News and Opinion

There are fears in some quarters of the EU – and especially in Berlin – that Boris Johnson is preparing to reform Britain into ‘Singapore-on-Thames’, a low-tax, lightly regulated economy on the edge of Europe, once it has left. According to the FT’s report, a leaked Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) document said […]

Footage has been reshared of Boris Johnson claiming he was on the British public’s side because he did not want a general election. In September the prime minister used the speech to claim that he would have to be forced from Downing Street if MPs were to stop the UK leaving the EU on October […]

Footage has emerged of former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab calling for two Brexit referendums. Raab, now the foreign secretary, was speaking back in November 2011 after the formation of the People’s Pledge campaign which called for an EU referendum. The campaign did not take a view on whether the UK should stay or leave the […]

Labour MP Kate Hoey has said she would not rule out defecting to the Brexit Party when her time as a Labour MP ends. The Vauxhall MP and Brexiteer has already announced plans not to stand again as as a Labour MP. Speaking to LBC’s Andrew Pierce, Hoey said she would “never say never” to […]

Britain’s cultural industries are thriving but Brexit could have a stifling effect, warns Patrick McCrae It is easy to assume that visual art, if not politics, is in rude health in the United Kingdom when you see Banksy’s Devolved Parliament, depicting a House of Commons chamber occupied by chimpanzees instead of politicians, selling for a […]

Questions have been raised about the responses to Boris Johnson’s latest Facebook video, which has been commented on by thousands who speak with one voice in their support for the prime minister. What's going on here then? Facebook ad by Johnson, comments section in unison "Brilliant Boris " then it changes to "Support Boris 100%" […]

Jean-Claude Juncker has used one of his final public appearances as the European Commission president to hit at the ‘bullsh*t’ peddled by Boris Johnson ‘and others’ on the Leave side during the EU referendum. https://twitter.com/Haggis_UK/status/1187729353402126336 Speaking to an audience at a think tank in Brussels, Junker expressed regret at not intervening back in June 2016. […]

For once it’s the Liberal Democrats taking their Brexit rhetoric from the Second World War, with poster pastiches of the ‘careless talk costs lives’ images. “Careless votes cost lives” says the new Liberal Democrat poster campaign. Picture: Liberal Democrats – Credit: Liberal Democrats With prospects of an election looming closer, the Lib Dem version warns […]

Whether it’s Jeremy Corbyn, Nigel Farage, or Boris Johnson – you can now purchase a kit to carve your favourite Brexiteer on to a pumpkin. Groupon have released a special free kit to put your favourite – or least favourite – politician on to the fruit in time for October 31st… the date Britain was […]

French negotiators have been reportedly accused of being ‘too rigid’ and risking an ‘accidental’ no-deal Brexit as the EU 27 leaders discuss how long the Article 50 extension should be. Brussels ambassadors have agreed in principle to grant a Brexit extension, with only Emmanuel Macron’s negotiators wanting it to be as short as possible. A […]

What’s your take on the events of the week? Let us know your views on the key questions that have emerged for Remainers this week, on everything from the election and second referendum timings to the week’s stupidest statement. Got other views? Email us at letters@theneweuropean.co.uk

Britain’s newest recruit to the Europhile movement, Nigel Farage, has called for a statue of French president next to Nelson’s Column in London. Farage called the European leader a ‘French all-British hero’ and suggested the tribute could be erected next to statues of the Duke of Wellington and Horatio Nelson. It comes after the Brexit […]

A caller to a radio show called for Boris Johnson to break the law over Brexit and even said he’d go to jail with him. Nicholas from Scotland, calling Tom Swarbrick’s LBC show, said the prime minister gets a lot of “stick” and should just break the law to make Brexit happen. He said: “I […]

Mark Francois has been branded a ‘poundshop Trump’ after claiming that he wants a general election to ‘drain the swamp’ in Westminster. The portly Penfold from Danger Mouse appeared on BBC News to explain why he backed Boris Johnson’s call for a general election on December 12th. He said there people were sick and tired […]

The Irish prime minister has revealed why he wants to get Brexit sorted either way by October 31st. Varadkar said he had a different reason for seeing a resolution to Brexit, and it is very unlike Boris Johnson’s reasoning. According to the Irish Mirror, he is not only hoping for a solution that benefits his […]

A new poll suggests there are ‘significant’ differences in attitude towards gay people on either side of the Brexit debate and the political party divides. The survey conducted by Ipsos MORI found that that only half of Brexit Party, Conservative and Leave voters strongly agree with the statement that “homosexuals should be treated just like […]

