News and Opinion

ANDREW ADONIS on how the questions of accountability and honesty surrounding the candidates to be prime minister have made this the Prince Andrew election. In the past week three candidates have been grilled extensively about their right to lofty status: Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn and Andrew Windsor. All we know so far is who is […]

The Conservative Party accepted £200,000 from the wife of a former Russian finance minister under president Putin, just days after refusing to publish a report into Russian interference in UK elections. Business Insider has reported that the prime minister’s party received £5.6 million in donations in the first week of the campaign, from senior business […]

CLAUDIA PRITCHARD on a new exhibition telling the story of Magnum Photos, the agency which handed photographers control. USA. Baltimore, Maryland. 1964. Martin Luther KING. Photo: ©Leonard Freed / Magnum Photos – Credit: ©Leonard Freed / Magnum Photos On the road with Martin Luther King, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the funeral train of […]

Martin Scorsese’s new film The Irishman features the controversial life and mysterious disappearance of US union boss Jimmy Hoffa. RICHARD LUCK looks back to an earlier cinematic account which will be hard to beat. He had a strange 1992, did Jack Nicholson. Another collaboration with his Five Easy Pieces compadres Bob Rafelson and Carole Eastman […]

What a trip to East Germany in a Trabant taught WILL SELF about fate On September 7, 2016, I parked our hired Trabant car in the car park of the Hotel Kaiserhof, in Eisenach, Thuringia, and clambered out, together with my companions, Michael Shamash and Laurence Grissell. We were on a bizarre road trip: driving […]

The Brexit Party is standing by a candidate whose social media feed has reportedly warned about a Muslim ‘takeover’ of Britain and complained of anti-white ‘racism’. Dionne Cocozza, the party’s candidate in Glasgow North, has now deleted her account, but anti-far right watchdog Hope Not Hate say they had sight of it prior to its […]

Labour has promised to consult on establishing an inquiry into ‘fake news’ if they are elected. The party says that “fake news” has eroded trust in the media and democracy. “We will consult media-sector workers and trade unions to establish an inquiry into the ‘fake news’ undermining trust in media, democracy and public debate, and […]

The regulator for broadcasters has dismissed a complaint lodged by the Labour Party over Sky News’ use of ‘The Brexit Election’ branding on-air. After claiming that the strapline gives the Tories an unfair advantage in the election by pandering to their agenda, Ofcom has now declared Sky News has the “freedom of expression” to use […]

The Conservative Party has been accused of misleading voters again – this time with a video of Labour candidate Jess Phillips. The video, posted by the Tories’ Twitter account, surrounds the parliamentary candidate appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain to promote her new book, and features presenter Susanna Reid asking the Labour politician about MPs […]

The Liberal Democrats have thrown down the social media gauntlet with a tweeted video of a Jeremy Corbyn puppet. The 31-second video tweeted by the Lib Dem press office was billed as “backstage footage from Labour’s manifesto launch” and depicts a marionette styled as the Labour leader saying: “Reality has no place in the Labour […]

The secretary of state for trade was grilled by Andrew Neil over the number of social houses and starter homes built by the Conservatives as she attempted to criticise Labour’s manifesto. Speaking on BBC Two’s Politics Live, Liz Truss was hoping to take apart proposals made by Jeremy Corbyn in Labour’s new ‘manifesto for hope’, […]

Labour have officially launched their manifesto, calling it the ‘manifesto of hope’ which the powerful ‘will say won’t work’. The party have stuck firm by their plan to secure a new Brexit deal before going to a second referendum. The manifesto states Labour will “secure robust and legally binding protections for workers’ rights, consumer standard […]

Despite the Tories lining up to claim that voters were not bothered by the Tories attempts to mislead the public with a fake false-checking Twitter account, a new poll has revealed that they are. During the ITV leaders’ debate the Conservative Party changed its press office account to ‘FactCheckUK’ to counteract claims from Jeremy Corbyn […]

A new website claiming to explain Labour’s manifesto for the general election was actually created by the Conservative Party. It comes days after the Tories rebranded their Twitter as a fact-checking service during the ITV leaders’ debate in an effort to spread disinformation about Labour. The party was warned that there would be “decisive corrective […]

The home secretary has said that the government is not responsible for poverty in the UK, preferring to blame ‘all parts of society and the structures’. When confronted with shocking statistics about child poverty, Patel called the situation “appalling” – but refused to shoulder any of the responsibility. “It’s not the government,,” she told BBC […]

The Conservative Party have been branded ‘Trumpian’ and condemned by the UK’s Society of Editors after banning a reporter from the Daily Mirror from their bus. The Mirror say it was the “first time ever” they were excluded from the Tory Party’s campaign coach, and add that senior Tory aides have told them it was […]

