News and Opinion

The change of Commons speaker is a pivotal moment for politics and for Brexit, says ANDREW ADONIS. For Remainers, the poison pill of the parliament just ended was the replacement of John Bercow with Sir Lindsay Hoyle as speaker. Is the change as bad as it seems? Undoubtedly, a forthright, innovatory champion of parliamentary independence […]

The Brexit Party leader was told by a member of the public that he had tried to profit from the ‘politics of fear’ during the 2016 referendum. During the walkabout in Cumbria, the man said: “We don’t need you coming here. Why aren’t you standing as a candidate?” When Farage asked the man if he’d […]

The ex-secretary of state for housing and communities was slammed over a ‘shambolic day for the Tories’. James Brokenshire was challenged by Emily Maitlis on BBC’s Newsnight over Alan Cairns resigning on the day of the election launch over what he knew about a rape case, alongside Grenfell tower comments made by Tory MPs, and […]

Competing advice on the best way to vote to stop Brexit risks undermining the cause, says LIZ GERARD (seemingly marooned in a safe Tory seat). Yet she still has a few tips of her own. Oh, the luxury of being a Tory Leaver, of having something to vote for on December 12. To know which […]

A cross-party anti-Brexit initiative has banded together to agree on 60 seats in which pro-EU candidates will not run against each other in England and Wales. Unite To Remain, led by former MP Heidi Allen, is a collaboration between the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party, and Plaid Cymru. WATCH: ‘Unprecedented’ – Pro-Remain parties agree not […]

ADAM LANGLEBEN makes a plea to not overlook the issue in the desperate fight to stay in the EU. Last week BBC News ran a tragic investigation into a slum landlord that allowed residents to live in horrific conditions, with cockroaches, damp, heroin addicts shooting up in the hallways and faulty security doors for years, […]

MICHAEL WHITE on a week of conspiracies, scandals and (allotment) plots. At this stage in the 2019 election campaign it takes a very brave and foolhardy spirit confidently to predict the outcome. Naturally some politicians, pundits and punters rush to do so. Johnson devotees are adamant that their man has got it in the bag, […]

STEVE ANGLESEY on the funniest names to enter the Houses of Parliament. So farewell then, Dick Braine. The former UKIP leader, most famous for the Sun headline “Don’t Call Me Dick Braine, Says Dick Braine”, has stepped down after a bit of unpleasantness involving the party’s database and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. As the […]

A zoomed-out image of the Conservative election launch has shown the venue dwarfing the crowd of Boris Johnson supporters. Boris Johnson launches election campaign at Conservative party rally in Birmingham. pic.twitter.com/CwN9uuvl8Z— Tim Ross (@TimRoss_1) November 6, 2019 Bloomberg political reporter Tim Ross tweeted a picture of the convention hall revealing masses of floor space not […]

The major Pro-Remain parties in England and Wales have entered a pact which will mean pro-EU candidates will not run against each other in 60 constituencies. Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and Plaid Cymru will announce the constituencies where certain parties will not be offering candidates at 10am on Thursday. It is an ‘unprecedented’ cross-party […]

MARY HONEYBALL says the relentless focus of the Conservatives and Labour on male Leave voters has led to fewer female MPs. Seventeen women have decided to quit the House of Commons for good. Several of them had risen to ministerial positions and few are approaching retirement age. This exodus of able women is a concern […]

A former MP who stood down from the Labour Party earlier this year has said he will not stand in the general election, and as a parting shot told the electorate to vote for Boris Johnson. Ian Dudley, who has been a member of the party for 34 years, said that Jeremy Corbyn is “completely […]

The shadow chancellor of the exchequer has hit out against the Unite to Remain pact formed by the major pro-Remain parties in England and Wales. At a speech outlining Labour’s economic vision for the country, John McDonnell said: “We’re going to transform this economical system so it works for everyone and not just a small […]

Nigel Farage has watered down his demands for Boris Johnson to scrap his Brexit deal in return for an electoral pact. Farage has now said changes must be made to the government’s political declaration for his party to back the deal. He said his party will stand at least 600 candidates in the general election […]

