News and Opinion

A former boss of the World Trade Organisation has spoken out against Brexiteers’ plans for a hard Brexit on the organisation’s rules. Pascal Lamy claimed a no-deal Brexit would make ‘no sense’ in a ‘world that is globalising and integrating’. He urged the British government to strike an agreement to ensure there is continuity beyond […]

Pulitzer prize-winning writer ALBERT SCARDINO offers a global perspective on how Britain’s national hero is seen. Britons hung a halo on Winston Churchill after the Second World War, so it came as a religious insult to many when John McDonnell declared him a villain. Few in Westminster dare to speak of Churchill as anything other […]

Charles Dickens’ biographer and great-great-great-granddaughter explains why he was one of literature’s great – if unacknowledged – Europhiles. Charles Dickens pictured dreaming about the characters of his novels in a watercolour painting by Victorian artist, etcher and illustrator Robert William Buss. Picture: Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images – Credit: Archant In the 19th century, the […]

Ahead of tonight’s star-studded ceremony, critic Jason Solomons watches the remarkable Oscar-nominated film looking back on a long-forgotten episode in American history. The group’s leader, Fritz Julius Kuhn, addressed the 20,000 people in attendance. Picture: Getty Images – Credit: Bettmann Archive In February 1939, the month that German Jews were forced to turn over any […]

Michael Gove admitted that there is a risk food prices will increase after Brexit and that leaving the European Union without a deal could lead to additional costs on food production. Andrew Marr presented Environment Secretary Michael Gove on BBC1 this morning with figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) which warned the price of […]

Labour’s deputy leader has said that the party is moving in the direction of calling for a second referendum. Deputy Labour Leader Tom Watson on another referendum on #Brexit: 'We're moving in that direction'#Marr https://t.co/W9GyMhiSXi pic.twitter.com/Q3jO4ZUzTT— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) February 24, 2019 Tom Watson suggested that, ‘Theresa May is running down the clock’ and that […]

He seems the quintessential English painter but John Constable was rejected by the establishment here. Fortunately, he was embraced across the Channel. John Constable’s ‘The Leaping Horse’, 1825. Picture: Getty Images – Credit: Getty Images Towards the end of his life, John Constable travelled by train to his summer home in Dedham Vale, on the […]

Chuka Umunna said that the failure of the Labour Party to do something about anti-Semitism and bullying made his position as a member ‘untenable’. .@ChukaUmunna says he has "received threats from supporters of the leader where I've had to call in the police and someone was arrested" and says that "there is a rule by […]

David Suchet delivers great value as the eccentric Gregory Solomon, alongside Brendan Coyle. Wyndham’s Theatre, until April 27 There is a world-weariness to Arthur Miller’s plays that doesn’t normally start to have much resonance with theatregoers until they reach middle age. It’s one of the few advantages of the peculiarly bleak times in which we […]

MPs will ‘kill off’ any prospect of a no-deal Brexit in crucial House of Commons votes next week, Sir Vince Cable has predicted. The Lib Dem leader said he believed there was now a ‘sufficient number’ of members opposed to remove this as a prospect. Leaving the EU on March 29 without a formal deal […]

The British might like to think of themselves as immune from Nazism, but Hitler had more sympathisers in the UK than anyone today chooses to remember, says ROBERT HUTTON. A fascist slogan cut into a bowling green in Tottenham in 1938. Picture: Getty Images – Credit: SSPL via Getty Images Europeans aren’t like the British. […]

Broadcaster TERRY CHRISTIAN attracted controversy with his suggestion that Leave voters should be first in line for Brexit-induced redundancies. But it’s the fairest approach, he argues. Several months back I was talking to a very wealthy businessman in a Manchester pub who was tearing his hair out. The rising cost of materials and difficulties of […]

JOE WALLEN visits expat communities in Spain to speak to the individuals perhaps most vulnerable of all to a no-deal Brexit. It is a typically tranquil winter afternoon at the Chambao de Vicente restaurant. Its rustic terrace spills out onto the golden sands of the Playa La Herradura, a beach running parallel to the small […]

The Liberal Democrats will make a fresh attempt to persuade MPs to back a People’s Vote – with leader Sir Vince Cable reaching out to members of the new Independent Group for support. With parliament expected to stage another series of votes on Brexit, Cable confirmed his party would again try to get a majority […]

