News and Opinion

The Conservative Party has been accused of ‘bare-faced lying’ after members of the party leaked false claims to the media that an adviser to Matt Hancock was punched while on a visit to hospital. Have video from Hancock leaving Leeds General just come through so you can see for yourself - doesn't look like punch […]

Boris Johnson is desperately attempting to rally new Tory supporters after coming under fire in the last few days of the election campaign. With two days to polling day, the prime minister will warn there is a “clear and present” danger of another hung parliament unless voters back Tories on Thursday. He had come under […]

The Brexit Party has expelled a local councillor and dismissed a part-time official after they were filmed by undercover reporters making racist comments. The two activists were filmed by Channel 4 News during campaigning in Hartlepool where party chairman Richard Tice is standing in the General Election. Councillor David Mincher complained Muslims were “outbreeding us” […]

The DUP leader ‘shouldn’t have championed Brexit’ if she had been truly concerned about the possibility of customs checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, said Sinn Fein’s president today. Mary Lou McDonald was speaking in reaction to the DUP’s Arlene Foster, who expressed her disappointment at Boris Johnson having broken his word to her […]

Brexit Party activists supporting party chair Richard Tice have been reportedly caught making racist and Islamophobic comments in the midst of the general election campaign for Hartlepool. An undercover Channel 4 News investigation claims to have exposed shocking comments such as one councillor, David Mincher, saying he once tried to bury a pig’s head under […]

The chair of a local Conservative association has been asked to stand down by her party after reports emerged that she had told a Muslim woman her headscarf was ‘offensive’. Former chair of the Tories’ Chipping Barnet wing, Fiona Bulmer, is said to have approached Sidrah Mohammed outside Asda in Southgate as part of general […]

While young people have registered to vote in their millions, the demographic are often guilty of blind, ‘take no prisoners’ politics. LUCY HOLLAND writes how this has to go for tactical voting to win. Young people have registered in record-breaking numbers for this general election, which is the most significant rise in numbers we’ve seen […]

Jo Swinson has been asked whether her refusal to work with Jeremy Corbyn is endangering the Remain cause in the service of her career. The Liberal Democrat leader said that she was open to working with people from all parties if it meant stopping Brexit, but reiterated her refusal to support putting Corbyn in power […]

An amazing group of anti-Tory activist boat owners are set on unseating the prime minister by sailing away to new shores in order to make the most of some bizarre tactical voting rights. If you live on a houseboat, you technically have no fixed address and can register to vote anywhere you have moored up, […]

SIOBHAN BENITA, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for London and the party’s candidate for mayor, encourages people to back the Lib Dems in the capital. Siobhan Benita, the Lib Dems’ spokesperson for London. Photograph: Lib Dems. – Credit: Archant It’s crunch time. After more than three years of persuading, petitioning and protesting, of parliamentary proceedings, prorogations and […]

CALLUM TENNANT campaigned to Leave in 2016 – but now backs remaining in the EU. In this election he’s fighting for Labour, but recognises tactical voting might be needed in this election, because of the imperfection of the voting system. For some, voting is a duty, for others, a chore. Come December 12th, for many […]

Another poll has predicted that the UK is heading towards a hung parliament as Conservative growth has halted while Labour continue to make gains. An opinion poll by ICM for Reuters has placed Labour within six points of the Conservative Party, as Jeremy Corbyn’s party looks set to receive 36% of the vote. Over the […]

The prime minister was barracked by a member of the public while over his party’s fake news tactics during a campaign stop at a factory in Grimsby. WATCH: Page Hood just challenged Boris Johnson on 'fake' websites the Conservatives set up to discredit Labour's manifesto. He told her he didn't know anything about it and […]

Boris Johnson has been confronted with a picture of a little boy forced to sleep on a hospital floor – but was so keen not to face up to the image of the child he slipped the reporter’s phone into his pocket. The prime minister admitted he had not seen the now-infamous picture of four-year-old […]

A row has erupted over whether a Channel 4 News presenter was right to give the Conservative Party a voice in a debate which they didn’t attend. Representatives from five of the UK’s main political parties attended Channel 4’s Britain Decides: Everything But Brexit Debate, but the Tories were noticeably absent. In an attempt to […]

Boris Johnson was unable to explain the basis for alarming claims by Priti Patel that a Labour government would lead to 52 more murders a year, prompting his interviewer to say: ‘She made them up, hasn’t she?’ Speaking on Nick Ferrari’s LBC show, Johnson was reminded of his home secretary’s claim in the Daily Telegraph […]