Boris Johnson is threatening that the government will do the ‘bare minimum’ in parliament if MPs do not vote for a general election. The prime minister has challenged MPs to back his call for a December 12 vote in return for more time to scrutinise his Brexit deal as he tried to break the deadlock. […]

Readers give their thoughts on Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. In his Commons introduction to his Withdrawal Agreement, Boris Johnson agreed that the UK may have been “half-hearted Europeans”. He is not speaking for us in the north of our shared island. Just read what SNP Commons leader Ian Blackford said, damning the deal later that […]

DONALD MACINTYRE on Boris Johnson’s galactic gamble over the future of the UK. Heaven forbid that Boris Johnson, in his make or break Commons week, should be compared to Palpatine in the sequence from Star Wars film Revenge of the Sith during which the evil chancellor declares himself emperor before the Galactic Senate after seizing […]

As a New European reader, you probably reckon you keep a close eye on the continent’s news. Test yourself with our quiz… Think you’re on top of what’s been going on across Europe in the past seven days? Take The New European’s tricky quiz and find out just how much of a Europhile you are…

Eyebrows have been raised after Boris Johnson claimed that parliament had ‘outlived its usefulness’ as he called for MPs to back a general election. https://twitter.com/Robert___Harris/status/1187613430213206016 In an interview with the BBC, Johnson said he would try to push ahead with a public poll regardless of whether the opposition backed it or not. He explained: “It […]

A majority of voters believe the risk of violence against MPs is a ‘price worth paying’ to get Brexit sorted, a new survey has found. The report by researchers from Cardiff University and the University of Edinburgh found both Leavers and Remainers believed violence could be “worth it” if it meant their views prevailed. The […]

A caller to a James O’Brien’s LBC radio show has admitted to the broadcaster that Boris Johnson is a ‘massive liar’, but that he supports him anyway. The exchange came after the presenter played a series of clips of the prime minister making promises which he later broke. It included his comments on another Brexit […]

A Boris Johnson fan has labelled radio presenter James O’Brien a ‘snowflake loser’ during a live phone-in discussion about whether the prime minister supported gay rights. The caller, Carl, contacted the show after the LBC broadcaster challenged listeners to name promises Johnson had actually kept. Carl claimed that the prime minister had “always promoted gay […]

The House of Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg has been accused of ‘trivialising’ politics in his answer to why there were no further debates tabled about Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill. The Tory Brexiteer decided to make a joke in response to the business question, which was asked by SNP MP Pete Wishart. He followed in the […]

One hundred years on, PETER TRUDGILL tells the story of another referendum, one which hinged on language On May 11, 1919, a Volksabstimmung took place in the mountainous region that is now the Austrian province of Vorarlberg. Vorarlberg means ‘before Arlberg’, the Arlberg being the mountain massif which contains the steep pass which separates the […]

This week’s front cover illustration of Dominic Cummings is now available as a printable mask – just in time for Halloween. The chief strategist behind Boris Johnson has caused a stir in politics in recent weeks. He has been blamed for negative briefings from Number 10, for causing a constitutional crisis, and taking Britain close […]

STEVE ANGLESEY examines the odd link between Boris Johnson’s Brexit foot soldiers and James Blunt. MADRID, SPAIN – OCTOBER 19: British singer and songwriter James Blunt performs onstage during ‘Por Ellas’ charity concert against breast cancer at WiZink Center on October 19, 2019 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Mariano Regidor/Redferns) – Credit: Redferns Given that […]

The speaker has failed to select an amendment to the Queen’s Speech which called for a People’s Vote – with the Liberal Democrats blaming a lack of support from Labour. Earlier in the day Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson wrote to Jeremy Corbyn urging Labour to support her party’s amendment to the Queen’s Speech which […]

The Brexit Party has removed a tweet featuring its chairman – after social media users compared it to a sexual health advert. Dover for the Continent, Brexit for the incontinent. pic.twitter.com/HWnz7mqKG6— Charlie M (@tw11stroller) October 23, 2019 Tice had used a Brexit Party rally to warn about Boris Johnson’s deal – claiming it contains many […]

The pro-Brexit press found the perfect way to draw attention from last weekend’s People’s Vote march, says LIZ GERARD It’s been another “Look over there!” week on Planet Brexit. On Saturday, MPs gathered in Westminster to consider Boris Johnson’s new deal. The press had spent two days telling them that it was a marvellous achievement […]

JAMES BALL on how Dominic Cummings is using political blitzkrieg to tear down UK institutions. Dominic Cummings, holds a poster saying “Yes to Europe, No to the Euro poses for a photograph as campaign director at Business for Sterling on March 19, 2001 in London, England. (Photo by David Levenson/Getty Images) – Credit: Getty Images […]