News and Opinion

The Electoral Commission has told the Brexit Party to review every single donation received as part of a massive overhaul needed in its payment processing. The commission visited Brexit Party offices on May 21 to review the party’s procedures for receiving funds. READ: Brexit Party at ‘high risk’ of breaking electoral law over funding – […]

Police investigating allegations of electoral fraud following the Peterborough by-election have found that no offences were committed in three of the instances. Cambridgeshire Police said officers were continuing to investigate two allegations, of a breach of the privacy of the vote and of the burning of ballots. The force said no offences were revealed in […]

A former US president has said that Brexit will involve ‘consigning one of the greatest nations in human history to a smaller role’. Bill Clinton said that Brexit had “not been thought through” by the Brexiteers, and that he continues to be “worried” about the outcome for the UK. He was speaking in New York […]

Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay has written to Michel Barnier asking him to look again at proposals to ringfence citizens’ rights regardless of how the UK leaves the EU. In his letter to the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Barclay asked to “continue to work on how we best protect citizens’ rights in all scenarios”, for both […]

A former culture secretary and Tory Brexiteer MP has claimed he has reported a number of BBC television presenters to the corporation over their social media for showing a ‘bias’ against Brexit. John Whittingdale says he has filed a number of complaints over the corporation’s presenters including Match of the Day host Gary Lineker and […]

A poll of Conservative Party members believe trashing the economy, the United Kingdom and their party is a price worth paying for Brexit – but not if it means Jeremy Corbyn gets into power. The findings were revealed by a new YouGov survey which found that 54% of Tory party members would be willing to […]

Jo Swinson has said if she was leader of the Liberal Democrats the party would work with other parties and put up joint candidates that support a second referendum. Swinson said that Remain voters want politicians to put aside differences between parties and work together to stop Brexit. At the European elections pro-Remain parties were […]

A man who threw a milkshake at Nigel Farage during a city centre walkabout is due to appear in court facing charges of common assault and criminal damage. The politician’s suit was left covered with the banana and salted caramel Five Guys drink during an event in Newcastle ahead of last month’s European elections. Paul […]

A protester who threw a Five Guys milkshake over Nigel Farage has been ordered to pay the Brexit Party politician £350 for the ‘politically motivated’ assault. Paul Crowther arriving at North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court in North Shields where he faces charges of common assault and criminal damage after throwing a milkshake at Nigel Farage. Picture: […]

The Brexit Party has rallied behind an unlikely candidate in the Tory party leadership contest in the form of centrist Rory Stewart. Despite ruling out a no-deal Brexit, and looking like the continuity candidate of Theresa May, Nigel Farage has been eager to praise the MP after he became one of the few candidates to […]

How a slice of cake led to an important cultural realisation. It wasn’t until I was wondering about my menu-choice at the Red Door Tea Room in Ballintoy that it occurred to me I was witnessing an important cultural moment: that point in a nascent nation’s life when it expresses its being, its self-awareness, its […]

Conservative leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt has gone into a flurry of backtracking after saying he ‘150%’ agrees with the ‘sentiment’ of a racist Katie Hopkins tweet that was retweeted by the US president. In the tweet, Hopkins reacted to tragic stabbings in Wandsworth and Tower Hamlets by tweeting the news and adding: “This is [Sadiq] […]

Frontrunning candidate in the Tory leadership race Boris Johnson has continued to evade scrutiny by snubbing journalists at a Westminster hustings. Johnson has so far granted just six questions from journalists at his leadership launch, has not accepted any interview requests, and has said he will appear in just one televised debate so far. He […]

The Labour deputy leader Tom Watson has made an impassioned case for the European Union as the natural home of Labour values and democratic socialism. "The EU is not something to apologise for. It's a good thing"Deputy leader Tom Watson says Labour is "scared to tell the truth about Europe"https://t.co/ftBJ3RiGrT #Brexit pic.twitter.com/rRmeCVvy3P— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) […]

Remembering the world’s oldest mountain guide. December 3, 1900 – June 14, 2004 One night in September 1921, as the Alpine climbing season wound down for the winter, a group of four young people filed out of a hut in the early hours of the morning. Two men and two women roped themselves together in […]

ALAN HAUSER says an electoral alliance is a price worth paying to stop Nigel Farage. It may be satisfying to add up the Remain parties’ votes to prove we are in the majority but it will be completely useless if Farage becomes PM with 30% of the vote in an accidental general election. The Tories, […]

