News and Opinion

A new poll has put the Lib Dems ahead with a slim majority of Remain voters. A new YouGov poll suggests that 34% of Remain voters in the EU referendum will back Jo Swinson’s party with 33% supporting Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party. According to the polling some 16% now plan to vote in support of […]

Nigel Farage has called for a ‘Brexit alliance’ with the Conservatives – which would require Boris Johnson to drop his Brexit deal. The Brexit Party leader – who has been tight-lipped about his strategy despite mounting speculation – used his campaign launch to call for a pact with the Conservatives. It comes after US president […]

As the party of Forever Brexit, the Conservatives will struggle to persuade voters they can simply get the job done and move on, says ZOE WILLIAMS. This isn’t a surprising election. It was inevitable from the minute Boris Johnson said it wasn’t his intention. He is far from the stopped clock that’s right twice a […]

Whatever happens in an election on December 12th, it could force Boris Johnson to finally compromise over Brexit, writes MARY HONEYBALL. The “do or die” witching hour will upon us at 11.00 pm on Thursday 31 October. While Boris Johnson has been forced to ask the EU for an extension, Emmanuel Macron has made no […]

A Remain alliance involving Labour could still happen in a bid to put a stop to Brexit. Despite apparent disagreement between Labour and the Lib Dems, a Green Party MEP thinks a strategy between Remainer MPs could soon come together. Speaking to PA’s Tess de la Mare, Molly Scott Cato said: “I never thought Brexit […]

GAVIN ESLER draws parallels between government behaviour today and around the Gunpowder plot. It’s time to roll out the old song again: “Remember, remember the Fifth of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot. We see no reason Why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot.” And of course we do still remember Guy Fawkes and his dastardly […]

JAMES BALL on how we can expect the party campaigns to play out. At long last, it’s finally over. Months after the rest of the country realised this current parliament couldn’t get anything done – other than deciding not to decide anything just yet, the message has sunk in with MPs and we are heading […]

A Question Time audience member has slammed Boris Johnson for his comments about Muslims after she claimed her mother is too scared to go out in a burqa because of it. The teacher told the BBC panel programme that the prime minister had “incited racial hatred” with his comments, and criticised him for refusing to […]

A former Conservative MP has joined the Liberal Democrats, boosting Jo Swinson’s party ahead of the general election. Antoinette Sandbach was one of 21 Tories who had the party whip removed after rebelling against the Government in a September Commons vote intended to block a no-deal Brexit. She will contest her Cheshire seat of Eddisbury […]

As a New European reader, you probably reckon you keep a close eye on the continent’s news. Test yourself with our quiz… Think you’re on top of what’s been going on across Europe in the past seven days? Take The New European’s tricky quiz and find out just how much of a Europhile you are…

Bonnie Greer on Tulsi Gabbard, the controversial senator, running for the Democratic presidential nomination. One of the best things about growing up in America in the 1960s was being able to watch the first run of the original Hawaii Five-O, the greatest police procedural, to this very day, that has ever existed. Everything about the […]

Guy de Maupassant was a giant of French literature who spanned genres. RICHARD LUCK concentrates on one of his most chilling tales It won’t come as any great surprise to learn that William Shakespeare has had his work adapted on more occasions than any other writer. More of a shock is the identity of the […]

Donald Trump has used a radio interview with Nigel Farage to brand Boris Johnson a ‘fantastic’ man, and said that he should team up with Nigel Farage. Donald Trump has said Jeremy Corbyn would be “so bad” for the UK, and said if Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage teamed up with Johnson they would be […]

ANDREW ADONIS sees only one way to stop Brexit. A third election in barely four years. The last time that happened was in the 1970s and before that in the aftermath of the First World War, times of turbulence and national breakdown. It is the same today, and the outcome is equally unpredictable. So much […]

What does a winter poll mean for Remain? Mathematician CHRISTINA PAGEL calculated the prospects of various scenarios and believes it offers the best chance of ultimate success. Christina Pagel’s flowchart on what could happen next with Brexit. Image: TNE/Christina Pagel. – Credit: Archant Arguments about the pros and cons of a general election have been […]

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 Birmingham, home of Jasper Carrott. But who will be a roaring success like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire – and whose appearance will be best forgotten like Funky Moped? […]

MICHAEL WHITE asks whether the prime minister’s gamble will pay off. Will we, won’t we, get a December election as a substitute for that “do or die” Halloween Brexit? Now that Jeremy Corbyn’s fingers have finally been clawed off his comfort fence, it looks like ‘yes’. But it’s tempting to see this week’s undignified manoeuvres […]

Boris Johnson has been accused of sitting on a key report assessing the threat posed by Russia to Britain’s democracy. https://twitter.com/DominicGrieveQC/status/1189920531862167552 Former attorney general Dominic Grieve argued voters must have access to the report by the Intelligence and Security Committee of parliament, which he chairs, given the imminent election. He said it was “unacceptable” for […]

John Bercow should be given a place in the House of Lords, MPs have said. As the outgoing speaker received tributes in the House of Commons on his final day, MPs called for him to be given a new role in public life. Tory MP Michael Fabricant said Bercow should be given the post of […]

The group campaigning for a second referendum has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. JAMES BALL looks at the story behind the headlines. It seems particularly ominous that infighting at the People’s Vote group spilled into the public eye in the same week the country finally shifted towards a general election. The […]

TIM WALKER reviews Brian Friel’s Translation at the National Theatre. The grizzled old Jimmy Jack Cassie laments in Brian Friel’s play Translations: “I’m a barbarian in this place because I’m not understood by anybody.” All any of us ultimately want in life is to be understood – that’s how we establish our identity – but […]

More than 300,000 people have applied to register to vote in 48 hours, according to government figures. A total of 139,162 applications were submitted on Tuesday, followed by 177,105 on Wednesday. This is well above the typical number for weekday applications, which has been averaging around 37,000 for the past month. They are also the […]

STEVE ANGLESEY on a busy few days for the Brexit Party MEP and her mindboggling ‘link’ to the comedian Josh Widdicombe. A chalkboard with the most convincing argument for Remain. Photograph: Twitter – Credit: Archant Anyone doubting that the great British public will make a wise and informed choice at the impending general election is […]

Boris Johnson has vowed to deliver Brexit by January at the ‘absolute latest’ – on the day he last pledged to take the UK out of the EU. Johnson – who pledged the UK would be out by the end of October “do or die” – was determined to point the finger of blame at […]

The Led By Donkeys campaigners have trolled Conservative Party headquarters with clips of Boris Johnson insisting the UK would leave the EU on October 31st. Boris Johnson waves a folder as he leaves 10 Downing Street. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire. – Credit: PA The anti-Brexit activists hired a mobile billboard van with loudspeakers to blast […]

A voter who has always backed the Conservatives says she can no longer support her party because of its Brexit stance. Lucinda called LBC’s Eddie Mair show to tell the presenter that she was “disgusted” by the Brexiteers who had taken over the Conservative Party. She said she had given the party the benefit of […]

Keith Vaz is facing calls to stand down as a Labour candidate after a scathing Commons report recommended he should face a six-month suspension. The Standards Committee found the MP had caused “significant damage” to the reputation of the House after he expressed a willingness to purchase cocaine for others during an encounter with male […]

An MP who quit from the Liberal Democrats to back Theresa May’s Brexit deal is to fight the general election as a Remainer. https://twitter.com/EastbourneEcho/status/1189319794580971522 Stephen Lloyd resigned the Lib Dem whip in December to vote for May’s Brexit deal, saying it was the right thing to do on behalf of his constituents. He represented the […]