News and Opinion

Dominic Raab has been criticised by the last Conservative MP to hold his seat, who said Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal ‘is a really damaging threat which must not go unchallenged’. Ian Taylor, who was the Tory MP for Esher from 1987 to 1997, and for Esher and Walton from 1997 to 2010, urged voters to […]

Boris Johnson is already making plans for MPs to vote on his Brexit deal before Christmas with the possibility MPs would have to sit Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. Downing Street confirmed the Queen is expected re-open parliament on Monday 19th December, which would give Johnson time to bring back his Brexit deal before Christmas, […]

A chip shop owner and town councillor has prompted complaints after he posted that he would give away fish and chips if the Brexit Party wins seats off Labour in the election. David Wood, who sits on Penistone Town Council and runs Woody’s Fish and Chips in Barnsley, made the promise on Facebook, according to […]

Boris Johnson has been branded ‘absolutely embarrassing’ after he was asked about his party’s attempt to rebrand its Twitter account as an independent fact-checking service. At the launch of the Conservative Party’s election manifesto, the prime minister was asked by a Guardian reporter how the public can trust Johnson after the misleading debacle. MORE: Tory […]

The inventor of the World Wide Web has criticised the Conservative party for spreading misinformation during the general election campaign. After the Tories rebranded their press office’s Twitter account as a fact checking body, Sir Tim Berners-Lee accused the party of “unbelievable” impersonation. The Conservatives made their Twitter account appear to be an independent fact-checking […]

A pro-EU campaigner says he was ordered to remove a ‘bollocks to Brexit’ sticker from the side of the car he was driving by a policeman he described as ‘deranged’. The car involved belongs to anti-Brexit group campaign group EU Flag Mafia. Picture: supplied by Peter Cook – Credit: supplied by Peter Cook Business consultant […]

Nigel Farage could end up leader of yet another party after the general election, despite a pledge he would ‘disappear’ once Brexit was done. Last week the Brexit Party told ITV that he would “disappear” as soon as Brexit was sorted, but in a separate interview he explained he had plans to launch a “Reform […]

The polling expert Sir John Curtice has issued a clear warning to Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn, claiming the Tory lead could fall if Jeremy Corbyn is able to unite the pro-Remain parties. In a series of articles responding to the latest in poll predictions, Curtice suggested there are three major pitfalls that could take […]

Television presenter Rylan Clark-Neal has hit back at critics after he was unveiled as an anchor for Channel 4’s alternative election coverage, arguing he can do a better job than a lot of political journalists. Speaking to the Big Issue magazine he criticised those who believed he should not be talking politics, arguing those who […]

The culture minister was slammed by Good Morning Britain presenters over the Conservative government’s claim to provide the NHS with 50,000 more nurses after it emerged the figure includes 19,000 nurses already employed. Speaking to Nicky Morgan GMB host Piers Morgan said: “We know that trust in Boris Johnson is very low, we know that […]

A legitimate fact-checker has accused Boris Johnson of being economical with the truth after the unveiling of his election manifesto. Full Fact chief executive Will Moy said the Conservative Party could “do more to meet the standards we expect” after investigating its pledges on paving the way for 50,000 new nurses and limiting day-to-day spending […]

STEVE ANGLESEY on how the Brexit Party’s parliamentary candidate and former Apprentice winner Michelle Dewberry is making a grab for her home town. Nigel Farage came close to making many Remainers’ dreams come true last week, by going to Hull. That he fell one letter short is a matter of regret, but Farage’s visit to […]

It may lack the glitz of more renowned musical hubs, but in Stockton it’s the soul that counts says SOPHIA DEBOICK. While some places are synonymous with music industry glamour, others entirely lack mystique. Stockton-on-Tees’ claims to fame include the invention of the friction match in a chemist’s shop on its high street (the widest […]

