News and Opinion

Alastair Campbell on the growing power of the People’s Vote campaign events on Westminster and public opinion. If it isn’t already, make sure October 19 is in your diary. Yes, another big march. Yes, London again, groans from some I know, but it is the best way to get the big numbers, and make a […]

MARIAMA KAPUWA will be spreading the word of a People’s Vote at one of the world’s largest street festivals this weekend. Notting Hill Carnival started as a means of closing the racial bridge and reducing tensions that existed between white and black communities during the 1950s. Racial tensions had led to a series of racist […]

Opposition parties have agreed to meet next week to discuss plans to block a no-deal Brexit in parliament, but some MPs have refused to join. Jeremy Corbyn wrote to senior opposition leaders in Westminster and key Tory Remain-backing rebels calling for a meeting aimed at stopping Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal. […]

Roger Tyers, a climate change expert, made a pledge to avoid flying so travelled by train to China for new job instead. Academics travel a lot. Whether for fieldwork or conferences, we’re often encouraged to do it. Often internationally, invariably by aeroplane. But while globetrotting might make us feel important, a recent study suggests there’s […]

David Davis and the BBC’s John Humphrys shared a chummy joke in an interview, making light of an incident in which a man allegedly punched his wife before a tango contest. I really, really like John Humphrys. I really, really don't like him making jokes about a woman being punched by her dance partner #today […]

Arron Banks bails out of Westmonster website; Corbyn gives Swinson the hairdryer treatment and the editor who gave Boris Johnson the kipper packed in lies is named and shamed. Gary Jones, editor of the Daily Express – Credit: Archant It was a mystery that would have confounded even Agatha Christie, but Mandrake can today name […]

Michael White says setbacks and delays at Downing Street reveal the Brexit plan is all tactics and no strategy. Conservative Party leadership candidate Boris Johnson brandishes a kipper during the final Tory leadership hustings – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images Don’t laugh, but I was greatly cheered by a recent visit to the cinema where we […]

Priti Patel would be reneging on a government promise made just three weeks ago if she decides to end freedom of movement overnight – and risks disenfranchising thousands of people, argues campaign group THE 3 MILLION. From automatic status and no change during the referendum campaign, to stripping over two million EU citizens of their […]

The French president Emmanuel Macron has warned Boris Johnson that the Irish backstop is ‘indispensable’ and cannot be removed as the prime minister wants. The comments have added to his reputation as the “bad cop” of the negotiation in contrast to Angela Merkel’s “good cop”. He had previously said that demands to renegotiate the Brexit […]

As the Brexit deadline approaches, tens of thousands of people have expressed interest on Facebook in a Brexit beach party in the Netherlands to say a fond farewell to Britain. Nearly 10,000 people have signed up for the proposed event that would allow people to sit in deckchairs looking out to sea as “Great Britain […]

As Boris Johnson demands the EU drop the Irish backstop from the Withdrawal Agreement, a young activist has branded his negotiation efforts a ‘sham’. Will Dry, who co-founded pro-EU youth campaign Our Future, Our Choice, said that Boris Johnson was trying to “con” the British public into thinking he is trying to get a deal, […]

A former German ambassador to the UK has warned that if Boris Johnson is expecting eleventh hour concessions on his Irish backstop demands in the Withdrawal Agreement, he ‘might be in for a nasty surprise’. Thomas Matussek said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that there are “certain issues on which the EU cannot budge”. […]

Following a government announcement of £9 million in Brexit preparation funding for councils, Portsmouth council’s Liberal Democrat leader has called it ‘far too little and far too late’. Portsmouth is one of the port areas that has been prioritised for £5 million of that funding by the government in order to handle potential customs chaos. […]

Football manager Ian Holloway has been lampooned after he bizarrely blamed the EU for a VAR decision that saw a Manchester City goal disallowed. On Sky Sports’ ‘The Debate’ roundup programme, which reviewed the Man City vs Tottenham game, he said he hopes Brexit comes quickly because “you cannot have someone telling us how to […]

Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin has promised Brexiteers that he will bring beer prices to an ‘unbelievable low’ if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on October 31. The vocal Brexiteer publican said it’s a “guarantee” as long as there is “no messing around with customs unions or any of that funny stuff”. Martin […]

UK officials have been accused of allowing Britain to become ‘rule-takers’ at the European Union after Brexit department announced they would stop attending most meetings. The government’s Brexit department claimed that as a departing member state it “makes sense to ‘unshackle’ officials’ from these EU meetings to enable them to better focus their talents on […]

Brexiteers have started writing poetry, after the poet laureate said he had no particular plans to commemorate Brexit in writing. Simon Armitage hurt Brexiteers’ feelings when he said he has already produced work, a “film poem”, marking the previous Brexit date of March 29, and wasn’t planning further Brexit poetry for October 31. Sensitive Brexiteers […]

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, has rejected Boris Johnson’s demands for an alternative to the backstop. Tusk defended the measure and warned that those seeking to replace it would risk a return to a hard border on the island of Ireland. He tweeted: “The backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard […]

With a new documentary focusing on the charismatic Thin Lizzy front-man, RICHARD LUCK charts his extraordinary rise and tragic fall. “What’s it like being black and Irish?” “It’s a bit like being a pint of Guinness.” It wasn’t just lines like that that ensured Phil Lynott’s place in the rock pantheon. A string of great […]

Despite campaigning for a return of blue passports, Nigel Farage has brandished a burgundy passport with the words ‘European Union’ removed and claimed on social media ‘we got our passports back’. There I fixed it for you pic.twitter.com/U1lo9IfH4C— Shit Britain Esq. (@britainisshit) August 19, 2019 Farage, who was previously mocked for claiming European passports for […]

The petition calling on the government to revoke Article 50, which became the biggest petition presented to government of all time, ends today. Started in February by 77-year-old Margaret Georgiadou, the petition asks the government to “revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU”. “The government repeatedly claims exiting the EU is ‘the will of […]

Anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray has continued his mission to interrogate Brexiteers in Westminster and this time caught up with Dominic Cummings. An archive photograph of Dominic Cummings arriving in Downing Street. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA. – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images The Vote Leave ‘mastermind’ and adviser to the new British prime minister was arriving at work […]

Lidl has warned suppliers that it expects those with existing contracts to pay any additional EU tarrifs as a result of a no-deal Brexit. Lidl Ireland said that all its existing contracts contain a delivered duty paid (DDP) clause which means the seller bears the costs importing the goods including any tariffs. Currently there are […]

Shadow cabinet members including Diane Abbott, Emily Thornberry and John McDonnell say they will campaign for Remain ‘in any fresh referendum’. Jeremy Corbyn has said Labour would campaign to Remain if there was a fresh referendum before a general election, but refused to say what his position would be after a general election. But key […]

The European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator has tweeted a withering response to Boris Johnson’s latest attempts to get the EU to drop the Irish backstop from the Withdrawal Agreement. The prime minister has written to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, demanding that they agree an alternative. But Guy Verhofstadt said he does not […]

Campaigners have accused Number 10 of ‘reckless politics’ after it said that freedom of movement would immediately end on Brexit day if the UK leaves the European Union without a deal on October 31st. Ministers were warned that dramatically changing the system on October 31 could leave the UK facing “another Windrush” – a reference […]

The Conservative Party has ramped up its spending on Facebook advertising to promote Boris Johnson and his Brexit plans. A Facebook advert promoted by the Tories. Photograph: Conservatives/Facebook/PA Wire . – Credit: PA Data from the social media giant shows the Tories spent £86,020 on targeted advertising on Facebook in the 30 days to August […]

The leaked Yellowhammer report, which warns of dire effects of a no-deal Brexit, was described as a “likely, basic, reasonable scenarios” and not “the worst case,” as Michael Gove has downplayed it. The secret Whitehall dossier, which was leaked to the Sunday Times, raises the prospect of food, fuel, and medical shortages and a hard […]