There is one Brexit story that should have had headlines for weeks – but has been completely overlooked because of the Tory leadership contest. GERAINT TALFAN DAVIES explains more. In other times this story would have commanded the headlines of the national press for weeks because it speaks so loudly not only of a sickening […]

Why we have the Ancient Greeks to thank for almost all our misfortunes. In English we don’t really have a true equivalent of the French expression bon appétit, wishing people who are about to start a meal a ‘good appetite’. But most other European languages seem to have some kind of bon appétit-type formula: German […]

Theresa May is reportedly planning to join the fight against a no-deal Brexit, as it has been claimed she is backing Rory Stewart in the leadership race. Sources close to the prime minister told the Mail on Sunday that she is unhappy with Boris Johnson taking her job, and plans to make his life as […]

An audience member has been spotted mouthing ‘Bollocks to Brexit’ during the Channel 4 Conservative leadership debate. The moment was broadcast live to viewers of the debate as the camera followed Krishnan Guru-Murthy round the audience. The broadcaster was holding the mic to an audience member – who was asking how the candidates would reunite […]

The man famed for telling Remainers ‘you lost, get over it!’ is still complaining about the result of the Peterborough by-election. Shortly after the result the Brexit Party leader tried to turn a second place result into a victory, as he dismissed suggestions his party lost. He said: “Did we? I don’t know, if you […]

Noel Gallagher has told Remainers to ‘move to North Korea’ if they do not agree with Brexit – despite admitting he believed it was a ‘nonsensical’ idea at the time of the vote. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, the Oasis singer said that there was only “one thing worse than a fool who voted […]

In the first televised debate of the campaign, the five candidates taking part taunted Boris Johnson for failing to turn up. Channel 4, which staged the debate, put an empty podium for Johnson who refused to take part. Host Krishnan Guru-Murthy said Johnson had declined the invitation but was “welcome” to join at any point, […]

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson is to deliver a speech which will be seen as a renewed push for the party to wholeheartedly back a second EU referendum. In a keynote speech to the Centre for European Reform, Watson will say Labour’s members and its values had always been pro-European, and that “our hearts are […]

A news interview with Boris Johnson from 2013 has resurfaced in which the interviewer puts it to him: ‘You’re a nasty piece of work, aren’t you?’ The 2013 clip shows BBC’s Eddie Mair grilling Boris Johnson just before a TV documentary, Boris Johnson: The Irresistible Rise, was to be aired. It was recently re-shared on […]

There we have it: ‘When you’re dealing in trade,’ declared Donald Trump gleefully on his state visit, ‘everything’s on the table, so NHS or anything else or a lot more than that but everything will be on the table, absolutely.’ Surely this must be the real, decisive turning point. The moment when, finally, the harsh […]

Roger Domeneghetti looks back on a controversial movie that questioned Britain’s self-assured complacency and imagined a Nazi ascendency here. ‘It Happened Here’ (1965) contemplated what would have happened if the German Army crossed the English Channel. Picture: LMPC via Getty Images – Credit: Archant British exceptionalism is a concept that has long been at the […]

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband has admitted he ‘resented’ Boris Johnson’s handling of her case during his tenure as foreign secretary. Richard Ratcliffe has joined his wife in staging a hunger strike against her detention in Iran over spying allegations, which she denies. Speaking outside the Iranian embassy in London, where he is holding his demonstration, Ratcliffe […]

Rory Stewart called out Tory favourite Boris Johnson for not answering ‘brutal questions’ of how he plans to deliver Brexit. When BBC1’s Andrew Marr asked Rory Stewart whether he regretted referring to Boris Johnson as “a great prancing clown” and “Pinocchio”, the Conservative candidate for prime minister insisted that this was no longer a time […]

Tory leadership hopeful Dominc Raab has warned the party could be in trouble in the next election if it fails to deliver Brexit by the October 31 deadline. "The Tory party will be toast if we're not out by the end of October... the Conservatives cannot win an election unless we deliver Brexit" says Tory […]

Nigel Farage has warned Brexiteers he predicts Boris Johnson will, at best, only be able to deliver a ‘rehash’ of Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement if he makes it into Number 10. The Brexit Party leader said there appears to be “little chance” of the Tories delivering on Johnson’s pledge to take Britain out of the […]

The sister of Jo Cox said the calls for ‘calmer, kinder politics’ following the assassination of the Labour MP has been ‘forgotten’. Kim Leadbeater, whose sister was murdered in her Batley and Spen constituency by extreme right-wing terrorist Thomas Mair on June 16 2016, said the “language of politics has become even more brutal and […]