A prosecution against Boris Johnson for the ‘lies’ told during the EU referendum campaign has taken a step closer after legal papers were lodged. Marcus J Ball who is launching a private prosecution against Boris Johnson. (Photo: Sandra Vijandi) – Credit: Archant The Brexiteer MP and Vote Leave leader has been accused of ‘abusing public […]

Theresa May was never the ‘reluctant Remainer’ she is portrayed as, says John Kampfner. Her political outlook has always been mean-spirited and insular. I did it so you don’t have to. I listened back to an interview that Theresa May gave to the BBC in the middle of the referendum campaign. Even hearing from her, […]

The legend of the great leader has created a damaging legacy for British politics which is harmful to both the left and right, says Steve Richards. There is Winston Churchill and there is ‘Winston’. The first was a complex, epic and flawed human being. The second is a mythologised hero who hovers darkly over all […]

Labour could back a People’s Vote to stop more MPs defecting, after the party was rocked by nine resignations in one week. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Labour had kept the option on the table, and added ‘we’re moving towards that’. Labour’s position, thrashed out at the party’s conference last year, keeps open the option […]

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…

Theresa May has been warned she could face a mass revolt of Conservative MPs if the country appears on course for a no-deal Brexit. The leaders of the 100-strong Brexit Delivery Group of moderate Conservatives wrote to chief whip Julian Smith setting out widespread discontent at the prospect of a no-deal departure. Andrew Percy, one […]

Rachel Johnson despairs after Nigel storms off without saying goodbye. I owe a big debt to telly’s John McAndrew because he got me my little gig on Sky News, and is a bloody nice bloke. When he asked me to do a filmed Brexit breakfast with Nigel Farage, Brexity junior minister Kwasi Kwarteng and Richard […]

A London council has defended putting adverts on bin lorries telling EU residents ‘this is your home’ after Twitter users suggested the message could be misconstrued. Labour-led Tower Hamlets Council has been placing adverts around the East London borough encouraging its 41,000 residents from the European Union to secure their right to stay after Brexit. […]

Readers write to The New European after seven Labour MPs quit the party to create The Independent Group. Leave aside for a moment The Independent Group’s mostly justifiable reasons for breaking with Labour, what I am concerned about is the damage this potentially does to the fight of our lives as we head towards March […]

Why The Independent Group must work to earn the support of Remainers. There is, as they say, nothing new under the sun; every event, however startling and novel, has its roots and causes in previous events, and similarly, every event, however unusual, will find its echo somewhere in subsequent events. It’s not often, however, that […]

Comedian Chris O’Dowd has predicted ‘a lot of British people’ will be heading to Ireland after the Brexit ‘mess’. The Irish comedian and actor is best known for starring in Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd, Speaking at the Oscar Wilde Awards he said Britons will travel to Ireland ‘with their tales between their legs’ […]

MP Ian Austin has become the ninth MP to quit the Labour Party – but says he will not join the new Independent group in the Commons. The Dudley North MP said he was quitting the ‘broken’ party and was ‘ashamed’ of what it had become under Corbyn. But the former minister said he had […]

After Honda’s decision to close its Swindon car plant, the former transport secretary says the rail industry will follow. Honda this week gave its 3,500 staff the same notice of closure – two years – as the UK gave of its intention to leave the EU. Two years seems to be the going rate for […]

A BBC presenter has praised the latest front cover from The New European after the corporation finally included it in its newspaper review. Front cover of the latest edition of The New European. Photograph: TNE/Archant. – Credit: Archant The Beeb usually leaves our newspaper out of its morning review on both its radio and television […]

Bonnie Greer pays tribute to the prize-winning writer who was driven by her determination to tell stories of burning importance. I moved to London to write. Usually African American writers went to Paris because of the lure of the French capital that stretched back to the Harlem Hellfighters returning in triumph wearing their Croix de […]

‘So what can a march like this actually achieve?’ asked TalkRadio presenter Alexis Conran, on the day plans for the ‘Put it to the People’ march were announced. Protesters march through central London in October last year demanding another EU referendum. Picture: Getty Images – Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images He was not asking out […]

Theresa May could be propped up by the Independent Group if she agrees to a second Brexit referendum, a former Labour MP has claimed. Former Labour MP Gavin Shuker said if May agreed to a public vote on the Withdrawal Agreement it would be in the national interest to make sure there was a ‘period […]

The UK will not be able to ‘roll over’ the EU’s trade deal with Japan in time for the scheduled Brexit date of March 29, trade secretary Liam Fox has admitted. Japan was the most significant on a list of 27 EU trade agreements released by Fox’s Department of International Trade (DIT) on which discussions […]