The prime minister is facing fresh accusations of ‘revolting, xenophobic’ and racist dog whistling over comments he made about EU citizens living in the UK. Boris Johnson said that Eu migrants have been able to “treat the UK as if it’s part of their own country” for far too long, while on the campaign trail […]

The Conservative Party has been condemned for yet another dishonest and misleading election campaign stunt, in which the party imitated an NHS prescription in a party leaflet. The leaflet has been criticised for being misleading, deceptive, and ‘deeply dishonest’ by the fact-checking organisation Full Fact. It gives information on how the Conservatives allege to improve […]

Arlene Foster had harsh words for Boris Johnson for breaking his promise over protecting the integrity of the union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party said that government officials had told her there would need to be customs checks between the two, despite the prime minister’s continued public […]

The prime minister was empty chaired at a hustings in his own constituency after he ‘couldn’t be bothered’ to turn up. Tonight we had our local hustings. That empty chair is where @BorisJohnson was meant to be.Those who come from the 'born to rule' political class believe they are above accountability.My challenge, similar to @afneil: […]

Boris Johnson has gone back on his claim that he would lie down in front of bulldozers to stop the construction of a third runway at Heathrow airport, saying that would now be ‘technically difficult’. The prime minister was asked by Nick Ferrari about the costs and controversies of a proposed third runway and HS2 […]

Spoof TV news reporter Jonathan Pie has urged viewers to vote tactically in a video attack on Boris Johnson that could strip paint. After recording a conventional news report outside Westminster, the camera keeps rolling and Pie launches into a direct-to-camera tirade against Johnson’s record in government. Having reported to news viewers with a straight […]

Boris Johnson has been branded a chicken while on a visit to Grimsby fish market for his failure to agree to an interview with Andrew Neil. Boris Johnson on a visit to Grimsby’s fish market during the 2019 general election campaign – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images The prime minister was visiting the market to talk […]

The co-leader of the Green Party has said that tactical voting will cause the party to have their best election result yet. Noting the success of the party in the last local and European elections, Sian Berry said that more people are coming around to the Green’s attitude to climate change and social reform, adding: […]

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson said she has had lots of ‘unsolicited advice’ during the election campaign – including a tip to wear lower cut tops. Swinson told BBC Breakfast there are “lots of questions that get asked of women that don’t get asked of men” and that we “still live in a world which […]

One of Britain’s most respected pollsters has said that Boris Johnson is currently in pole position – but a small number of people tactically voting can completely transform the result. Professor John Curtice told Andrew Marr that the situation with the polls is back where things were at the start of the election campaign. He […]

Boris Johnson has apologised to ‘everybody who has a bad experience’ in the NHS after a four-year-old boy had to sleep on a hospital floor. Sarah Williment covered her son, Jack, with coats to keep him warm as he waited for a bed at Leeds General Infirmary, where she had taken him last Tuesday fearing […]

Voters are more inclined to identify themselves as Leave or Remain than a supporter of a political party, new research has found. Findings by academics at Kings College London suggests the 2016 referendum has left the country deeply polarised and that the way people voted on Europe has come to define their politics more than […]

The father of a five-year-old girl who was killed in Britain’s deadliest mass-shooting has called out Boris Johnson for ‘appalling’ comments he made over gun control. Dr Mick North (whose daughter died in the Dunblane massacre in 1996) and Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill during a meeting with police, shooting representatives and gun control campaigners at […]

The Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has said that their bill for a second Brexit referendum is ‘ready to go’ should they form part of government this week. Swinson said two draft bills have been prepared to be put before parliament after Thursday’s general election. She said a “paving bill” would enable the Electoral Commission […]

Politicians trying to ‘out-bloke’ each other has become essential in an age of gathering populism, says WILL SELF. In a video available on YouTube, the prime minister apparently chats amiably to an unseen interlocutor while making a cup of tea – at one significant juncture, he rues his inability to order a takeaway Thai curry […]

Labour-backing actor and comedian Steve Coogan has joined the Lib Dems on the campaign trail to tell people to ‘vote smart and box clever’ to keep the Conservatives out of power. The Alan Partridge star took to the streets in his local constituency of Lewes in East Sussex with Lib Dem candidate Oliver Henman to […]