News and Opinion

The messaging app has become a key tool of political campaigning, giving great power to those behind the scenes. ALIAKSANDR HERASIMENKA and ANASTASIA KAVADA report. Last year, when parliament asked the government to publish the messages that key officials were sending to each other about Brexit via text message, email, Facebook and messaging apps, it […]

STEVE ANGLESEY on the chimes of doom that ring with Leave.EU’s unappealing peal appeal. Fitting, isn’t it, that the final battle of Brexit should be about the noise generated by a collection of ancient, slightly cracked, hollow instruments? Veteran Eurosceptics Sir Bill Cash (79), David Davis (71) and Sir John Redwood (68) are among those […]

Boris Johnson is not trying to intervene in the independence of judiciary, the attorney general has claimed. eoffrey Cox also told MPs there is “no question of weakening judicial review” under a review of the constitution, adding that the question is whether the process can be made “more efficient” and focused on its purpose of […]

MICHAEL WHITE on the quiet passing of the Brexit bill and noisy return of reality. How is the new parliament settling down? It met for four days before Christmas and, back since January 7, is now into double figures. What’s the mood and what are the new MPs like? More to the point here, whatever […]

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL is among those dumbstruck by Sam Mendes’ cinematic masterpiece 1917. And in it he finds a key message for those seeking to lead the Labour Party. 1917. No words. No words in the title. No words good enough to describe what an extraordinary film it is. Agreed, this is an entirely subjective view. […]

Will a new leader bring an end to the party’s anti-Semitism crisis? Former member ADAM LANGLEBEN fears the issue is too deeply-rooted for that to happen without tough action. So is it all over yet? What has felt at times like an abusive relationship with the Labour Party over the last five years might finally […]

There may be months left for the race to run, but Labour historian FRANCIS BECKETT explains why he has the confidence to call the result of the party leadership already. Forgive the bold prediction but, barring accidents, Sir Keir Starmer will be declared Labour leader on April 4, and will set about trying to become […]

ANDREW ADONIS on why the Irish Taoiseach will make the most from the Brexit crisis. The two victors of the Brexit crisis in these islands have been Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar. And the Taoiseach’s triumph may be to be the more significant as he steers Ireland towards a unity and confidence it has never […]

Nigel Farage’s Brexit celebration is falling a bit flat after it appeared Big Ben won’t chime at 11pm on January 31st – and now fireworks are banned too. Despite receiving approval for the party at Parliament Square, the Telegraph reports that he has been told that will not be able to set off fireworks from […]

Boris Johnson’s claim that publication of the report on Russian interference is ‘weeks away’ has been refuted by a journalist. Mark Urban, BBC Newsnight’s diplomatic editor, has claimed that the report is not likely to be published until later in the spring or even summer. Earlier this week Boris Johnson squirmed as he was asked […]

The BBC is promising to be more ambitious over coverage surrounding climate change. The corporation is proposing to broadcast documentaries, podcasts and debates under the Our Planet Matters banner. It said the programmes will explore all aspects of the environment “at a local and global level” with Sir David Attenborough among those getting involved. Fran […]

Officials at the Houses of Parliament have thwarted Mark Francois and Boris Johnson’s bid to make Big Ben bong on January 31st – by refusing to accept public cash to pay for it. Boris Johnson had backed calls from hardline Brexiteers like Mark Francois to work to ensure the clock’s bells ring out at 11pm […]

Sir Patrick Stewart has described Brexit as ‘the grimmest thing’ to have happened to him in his political life. The actor, 79, best known for his roles in Star Trek and the X-Men films, has been a Remain campaigner and a supporter of a second Brexit referendum. Speaking at the premiere of Star Trek: Picard […]

A Home Office minister has insisted that government is ‘not mean’ for backtracking on previous commitments over child refugees. Tory frontbencher Baroness Williams of Trafford defended the record of successive Conservative administrations and strongly rejected claims the vulnerable youngsters would be used as “bargaining chips” in post-Brexit negotiations with the EU. Anger has been expressed […]

A new poll of Labour members has found Rebecca Long-Bailey is the most likely successor to Jeremy Corbyn. Despite no major speeches or public appearances, the shadow business secretary appears to have clawed back ground on Sir Keir Starmer, after the first poll of Labour members put him narrowly ahead. Long-Bailey would win 42% of […]

The EU’s head-in-sand approach to keeping the Iran deal afloat has highlighted the organisation’s weaknesses, says JAMES BALL. The new decade has started with one of the stupidest and most dangerous escalations in history, thanks to – at least in the short-term – the short fuse of President Donald J. Trump and his continued presence […]

