News and Opinion

The prime minister was empty chaired at a hustings in his own constituency after he ‘couldn’t be bothered’ to turn up. Tonight we had our local hustings. That empty chair is where @BorisJohnson was meant to be.Those who come from the 'born to rule' political class believe they are above accountability.My challenge, similar to @afneil: […]

Boris Johnson has gone back on his claim that he would lie down in front of bulldozers to stop the construction of a third runway at Heathrow airport, saying that would now be ‘technically difficult’. The prime minister was asked by Nick Ferrari about the costs and controversies of a proposed third runway and HS2 […]

Spoof TV news reporter Jonathan Pie has urged viewers to vote tactically in a video attack on Boris Johnson that could strip paint. After recording a conventional news report outside Westminster, the camera keeps rolling and Pie launches into a direct-to-camera tirade against Johnson’s record in government. Having reported to news viewers with a straight […]

Boris Johnson has been branded a chicken while on a visit to Grimsby fish market for his failure to agree to an interview with Andrew Neil. Boris Johnson on a visit to Grimsby’s fish market during the 2019 general election campaign – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images The prime minister was visiting the market to talk […]

The co-leader of the Green Party has said that tactical voting will cause the party to have their best election result yet. Noting the success of the party in the last local and European elections, Sian Berry said that more people are coming around to the Green’s attitude to climate change and social reform, adding: […]

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson said she has had lots of ‘unsolicited advice’ during the election campaign – including a tip to wear lower cut tops. Swinson told BBC Breakfast there are “lots of questions that get asked of women that don’t get asked of men” and that we “still live in a world which […]

One of Britain’s most respected pollsters has said that Boris Johnson is currently in pole position – but a small number of people tactically voting can completely transform the result. Professor John Curtice told Andrew Marr that the situation with the polls is back where things were at the start of the election campaign. He […]

Boris Johnson has apologised to ‘everybody who has a bad experience’ in the NHS after a four-year-old boy had to sleep on a hospital floor. Sarah Williment covered her son, Jack, with coats to keep him warm as he waited for a bed at Leeds General Infirmary, where she had taken him last Tuesday fearing […]

Voters are more inclined to identify themselves as Leave or Remain than a supporter of a political party, new research has found. Findings by academics at Kings College London suggests the 2016 referendum has left the country deeply polarised and that the way people voted on Europe has come to define their politics more than […]

The father of a five-year-old girl who was killed in Britain’s deadliest mass-shooting has called out Boris Johnson for ‘appalling’ comments he made over gun control. Dr Mick North (whose daughter died in the Dunblane massacre in 1996) and Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill during a meeting with police, shooting representatives and gun control campaigners at […]

The Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has said that their bill for a second Brexit referendum is ‘ready to go’ should they form part of government this week. Swinson said two draft bills have been prepared to be put before parliament after Thursday’s general election. She said a “paving bill” would enable the Electoral Commission […]

Politicians trying to ‘out-bloke’ each other has become essential in an age of gathering populism, says WILL SELF. In a video available on YouTube, the prime minister apparently chats amiably to an unseen interlocutor while making a cup of tea – at one significant juncture, he rues his inability to order a takeaway Thai curry […]

Labour-backing actor and comedian Steve Coogan has joined the Lib Dems on the campaign trail to tell people to ‘vote smart and box clever’ to keep the Conservatives out of power. The Alan Partridge star took to the streets in his local constituency of Lewes in East Sussex with Lib Dem candidate Oliver Henman to […]

PETER TRUDGILL on the languages of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – and how they interact. The Baltic States are, from north to south along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. We often refer to them by this collective name as if they formed some kind of unity – and in […]

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson has signalled she would be more likely to work with Labour in the event of a hung parliament if Jeremy Corbyn stood down. Swinson has insisted the Lib Dems would not put either Corbyn or Boris Johnson into Downing Street in the event of no party securing a Commons majority […]

EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has dismissed Boris Johnson’s claims he can get Brexit done by the end of next year. The Sunday Mirror reports that minutes documenting what was said between Barnier and MEPs shows the official has rubbished the pledge. The negotiator told MEPs on the EU Employment and Social Affairs Committee: “The […]

Campaigners for a final say referendum have launched a new app which they hope will ‘re-open conversations about Brexit’ ahead of polling day. In 25 ultra-marginal constituencies, where just a few hundred votes could yet stop Boris Johnson’s destructive Brexit, people are being encouraged to talk to friends, neighbours and family ahead of an election […]

The Russian city has not only produced brilliant music, but – amid horrors of war – one of history’s greatest performances. Saint Petersburg is a city of beauty and brutality. Peter the Great founded his grand capital in 1703 as a Baltic port city that “hack[ed] a window through to Europe”. But while it took […]

Boris Johnson appears to have scaled back his expectations of the positive effect that Brexit will have on Britain. In an interview with the Sunday Times, he predicted that pulling out of the European Union will lead to a “big baby boom”. He claimed that Brexit will have the same positivity on the United Kingdom […]

The last time Boris Johnson met Sophy Ridge he promised to give the Sky News a presenter an answer on the naughtiest thing he’d ever done. Everyone remembers Theresa May’s excruciating answer where she said that it was “running through wheat fields” from 2017, and Boris Johnson appeared keen to avoid giving that answer the […]

Sky Sports football pundit Gary Neville has hit out at Boris Johnson for fuelling racism after an incident during the Manchester derby game. Neville was commenting on reports live on television that Manchester City had been made “aware of a video circulating on social media which appears to show a supporter making racial gestures” during […]

Fresh polling shows that the Conservative Party’s majority has halved in just two weeks – meaning fewer than 41,000 tactical votes in 36 marginal seats can stop Boris Johnson. The Best for Britain commissioned polling, carried out by Focaldata earlier this week, found that without tactical voting Labour, Lib Dems, SNP, Greens and Plaid Cymru […]

A new exhibition at the Barbican reveals how clubs allowed new artistic ideas to flourish free from conventional constraints. The Cine-bal, Cafe L’Aubette, Strasbourg, designed by Theo van Doesburg, 1926-28. Picture: Image Collection Het Nieuwe Instituut – Credit: Archant “Be modern” enjoined the sign over the entrance to the Chat Noir, the night club immortalised […]

Are you keeping track of the latest Brexiteer gaffes and general election headdesk moments? See how much your brain has decided not to wipe from the events of this week. Let us know how you get on by tweeting @TheNewEuropean

A new poll has seen a surge in support for the Labour Party – potentially putting Westminster in hung parliament territory. The shock ComRes polling for Remain United shows Labour jumping four points compared to the start of the week, jumping to 36% of support. Using data from polling for the Sunday Telegraph the analysis […]

A Conservative general election candidate was greeted with cries of ‘disgrace!’ after he said that food bank users struggle at ‘managing their budget’. Tory candidate Darren Henry said at a hustings in Broxtowe on Friday: “It’s about having budgeting for when they go down to the food bank. “What they struggle with is maybe being […]

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has said he doesn’t trust Tory leader Boris Johnson. Farage was visiting Tolley Fabrications in Sedgefield, County Durham, when he was asked by PA who he trusts out of Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn. Laughing, he replied: “Do you know something, that’s the most difficult question I’ve been asked. “I’ve […]

Actor Hugh Grant took to the streets with Lib Dem supporters campaigning to unseat Tory Brexiteer Dominic Raab. Hugh Grant canvassing in Walton-on-Thames in the Esher & Walton constituency with Liberal Democrat candidate Monica Harding. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire. – Credit: PA The Love Actually star went door to door in Walton on Thames with […]