News and Opinion

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith has confessed he has not actually seen the Sir John Major speech he has spent much of the past day touring studios attacking. The ex-Work and Pension Secretary has described Sir John’s speech, in which the former prime minister attacked the government’s Brexit strategy, as “strangely bitter” and “rather […]

The pressure is mounting for our embattled, exhausted, enfeebled prime minister. With her crunch Brexit address looming large the clock is ticking ever louder for Theresa May and whatever she does she won’t please everyone. It has been another awful week for May – Jeremy Corbyn final has some skin in the Brexit game, her […]

Liberal Democrat MP JAMIE STONE recalls a painful childhood memory and why it reminds him of the importance of a united Europe It was the late 1960s, it was March, and my parents had left the Highlands for a few days in order to try to sell their wares in London – they ran a […]

WILLIAM DRY is the co-founder of a new youth group determined to harness the power of a generation which feels cheated by Brexit. He explains how it can apply pressure in critical ways. For those unfamiliar with the latest internet slang and acronyms, the letters OFOC are often used to indicate ‘overwhelming feelings of concern’. […]

Mild-mannered former prime minister Sir John Major has launched a brutal, blue-on-blue, Brexit broadside on Theresa May. Major – whose own premiership was scarred by in-fighting over Europe – said the PM should offer MPs a free vote on the final Brexit deal, with the option of putting it to the public in a second […]

The grey man’s moment is now, writes MATT KELLY, and it could be pivotal How times change. John Major, the grey man of Conservatism, today gave an almighty blast against Brexit with more wit, punch and clarity than even the master of communication who followed him into Number 10, Tony Blair, has managed. It was […]

Boris Johnson has been branded a “disgrace” after failing to answer questions in the Commons about his suggestion that a hard border in Northern Ireland remained a possibility. MPs heckled and jeered the foreign secretary who left the chamber after prime minister’s questions – despite an urgent question from Labour on his comments. The former […]

In his latest column JAMES BALL describes the fear stalking the UK car industry. The UK’s automotive industry employs nearly one million people, from those in car-assembly plants, to those making components, repairing vehicles in local garages or selling them on the forecourt. And after being brought to the brink amid the 2007/8 financial crises, […]

Boris Johnson yesterday dismissed concerns that leaving the customs union could lead to a hard Irish border by comparing it to driving from Camden to Islington in London. Here’s why he’s wrong The foreign secretary yesterday sought to assuage concerns about the potential return of a hard border to the island of Ireland, drawing on […]

International trade secretary Liam Fox used a setpiece Brexit speech today to lash out at opponents, taking a swipe at Labour and dismissing his former permanent secretary who had questioned the government’s approach. Sir Martin Donnelly, who left his role as permanent secretary to Dr Fox’s Department of International Trade last year, today said that […]

‘Processed foods give you cancer’ screamed the headlines.. But nutritional expert MARIE-ANN HA says we should be cautious about the warnings. Eating highly-processed foods may be associated with an increased risk of developing cancer, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal. The study was widely reported in the media – mostly […]

Philip Hammond was left bamboozled in the Commons after being mocked for Boris Johnson’s remarks comparing the Irish border to that between Camden and Islington. Labour’s Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) asked the chancellor to explain the benefits or otherwise of the plans the government “appears to have for a customs union between Camden, Islington and Westminster”. […]

Businesses face ‘pervasive uncertainty’ over Brexit, Tory rebel Nicky Morgan has said. The Commons Treasury Committee chairwoman and former education secretary said firms needed more pragmatic guidance on what the long-term trade relationship between the UK and EU would be. And she branded the government’s response to the committee’s report on the impact of Brexit […]

Britain leaving the European customs union to strike free trade deals with countries outside the EU is “giving up a three-course meal for the promise of a packet of crisps”, a top ex-civil servant has said. Sir Martin Donnelly, who left his role as permanent secretary to Liam Fox’s Department of International Trade last year, […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg, Kate Hoey, David Davis, Boris Johnson and that big red bus. Just some of the subjects covered by correspondents in this week’s mailbag. David Davis’ Vienna speech (it meant nothing to me) seemed to indicate that there would be no bonfire of regulations and standards after Brexit. Yet this is exactly where people […]

Bonnie Greer says its would be irresponsible to neglect the obvious message – your kids simply don’t want Brexit. What do Brexiteers and Trumpists have in common? Among quite a few things, one of them is the word ‘tyranny’ and the signs of tyranny. Brexiteer Ultras see the EU as, quite simply, a tyranny. To […]

