News and Opinion

Liberal Democrat president SAL BRINTON believes the crisis facing the NHS is being compounded by Brexit and a divided government that can’t deal with our public services falling apart Last Friday on Any Questions Therese Coffey MP was the latest Remain voter and Minister trying to defend Theresa May’s position on Brexit. Like the country, […]

Theresa May’s visit to China laid bare one of the founding myths of Brexit, argues JONATHAN LIS. We are retreating from the world, not reaching out into it, If you needed a clear sign that Brexit was in trouble, we got another one recently when the prime minister, pursued to China by a cortege of […]

Parliament has reasserted its strength in the EU debate, says STEPHEN DORRELL. Now MPs must exercise their power The big political story of 2018 is that the government’s Brexit policy is unravelling and the primary reason is that parliament has taken control of the process. By passing Dominic Grieve’s amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill […]

We got stag parties, carrots and vacuum cleaners – but what was Boris Johnson actually talking about? Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson wipes sweat from his brow as he delivers his speech – “road to Brexit, a United Kingdom”, as part of the government’s road map on Brexit, at the Policy Exchange, London. – Credit: PA […]

A century on from women’s suffrage, EMMA JONES talks to two veteran campaigners about a more recent victory for women’s rights, and battles still to be won. ‘I washed 18 shirts this morning, and hung them out to dry,’ laughs 86-year-old Diane Munday. Not words you would expect from a feminist pioneer, who played a […]

The German government has called on Theresa May to present her squabbling government’s plans about the future relationship between Britain and the EU after it leaves. A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said today: “It’s important for us that Britain concretise its plans… time is running out.” Mrs Merkel is meeting with Mrs May in […]

Boris Johnson today fired another salvo at Philip Hammond, claiming it would be “mad” to end up with a Brexit settlement that did not allow the UK to enjoy the “economic freedoms” of leaving the EU. Signalling the need to diverge from EU rules after leaving the bloc, the foreign secretary insisted that the UK […]

Comedian, musician and writer MITCH BENN considers Twitter as the area to open discussions on Brexit. I spend a lot of time on Twitter, and I make no apologies for this. Quite apart from the fact that my time on the site has done me some good (I got this job via Twitter, I got […]

Boris Johnson’s keynote Brexit speech should not be taken seriously “given everything he said about that bus”, former Labour minister Yvette Cooper has said. The foreign secretary is expected to insist that leaving the bloc is a cause for hope, not fear, as he sets out his vision for a post-Brexit Britain. To make Brexit […]

The ongoing disoute over use of the term ‘Macedonia’ represents a troubling tension in Europe. But a political solution is possible, argues NEOPHYTOS LOIZIDES In the latest volley of a long-running dispute over the right to the name ‘Macedonia’, an estimated 140,000 Greeks took to the streets of Athens last weekend to protest against its […]

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has accused British politicians such as Boris Johnson of talking “total nonsense” when they accuse him of seeking to create a European superstate. His comments came as he answered questions at a press conference in Brussels taking place as the foreign secretary made a high-profile speech on Brexit in London. […]

Brexit is on its way to becoming a mystical entity and a sign that the UK has gone mad suggests BONNIE GREER. Brexitarianism – we are now at the One True Faith stage – could soon achieve full convergence with that other True Faith: Trumpism. Just as one of the writers of The Simpsons recently […]

Troubling as it may be, Putin is the politician best attuned to the state of the world today, says JAMES RODGERS. All around was in ruins. It was an early spring day, and the air had just started to warm: the sting taken out of the North Caucasus winter. Among the rubble of the Chechen […]

Chancellor and cabinet remainer Philip Hammond has been dispatched on a Brexit charm offensive, with a brief to assure European counterparts and business leaders that Britain “still cares” about them. The man dubbed “Spreadsheet Phil” for his powder-dry demeanour is visiting European Union members Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal as part of his tour. […]

Readers are calling on Jeremy Corbyn to hold Labour’s own EU referendum and to act on party members’ wishes. The letter from Momentum supporter Jim Hoyle (issue 81) about attacks on Jeremy Corbyn in TNE misses the point. Huge numbers of Labour members and supporters, new and old, are bemused and depressed by the leadership’s […]

