News and Opinion

David Cameron took scandal-hit financier Lex Greensill for a “private drink” with health secretary Matt Hancock to discuss a payment scheme later rolled out in the NHS. The Sunday Times also reported that the Treasury reconsidered Greensill’s application for an emergency coronavirus loan after the former prime minister messaged a senior adviser to Boris Johnson. […]

Boris Johnson will not attend the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral to allow for the attendance of as many family members as possible during coronavirus restrictions, No 10 has said. The prime minister was understood to have been expected to attend the ceremony for Philip by the royals, but offered to step aside with the number […]

JAMES BALL on how the launch of the former first minister’s new party might play out at the polls. Alex Salmond and the intricacies of the Scottish voting system are not what Nicola Sturgeon wanted to be the focus in the run-up to this May’s Holyrood elections. Until just a few months ago, it felt like the […]

Every single person in a promotional picture on the front of the Daily Mail last year was white – including the carefree model family alongside the headline “William’s fury over too-white BAFTAs” Do you have the faintest idea what the prime minister looks like? No, I haven’t a clue either. If only newspapers would show […]

Sacha Jafri’s The Journey of Humanity – the world’s largest painting on canvas, which sold for $62m – is a prodigal waste of paint. Whatever else we may wish to say about The Journey of Humanity – the world’s largest existent painting on canvas, which sold at auction last week for $62m – one thing’s […]

Our football correspondent hails the departing Manchester City striker, the Premier League’s highest non-British scorer. In the Netherlands, club legends leave with a garland of flowers. At Manchester City, they are stacking up the statues. Three are on commission right now because in successive seasons Vincent Kompany, David Silva and now Sergio Agüero have retired […]

PETER TRUDGILL on death, and recent revival, of Cornish. After the first arrival of the Germanic Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons in the southwestern peninsula of England, British Celts began migrating across the Channel to Brittany to escape Germanic domination, thus reducing the Celtic population base of the area. By about 800 AD, the Saxons had taken […]

Beltrán Alfonso Osorio broke or fractured 107 bones in seven attempts at trying to finish the Grand National at Aintree For whichever jockey wins Saturday’s Grand National, it is likely to be a career-defining moment. One day you’re in the sports pages, the next you’re on the front pages. Yet, one of Aintree’s most celebrated […]

TIM WALKER on Dominic Cummings’ prospects on the after-dinner circuit. With apparently little else to do, Dominic Cummings is to try to cash in on his time in government on the after-dinner circuit – and has signed up with an outfit called Chartwell Speakers. One leading booker tells me, however, that his earnings are unlikely to make […]

Jacob-Rees Mogg, Boris Johnson and Matt Gaetz are in the firing line as comedian Mitch Benn hands out another set of his weekly awards. MASSIVE BRASS ONES OF THE WEEK …were to be found clanking away beneath the oddly-cut pinstripes of Britain’s Best Christian, Jacob Rees Mogg.  He welcomed the dawn on Easter Sunday by, […]

The European Commission president has floundered over Covid. But is it a sign of deeper problems within the Union? Perhaps it is because they are blond(e)s. That can be the only reason why Ursula von der Leyen has been compared to Boris Johnson. Yes, their fathers had jobs at the European Commission, and they spent […]

The SNP has described the comments made by Scottish Tory candidate Douglas Lumsden on Brexit as “appalling”. Lumsden, who is standing in Aberdeen Central, told BBC’s Newsnight that Brexit was “out of the way now”. The Aberdeen City Council co-leader also said that there were “some hiccups at the start of Brexit” but “we’re through […]

Election campaigning has been suspended by political parties following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh. Voters will make their decision at the ballot box on May 6, including for council and mayoral positions in England, the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Parliament. A Conservative Party spokeswoman said: “In light of the sad news from Buckingham […]