Who is on Question Time tonight and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide… The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme tonight comes from Glasgow for its biannual trip north of the border specifically designed to enrage the natives with at least one panellist with no idea of which issues are devolved. Here’s your […]

Collins Dictionary has released a list of words which have come into use since the EU referendum of 2016, and no, ‘Brexity’ isn’t one of them. We just made that one up. Collins said the 10-strong list, dubbed the ‘Brexicon’, marks “the latest chapter of the Brexit story” and details the “10 words that Brexit […]

Tom Watson has quit as the deputy leader of Labour and will not stand as an MP in the general election. In a statement, the party said: “After 35 years in full-time politics, Tom Watson is stepping down as an MP and Labour’s Deputy Leader. “Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn has thanked Tom for his contribution […]

Andrew Neil has drilled into a Tory MP over the first 48 hours of their election campaign where ‘nothing has gone right’. Neil slammed Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi over the first two days of the campaign trail, which saw offensive comments made about Grenfell victims, a Tory candidate say people on benefits should be shot, […]

Northern Ireland’s only unionist Remainer MP has said she will not contest the general election. Lady Sylvia Hermon announced that she would not be defending the North Down seat she took in 2001. She was under pressure from a Democratic Unionist rival who cut her majority to 1,208 in the last poll in 2017. She […]

Brussels has dismissed Boris Johnson’s claim to have negotiated an entirely new Brexit deal after he became prime minister, insisting it never reopened the withdrawal agreement. The European Commission said on Wednesday the EU had simply made ‘clarifications’ to Theresa May’s Brexit deal, and it had not amended it at all. It goes against Downing […]

Boris Johnson is reportedly losing his grip on party discipline after it emerged that Nigel Farage is in talks with Brexiteer Tories to offer secret electoral pacts. The pacts would involved Farage standing down his candidates in exchange for a successful Tory MP to back a no-deal Brexit rather than Johnson’s deal. The moves threaten […]

More than 50,000 people have signed a petition rallying the government to release a controversial report about Russian interference in UK elections. The report, which examines whether Russia interfered in the 2016 EU referendum and the 2017 general election, was not published as the government said there was not enough time to publish the report […]

The Spanish government has threatened to remove the rights of British expatriates after Brexit if the UK cannot guarantee protecting Spanish migrants. Spain has urgently passed legislation to protect the rights of the 365,967 Britons who currently reside in the country, however it is yet to see similar mechanisms put in place in the UK […]

The media watchdog Ofcom has received 23 complaints after a Sky News presenter ’empty chaired’ a Tory politician who she says was expected on the show. Let's resolve this definitively, shall we? Here is the "Listen Again" feature of @talkRADIO. It time-stamps @JamesCleverly as coming on, almost 20 minutes after he was empty-chaired by @KayBurley. […]

A Conservative election candidate has bungled his campaign website by featuring a ruin that he thought was in his constituency – but is actually 350 miles away. The upper image, which appeared on Morley’s website, featured Melrose Abbey in Scotland, before it wasd hurriedly replaced with local landmark below – Reading Abbey. Picture: Craig Morley […]

A comedian has made a hilarious mock trailer for ‘the British sequel to Succession’, starring Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings and ‘That bloke from Wetherspoons’. I put Boris in the starring role in the British sequel to Succession, because it just had to be done. @jessearmstrong1 @lucyprebblish @hbo @NicholasBritell pic.twitter.com/QqJqDPph4j— Jon Harvey (@jondharvey) November 6, 2019 […]

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said he has never had it explained to him what the true benefits of Brexit are. He said that even leading Brexiteer Nigel Farage was unable to give an adequate response. Barnier was speaking at the Web Summit in Lisbon as the UK prepares for a general election. […]

Days after quitting as speaker of the house, John Bercow has called Brexit the UK’s ‘biggest mistake’ since the Second World War in a devastating verdict. BREAKING. Will #Brexit affect the international position of the UK?Bercow: 'I don't think it helps the UK. #Brexit is the biggest mistake of this country after the war. I […]