The anti-government protests which have erupted in Iran have deflected attention from the US president’s missteps, says former diplomat PAUL KNOTT. Foreign policy is a pragmatic, often rough, business. The question that matters most when analysing it is ‘did the action taken advance the national interest?’ In the case of Donald Trump’s Iran policy and […]

Youth activist AMANDA CHETWYND-COWIESON gives her view on what happens next to the Remain movement. The word ‘lost’ has always struck me as a strange one to describe defeat. Lost means we are meant to let go of something already in our possession, so that we can still find it again. In the campaign for […]

Will former Remain campaigners now switch their attention to climate change activism? Green Party MEP CATHERINE ROWETT thinks not. Catherine Rowett MEP. Picture: Antony Kelly. – Credit: copyright ARCHANT 2017 Many of us who have spent the last few years fighting an increasingly desperate campaign for Remain are now struggling to find our feet in […]

Who is on Question Time tonight? Here’s your guide… The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme tonight comes from Liverpool, hometown of the band widely regarded as the foremost and most influential in music history – the Lightning Seeds. But who will be speaking Sense – and who’s living The Life of Riley? Here’s your complete […]

Lisa Nandy has suggested that the UK should not have a trade deal with the USA after Brexit if Donald Trump refuses to fulfil his commitments to tackle the climate crisis. The Labour leadership candidate spoke in critical terms of the US president’s “America First” stance, contrasting it strongly with her own internationalist vision for […]

Nigel Farage has claimed that if Big Ben doesn’t bong for Brexit it will be a ‘national humiliation’ – and everybody had the same response. Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC Radio the Brexit Party leader said: “Boris Johnson was making a joke of it – ‘Oh we’ll find some mechanism where you can put […]

Boris Johnson has been called on by a Brexiteer MP to prioritise ‘bygones’ in his government’s promised review of the relationship between government, the constititon and the law. 'We should have a commitment to abolish the Supreme Court'Tory MP Desmond Swayne tells ITV News the Supreme Court 'well overstepped the mark' in its prorogation judgement […]

Like the Star Wars director, the Labour leader is happy to ignore previous events and play to the fanboys Jeremy Corbyn is channelling J.J. Abrams. Bear with me on this. But the inescapable conclusion to draw from today’s bromidic PMQs is that the Labour leader has been studying the Star Wars director’s playbook. Abrams made […]

Labour leadership contender Lisa Nandy has attacked Remainers in her party for not doing enough to fight for the UK’s place in the world – despite herself backing a soft-Brexit. Nandy is trying to win over disaffected party members in the North of England by criticising the pro-Remain campaigners in the race who spent too […]

The Greater London Authority has reportedly granted permission for Nigel Farage to hold a Brexit party in Westminster on January 31st. Farage tweeted claiming the Brexit “celebration” had been approved and will take place in Parliament Square to mark the moment the UK leaves the EU. “It is a big moment in the history of […]

Ministers have met Lord Alf Dubs in attempts to argue that his amendment to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB), which protects child refugee rights, would weaken the government’s negotiating hand in EU trade talks. Home Office ministers tried to persuade the peer into dropping the amendment, which aims to ensure unaccompanied refugee children have the […]

In a bizarre moment of television Piers Morgan has trolled Mark Francois by playing out a recording of the bongs of Big Ben. Mark Francois is trolled by Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain. Photograph: ITV. – Credit: Archant Femi Oluwole and Mark Francois were invited on ITV’s Good Morning Britain to discuss the campaign […]

More than 60,000 people have joined the Labour Party in the last month – with insiders believing a majority are joining to attempt to change the direction of the party. The Sun reports some constituency Labour parties have seen the membership swell by more than 100 members in the last four weeks. Previously party grandees […]

Twitter reacted with bafflement at the latest Daily Express front cover which called for Big Ben to chime on Brexit day. The front reads: 3,338 days ago the Daily Express urged ‘Get Britain out of the EU.’ When the clock strikes 11pm on January 31, our blessed freedom from the confines of Brussels will be […]

Boris Johnson’s appeal for people to ‘bung a bob for a Big Ben bong’ has received a muted response on crowdfunding websites. Big Ben has been silenced since 2017 with renovations under way, but hardliner Brexiteers have called for the work to be paused so the bell can ring in the new relationship at an […]

The great European astronomer Caroline Herschel discovered more than eight comets. CHARLIE CONNELLY adds to her star-borne legacy “At the heavens there is no getting, for the high roofs of the opposite houses.” It was Boxing Day, 1822, when Caroline Herschel wrote these words in a letter to her nephew. She was 72 years old […]