News and Opinion

MPs are preparing to choose John Bercow’s successor in the first speaker election in more than a decade. Eight candidates are bidding to take on the role following Bercow’s departure, with the Commons business on Monday dedicated to the selection. Deputy speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is among those strongly tipped to emerge victorious, with fellow […]

The Tory party have updated their infamous countdown clock which counted down the days until ‘we will have delivered Brexit and left the EU’ on October 31. Blaming Labour, Lib Dems and SNP sure sounds like an If and a But to meThis is slightly more accurate pic.twitter.com/5z47tpJl7t— (@OfSelina) November 4, 2019 The countdown clock, […]

Downing Street has said that Boris Johnson will not seek any extension to the Brexit transition period if he is returned to No 10 in the general election – despite a Tory minister agreeing no deal has been done in just ten months. Under the prime minister’s proposed deal with Brussels, the UK will continue […]

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long is challenging voters in Northern Ireland to change their minds over the ‘unicorn’ EU exit they were promised. The Alliance Party has made gains in recent elections with its non-sectarian and cross-community message. Despite Northern Ireland voting to Remain, 44% still voted to Leave, and she wants to win over […]

Nigel Farage has ruled out an eighth attempt to become a member of parliament, as he rejected calls to stand in the general election. The Brexit Party leader said he believes he can better serve the cause by “traversing the length and breadth” of the UK campaigning, instead of fighting to get elected in one […]

Botswana’s capital is home to a diverse musical culture, where traditional sounds infuse many genres – not least its thriving heavy metal scene. SOPHIA DEBOICK reports Botswana is a country unlike any other in Africa. Since its 1966 independence it has been one of the most politically stable nations on the continent and has enjoyed […]

A senior Treasury minister has failed to deny suggestions that the threat of a no-deal Brexit will not appear in the Conservative manifesto. https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1190925987875147776 Rishi Sunak repeatedly stressed that prime minister Boris Johnson has secured a new deal with the EU and the Tories would be focused on implementing it should they secure a majority […]

Boris Johnson’s senior adviser Dominic Cummings is facing questions from Labour over his past in Russia after an apparent whistleblower came forward with ‘serious concerns’. Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry has written to Tory counterpart Dominic Raab questioning whether the former Vote Leave director has been granted access to the government’s most sensitive “top secret” […]

Boris Johnson has refused to reveal the ‘naughtiest thing’ he has ever done in his latest television interview. The prime minister said he had not cleared an answer with his “handlers” and would “bitterly regret it” if he improvised one. During the 2017 general election, then prime minister Theresa May caused amusement after replying that […]

Labour could campaign to leave the EU in a second referendum if it secures a strong enough new Brexit deal from Brussels, a Labour frontbencher has claimed. Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey has been tipped to be Labour’s next leader. She appeared on Sky News to reitterate Labour’s position that it would attempt to renegotiate […]

The Liberal Democrats are still hinting a Remain alliance could take place across the UK in ‘up to 60 seats’. Talks have been under way between the unequivocally pro-EU parties of the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and the Greens to boost the chances of electing anti-Brexit MPs. The pact would see two of the three […]

With politics and attitudes to parliament more combustible than they have been for generations, NICK HOLLAND revisits the legacy of a man who truly tried to shake up the government. The oldest joke in politics, if you discount the current shenanigans, is that Guy Fawkes was ‘the last man to enter parliament with honest intentions’. […]

The Liberal Democrats have complained to ITV about the exclusion of leader Jo Swinson from an election debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn. The party urged ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall not to help the leaders of the two largest parties “stitch up the debates” ahead of the December 12 vote. Lib Dem […]

Famed for his depictions of four-legged creatures, the painter went to extraordinary, grisly lengths to understand the animals. RICHARD HOLLEDGE explains. Curious cove, George Stubbs. The high society painter of splendid, high-stepping horses was also a figure of “vile renown” who, in his striving to perfect his art, dissected human bodies and later, driven by […]

Facebook has pulled a series of government adverts in swing constituencies after accusations it had misused taxpayers’ money to target voters. At least 17 adverts promising up to £25 million investment in various towns across the UK went live on Tuesday – the day the general election was announced. They are part of My Town, […]

Former Tory MP and prominent newspaper columnist Matthew Parris has said he will quit the party after 50 years in a call for Conservatives who oppose Brexit to support the Liberal Democrats in the election. The Times journalist said he will cast his vote for the Remain-backing party in the December 12 ballot “to defeat […]

WILL SELF considers concepts of culture and what makes it. The doyenne of early 20th century British archaeology, V. Gordon Childe, initially propounded the cultural-historical theory of European development. Taking the concept of ‘culture’ from anthropology, he recast it as a set of recognisable traits in a material culture – such as the way people […]

Two decades after his father’s death, KEITH BLACKMORE attempted to piece together his wartime RAF career. The resulting story is at once deeply personal and utterly universal. My father would have been 100 this October. When he died, 21 years ago now, I was working at the Times. A considerate colleague from the obits department […]

BBC newsreader and presenter Fiona Bruce has been criticised for suggesting that Vote Leave had been cleared of any wrongdoing surrounding the EU referendum. A young audience member reminded the panel: “We talk about whether a general election can solve Brexit I think actually we’ve actually forgotten that actually Vote Leave is accused of breaking […]

A day after Britain was meant to leave the European Union there is more finally more news on the police investigation into Vote Leave. Evidence which could lead to a criminal charge led against the pro-Brexit campaign – led by Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings – has been handed to the criminal prosecution […]

The first televised election debate has been set for November 19th – but it will only feature Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson. The debate will be aired on ITV and it will be the first time the party leaders go head to head in the election campaign. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn challenged Johnson to […]

Boris Johnson has rejected Nigel Farage’s offer of a Brexit pact at the general election. https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/1190327765670739969 The prime minister declined to take up the advice of Donald Trump, who had also waded into UK politics to deliver a criticism of Mr Johnson’s new Brexit deal and Jeremy Corbyn. Asked if he would form an alliance […]

PETER TRUDGILL explains the journey along which we arrived at our use of the negative If you have learnt even a little bit of French, you will probably know that the word pas in that language means ‘not’. Pas mal! is ‘not bad’. Pas encore means ‘not yet’. Pas moi! is the equivalent of ‘not […]

A study has claimed that if the government had listened to experts talks with the EU would have been a smoother process. Academics have claimed that the EU was able to monopolise the production of key negotiating texts and guidelines because the Tories were distracted by infighting. This allowed the EU to “box in” the […]

This week we’re asking for your views on a general election. In our poll of the week we want to know if it was the right time for a general election and if you know how you’ll vote on December 12th. Should the election allowed for votes at 16 and votes for EU citizens, do […]

Like the last December election in 1923, the Tories could lose their grip on power. But, as BARNABY TOWNS explains, this election is a massive gamble for Remain parties too. For what it’s worth, Britain’s last December general election — nearly a century ago in 1923 — doesn’t offer encouraging omens for Boris Johnson’s Conservatives. […]

The welfare of the country should not be forgotten amid Brexit, writes MITCH BENN. Before I became active in the Remain campaign I was active for many years in the sceptical (and indeed Skeptical) community, which is a rather self-congratulatory way of saying that before I started wasting precious hours out of every day getting […]

Chancellor Sajid Javid has joined a chorus of condemnation of Spectator columnist Rod Liddle after he suggested planning elections for a time when Muslims cannot vote. In an article headlined “If you do one thing this election, stop your kids voting”, Liddle wrote: “My own choice of election date would be a day when universities […]