Boris Johnson will become Donald Trump’s ‘poodle’ if the Tories win the election and take the UK out of the EU, the Lib Dems are warning. Chuka Umunna, the Liberal Democrats spokesman on foreign affairs, has used a speech to say that Johnson will become more reliant on the US president if the Conservatives are […]

A Conservative candidate has been caught on video setting up a fake interview with a friend who was made to appear as a genuine constituent. Lee Anderson, who is running for the Tories in the key marginal seat of Ashfield, was caught on video phoning a friend and saying: “I’m knocking at your door in […]

A Brexit Party candidate has admitted that no-one would ‘lose any sleep’ if Nigel Farage’s organisation disappeared. Harry Boparai, the candidate in Hayes and Harlington said that Farage had been forced to create the organisation, and that it did not matter if it did not exist if Brexit was sorted. He told This Is London: […]

A veteran Tory politician, who was an MP for 22 years, has savaged the party leader for being unable to deliver his promises and failing to turn up to battle. Keith Simpson, who was the Conservative MP for Mid-Norfolk until the election was called, appeared on the BBC’s Sunday Politics East to claim that age […]

The DUP could work with the Labour Party if there is a hung parliament, admits party leader Arlene Foster, but there is one catch. Foster reiterated her view that she could see no circumstance in which her party would support a minority Labour administration with Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister. But she acknowledged there were […]

She has steadfastly insisted that the Liberal Democrats could win the general election outright and form a majority government, despite laughs of derision from opponents. But now Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson has appeared to doubt her own conviction in her party’s chances of victory after admitting that the man she believes is not fit to […]

A new Brexit deal thrashed out by Labour could be the ‘most unloved, orphan offer ever’ because of the party’s unwillingness to commit to supporting leave or remain, television host Andrew Marr has suggested. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell says he would not stay neutral in a referendum on a Labour Brexit deal, but does not […]

Sci-fi fan MITCH BENN on what his hero Douglas Adams would have to say about politics today Whoever came up with the expression “You must never meet your heroes; they’ll always disappoint you” had dreadful taste in heroes. I’ve been lucky enough to meet quite a few of my heroes over the years and by […]

LIZ GERARD on the jaw-dropping contortions being attempted by the prime minister’s supporters in the press Welcome to the Through the Looking Glass election. To a land that we are sure we have visited before, yet one that seems somehow back-to-front. Ah yes, of course we’ve been here before. Back in 2016 when we were […]

Labour could lose all but one of its seats in Scotland, with support dropping seven points in a poll, while Tory support looks relatively unhampered. The Panelbase study for the Sunday Times suggested that only Labour’s Ian Murray will be returned to the House of Commons. Murray, a frequent critic of leader Jeremy Corbyn, was […]

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL on what the UK could learn about strengthening the ‘quiet centre’ from Australia’s compulsory voting system. It was nice to escape the awfulness of the election for a few days, to head overseas for the wedding of Philip Gould’s daughter, Grace. As she was marrying an American, they chose neutral ground, Jamaica. There […]

JOHN KAMPFNER says the Liberal Democrat leader’s unequivocal Remain position may not be enough… she may need the politics to match the message What is the point of the Liberal Democrats? To ask the question is not to ridicule. Rather the reverse: It is only when it asks itself the question that the third party […]

In the UK, televised election debates are considered a fairly recent introduction. But, as Roger Domeneghetti explains, there were some short-lived earlier attempts, which become embroiled in all the same controversies as now When Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg took to the stage at Granada studios in April 2010, it was seen as […]

We have borrowed plenty of words from Greek – but they haven’t always kept quite the same meaning, says PETER TRUDGILL If you are on holiday in Greece or Cyprus, you may be unlucky enough to come across a sign hanging on the door of your hotel lift saying Ektós liturgías. Ektós is not necessarily […]

More than 300,000 people registered to vote in the general election on Friday in what is being reported as one of the biggest surge in pre-election registration in UK political history. Of the 300,000 who registered to vote on Friday, 200,000 were under-35s – with Labour likely to receive a boost as the party most […]