A new anti-Tory propaganda campaign tells people not to believe everything told to them by billionaires. Props to whoever is making these and putting them up around the place pic.twitter.com/ltp4Rrz3LS— Bands FC (@_Bands_FC) November 20, 2019 Posters have started appearing on bus stops around London which read “Don’t believe everything billionaires tell you” in the […]

Former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan has claimed that voters are not outraged by the Tories’ fact-checking stunt on Twitter, claiming it was a ‘Westminster bubble story’. There was condemnation on Tuesday evening when the Conservative press office tried to impersonate a fact-checking account on Twitter, posting messages on the social media networking website that critiqued […]

Google will no longer allow voters to be targeted by advertisers based on their political affiliation, the company has announced. Election audience advertisements will now be limited to the general categories of age, gender and general location, the PA reports. The tech giant said that the changes would be implemented in order to improve voter […]

The deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats has drawn criticism after suggesting they could work with the Tories to secure a People’s Vote. Political editor @nicholaswatt says there has been a 'clear pivot' in the Lib Dems' general election campaign today as they downgrade their ambitions.They are 'suggesting they could vote for Boris Johnson's deal" […]

A Brexiteer who is standing against leading Remainer Anna Soubry in the general election has been banned from campaigning in her constituency after being found guilty of harassment. Amy Beth Dalla Mura gestures as she leaves Westminster Magistrates’ Court. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire. – Credit: PA Amy Dalla Mura, 56, targeted Soubry between January and […]

MICHAEL WHITE on signs that might offer more optimism than most polls allow Well, how do we think ITV’s election debate went? Did Boris Johnson avoid a career-ending gaffe? Did Jeremy Corbyn make a breakthrough with wavering voters? You must be joking. The laughter from the Salford audience which periodically punctuated the pair’s more outrageous […]

Michael Gove has denied that he has ‘form’ for telling mistruths in politics as he was questioned about claims made he and colleagues made during the EU referendum and Tory election campaigns. In an interview in which he was challenged on numerous untrue and misleading claims, he also said that the government was “absolutely right” […]

Who is on Question Time tonight and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide… The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme tonight comes from Bolton, hometown of former Crackerjack presenter Stu Francis – but which of the panel could crush a grape once punishing WTO tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit make […]

Boris Johnson’s claims that his plans for the National Insurance threshold will leave low-paid workers £500 a year better off have been picked apart in front of a hapless minister. While campaigning, the prime minister announced that he would lift the NI contribution threshold from £8,628 to £9,500 in a move he claimed would immediately […]

A Brexit Party campaigner has been ejected from a Manchester supermarket because he was ‘forcing’ leaflets onto shoppers, says Morrisons. Footage circlated widely on social media shows a man with a stack of leaflets being pushed out of the Denton branch by a security guard and being told to “f*** off”. The man, who claimed […]

Nearly double the number of young people are registering to vote in the upcoming election compared to 2017. Since the election was called 737,775 18-24 year-olds have registered to vote, compared to 368,965 in the equivalent period in 2017. It is a 100% increase in the number who have signed up to cast their ballot […]

The NHS has overtaken Brexit as the top issue that voters have on their minds in the general election, a poll has found. In what is considered to be a boost for Labour, 60% of UK adults said that the NHS is now very important in helping them decide who to vote for, compared to […]

A candidate for the Brexit Party has apologised for horrific comments made about Jewish people, Muslims and women after old posts resurfaced. In one post, Marc Stanton, who is standing in West Lancashire, said: “I sure as hell am antisemitic.” The Total Citizen exposed a number of Stanton’s racist and seriously offensive social media posts […]

A planned Museum of Brexit has been delayed due to ‘rogue MPs and anarcho-legal activists’, one of its founders has claimed. A group of evangelical Brexiteers announced in April 2018 plans for a museum putting rosettes, pamphlets and other ephemera from the 45-year Leave movement on display. Plans for a permanent tribute to the “struggle […]

A UKIP candidate has suggested that illegal immigrants are coming into the country on paragliders and plans to set up beach observation points to stop them. Former soldier David Moreland told the Eastern Daily Press that he believed immigrants are also being dropped off by boat at offshore wind farms and then continue the crossing […]

Jeremy Corbyn’s position on a second, confirmatory Brexit referendum may have ‘inadvertently’ come out in an interview with Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 5 Live. ?"You've just enlightened us I believe"?"Maybe inadvertently"Labour candidate Lloyd Russell-Moyle is asked by @EmmaBarnett how Jeremy Corbyn would vote in a confirmatory Brexit referendumRead more https://t.co/zURG75Ipb9 pic.twitter.com/g9TcBZcHW8— BBC Radio 5 […]