There have been further calls for calm after another night of violence in Northern Ireland which left another 19 police officers injured. Secretary of state Brandon Lewis is to meet Stormont political parties to discuss the situation. The violence was at a lower level on Thursday evening than it had been on Wednesday, but officers […]

Rishi Sunak has been defended by a fellow Cabinet minister amid calls for an investigation after text messages showed he “pushed” officials to consider plans that could have helped a firm David Cameron was lobbying for. Labour questioned whether the chancellor had broken the ministerial code, while the SNP urged Mr Sunak to appear before […]

The Duke of Edinburgh has died, Buckingham Palace has announced. Philip, 99, was the longest-serving consort in British history. The duke and the Queen were married for more than 70 years and Philip dedicated decades of his life to royal duty, serving the nation at the monarch’s side. He officially retired from public engagements in […]

Germany’s conservatives face a big decision over Angela Merkel’s replacement Munching your Easter eggs may have drowned the sound of a rather significant clock that started ticking in Germany last Sunday. The conservatives pledged to give themselves between Easter and Pentecost (May 23 this year) to decide on their joint front runner for the general […]

Turkey has been left angered by Italian prime minister Mario Draghi after he branded the country’s president a “dictator” for humiliating European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. The comments about Recep Tayyip Erdogan follows tension between EU leaders and the Turkish government after claims Von der Leyen had been snubbed at a key meeting in the country’s capital. The […]

Northern Ireland’s former police ombudsman Baroness Nuala O’Loan has criticised first minister Arlene Foster for calling for the resignation of the police chief. Lady O’Loan also criticised the UK government for acting on the post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland without agreement from Brussels, saying if ministers take the law into their own hands “it does […]

Downing Street has deleted a blog that talks up the economic prospects of Scottish independence, sparking concerns it was actively stifling freedom of speech. The SNP condemned the move and said it showed the government was “terrified” of the growing support for a Yes vote. It comes after a high-profile scientist warned the removal of the article, co-authored […]

A Conservative MP has been “strongly rebuked” but will retain the party whip following an internal investigation over his conduct. Rob Roberts, MP for Delyn, North Wales, has faced allegations over WhatsApp texts sent to a young female intern and his behaviour towards a male parliament worker. He is under investigation by the office of […]

Rioters have been blasted with a water cannon by police as unrest continued on the streets of Northern Ireland. After shocking scenes provoked calls for calm this week, violence again flared up on the streets of west Belfast, amid rising tensions in the area. Stones and fireworks were thrown at police by gangs of youths […]

Nicola Sturgeon has ruled out working with Alex Salmond’s new Alba Party after May’s Holyrood election – but has left open the prospect of a future deal with the Scottish Greens. While she insisted she is fighting the upcoming election in a bid to win an outright majority for the SNP after the May 6 […]

Calls for an investigation have been made after Rishi Sunak revealed he “pushed” officials to consider plans that could have helped a firm David Cameron was lobbying for. Labour also questioned whether the chancellor had broken the ministerial code, while the SNP urged Sunak to appear before parliament next week to “set the record straight” […]

The apparent indifference of many in the UK to allegations facing the prime minister is not shared elsewhere. Especially in Ireland, which has a recent history of indulging political corruption. 

Malignant nostalgia is covering up the truth about racism in the UK, claims Bonnie Greer. The new voting laws in the US state of Georgia and the newly published report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities in the UK have one thing in common: They belong to another age. Both came into being […]

He always set out to shock, but is Serge Gainsbourg now just too creepy for modern sensibilities? When Serge Gainsbourg died in 1991, Francois Mitterrand, then president of France, declared “he was our Baudelaire, our Apollinaire”. Parisians took to the streets for candlelit vigils and recitations of Gainsbourg lyrics. It was an unofficial day of national mourning. For the […]

Turkey has hit out at the European Union after Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was left without a seat at a meeting in Ankara. The meeting at the presidential palace saw European Council president Charles Michel and Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan both taking seats, but the female Commission president is left standing, before […]