar appeared on the front page of The Sun two days before the UK goes to the polls with the headline ‘You’re Fired Corbyn’. […]

A Conservative candidate has been criticised by rights groups after he parked his Land Rover across not one but two parking spots clearly reserved for people with disabilities. 3) Dorset election candidate Richard Drax has described his decision to park across two disabled spaces as 'a moment of thoughtlessness which will never be repeated' https://t.co/CeFgIAgq1G […]

Labour’s leadership appears to be preparing for defeat – and the party’s current battle appears more focused on ensuring the shift leftward continues under a future leader. There is something strange about the final days of Labour’s campaign – a series of frenetic announcements, policies, and documents from which it’s hard to glean a coherent […]

The Liberal Democrats have unveiled their final poster of the election campaign just a few days before millions of voters head to the polls. The Liberal Democrats have today unveiled their final campaign poster ahead of polling day. Photo: Lib Dems – Credit: Archant The party is urging Remainers to back Lib Dem and stop […]

The foreign secretary’s constituents in Esher and Walton were told some of the worst quotes he had said, and then asked how they would vote. Dominic Raab may be the one cabinet member with the highest chance of being ousted from his seat due to an election campaign full of blunders and a surge of […]

For Remainers, this election is just the latest episode in the nightmare unleashed by the 2016 referendum. In this excoriating essay, LIZ GERARD condemns all those she blames for this sorry state of affairs. Damn them all. Damn the liars, the charlatans, the hypocrites and the opportunists. The fear-mongers and the hate-mongers. The politicians, their […]

The three biggest Remain campaigns have agreed on the way they say Brexit could be blocked through tactical voting. The different voting websites of Best for Britain, People’s Vote and Remain United are agreed on anti-Brexit tactical voting suggestions for almost every marginal seat. With these recommendations they say as few as 40,704 tactical votes […]