Even by his own standards, the hypocrisy of Boris Johnson’s attack on Jeremy Corbyn’s motives is breathtaking. It was, as a piece of naked hypocrisy, so brazen one could almost stand back and simply admire the sheer chutzpah. Almost. Boris Johnson’s response to Jeremy Corbyn’s setpiece Brexit speech, delivered – inevitably – in the form […]

Politically active and opposed to Brexit, but marooned in a Labour Party which doesn’t reflect his views, MARTYN SLOMAN’s predicament is one familiar to many. He has some advice to those in a similar position. Something very odd has happened to our political process – or so it appears to a long-standing political activist of […]

Lord Adonis has welcomed Labour’s change of stance over Brexit believing it paves the way for a second referendum. Adonis said he thinks the position laid out in Jeremy Corbyn’s keynote speech, where he supported Britain staying in a customs union with the European Union, was a step in the right direction. Corbyn also used […]

Parliament has reasserted its strength in the EU debate, says STEPHEN DORRELL. Now MPs must exercise their power. The big political story of 2018 is that the government’s Brexit policy is unravelling and the primary reason is that parliament has taken control of the process. By passing Dominic Grieve’s amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill […]

Paul Connew takes a look at Donald Trump’s deranged Twitter feed and finds defiant denial, factual error and self-absorbed self-defence. If Special Counsel Robert Mueller needed insight into the troubled state of the President of the United States’ mind, the tale of Donald Trump’s demented tweets in response to his forensically-detailed 37-page indictment of 13 […]

MICHAEL WHITE on those ludicrous spy stories . . . and why Labour’s leader must come in from the cold over Brexit. The Rees-Mogg posse is circling Theresa May’s wagons with a threatening letter, but she is not the only one feeling the heat. Conscientious readers of the Sunday newspapers may have noticed that Jeremy […]

As if the prime minister doesn’t have enough problems already Labour has finally been roused on Brexit. Smelling blood from Number 10, Jeremy Corbyn has ramped up the pressure on the PM – but he still has a long way to go. Sir Keir Starmer’s finger prints were all over Corbyn’s speech and without his […]

Labour is finally up for the fight with the government over Brexit – take a bow Sir Keir Starmer. The shadow Brexit secretary is not an obvious Jeremy Corbyn fan – in fact her would have fitted better in the Labour Party of Tony Blair. But Corbyn knew he was a sharp mind – the […]

Like all great science fiction, the new Netflix series Altered Carbon is an exploration of the present, not the future, writes GAVIN MILLER. The hopes and dreams of the technological movement known as ‘transhumanism’ have been brought into the media spotlight thanks to Netflix’s new science fiction series, Altered Carbon (based on Richard Morgan’s 2001 […]

Labour will back Britain staying in a customs union with the European Union post Brexit. Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer announced the significant shift which signals clear distance between the government and opposition on Brexit. He told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show: ‘Obviously it’s the only way of realistically to get tariff-free access, […]

In his latest stage review, TIM WALKER watches Girls and Boys at Royal Court Theatre, London. Girls and Boys Royal Court Theatre, London, until March 17 FOUR STARS It’s rather an annoying thing watching a play you’ve decided isn’t any good – and, in my case, have a rather nasty two-star review already composed in […]

There seems to be something sinister about the BBC’s attitude to Brexit. Using his little grey cells, ANDREW ADONIS decides to investigate. It was a dead body which first alerted me to the crime. Last Wednesday evening I was glancing at the day’s news on the BBC website when this headline caught my attention: ‘UK […]

Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit keynote could change everything – but he needs to be bold. Don’t expect him to call for a second referendum though – he made it quite clear when The New European interviewed him this week that the party still backs the result of June 24, 2016. But he can sense an opportunity […]

Henry Bolton has admitted he lied about splitting up with Jo Marney after her racist message scandal. Jo Marney – Credit: Archant When asked by Nick Ferrari on LBC ‘were you ever not together?’ a laughing Bolton said: ‘No. I think I was playing on words a little bit. I said I’d put personal issues […]

Tony Blair has slammed the government for still being in ‘cake and eat it mode’ over Brexit. The former prime minister said Theresa May’s top team are yet to face the binary choice facing them over Brexit. Blair said the reality is that Britain will have to follow Brussels’ rules if it wants a close […]

Jeremy Hunt has revealed Britain will quit the customs union putting the government on a collision course with Tory Brexit rebels. The health secretary said the cabinet has agreed to pursue a Brexit policy which will put Britain outside a customs union with the European Union but would match Brussels rules in certain sectors in […]