In his new stage review, TIM WALKER watches Long Day’s Journey into Night at Wyndham’s Theatre, London Long Day’s Journey into Night Wyndham’s Theatre, London, until April 7 FIVE STARS Nudging 70, Jeremy Irons is a brave man to make his West End comeback in, of all plays, Long Day’s Journey into Night. Eugene O’Neill […]

Amid the investigations into the Trump administration PAUL CONNEW wonders if the President’s longest-serving aide could be the one to bring him down. In the wake of high-profile sackings that have dogged US President Donald Trump’s administration, the White House Communications Director Hope Hicks (2L) remains in the president’s inner circle. Photo: PA Images – […]

MEREDITH SHAW delves into the literature the secretive state produces for its population and discovers reading between the lines. North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-Un. Photo: PA – Credit: Yonhap News Agency/PA Images With colourful rhetoric about ‘dotards’ (the insult thrown at Donald Trump by Kim Jong-un) and nuclear buttons, North Korean propaganda is certainly attracting […]

The return of volatility to the markets is a reminder of the uncertainties out there in the ‘real world’, says ANGELA JAMESON. Just two weeks ago Donald Trump was bragging to the movers and shakers at Davos that the stock market was up 50% on his watch. The US president has tweeted more than 60 […]

Government minister Penny Mordaunt has promised ‘meat on the bones’ ahead of a series of big-hitting Brexit speeches. The International Development Secretary said a series of major speeches planned by Prime Minister Theresa May and Cabinet heavyweights would set out a Brexit ‘vision’. She told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show: ‘What the public want is […]

The New European’s Editor-at-Large, Alastair Campbell, on how the youth need to raise their voices and speak out against Brexit. You find yourself in some strange places when you have a book out. And so, on Sunday morning when I would normally be out on the bike, or re-watching Match of the Day to see […]

A vote among party members over Brexit would transform the debate and act as a trial run for the real thing, argues ANDREW ADONIS. According to a famous American of whom no-one in England has heard, ‘the best cure for the ills of democracy is – more democracy.’ So it is with Brexit. The 2016 […]

Campaigner Gina Miller tells TIM WALKER about her latest legal challenge to the government, and why the law still offers the best hope of holding it to account. ‘The Brextremists are calling for Theresa May to go full steam ahead, but that’s actually the last thing we want now,’ says Gina Miller. ‘We’re heading into […]

MICHAEL WHITE on the faux aristo with plenty of principles and views… but no policies. “Beware of the snides on the march”. Swords have been drawn as the Sunday Times threatened May with replacement. Picture: Gary Barker – Credit: Gary Barker Wrong, wrong, wrong! That’s how my prediction here last week looks after days of […]

Weaker, poorer, smaller. JAMES BALL looks at how Brexit will enfeeble Britain sector by sector. Jacob Rees-Mogg is on the warpath. The backbench faux-toff, who now leads a grouping of more than 50 hard Brexiteer Conservative MPs, is doubling down with his insistence that assessments produced by the civil service on the impact of Brexit […]

Agreement on a transition period to smooth Britain’s exit from the EU is “not a given”, Brussels’ chief Brexit negotiator has warned. After the latest round of talks between officials in Brussels, Michel Barnier said that three “substantial” disagreements remained over plans for the transition, expected to last around two years after the date of […]

Steve Anglesey names the worst Brexiteers of the week. Nigel Farage was told to ‘go back to where you came from’ by a heckler in Dublin. Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire – Credit: PA 10 JOHN REES-EVANS The failed UKIP leadership candidate whose manifesto advocated a new social media network for Kippers – he should have […]

In this week’s diary column, Lib Dems distance themselves from comedy stalwart and Tim Shipman considers a new Conservative ‘dream team’. Don’t mention the EU Referendum After parting company with his third wife Alyce Faye Eichelberger and any discernibly funny scripts, John Cleese’s relationship with the Lib Dems appears to have petered out, too. The […]