Today Theresa May finally told EU technocrats that our patience is running out. The EU will have to respect the referendum decision to take control of our borders, laws and money. A couple of days earlier, no doubt in an attempt to undermine the prime minister, groups that intend to reverse the referendum result had
Theresa May’s speech today won’t have left any portion of her party ecstatic. As the Prime Minister promised ‘ups and downs in the months ahead’, she warned that ‘no-one will get everything they want’. With compromises coming down the track, May made sure to dish today’s disappointment out in an even-handed manner. For the Remain side of
Despite the rather muted colours for the staging of her Road to Brexit speech, Theresa May tried to make her address as upbeat and cheerful as it was possible to be. She started by talking not about Brexit but about her agenda, restating a great deal of what she said on the steps of Downing
When Robert Peston left the BBC to join the ITV as political editor, his former BBC colleagues placed a sign outside their press room at Tory conference making it clear that he was no longer welcome. But is Peston looking for a way back? At Theresa May’s speech today on Brexit, Peston asked a question –
Amid the avalanche of news coming from Saudi Arabia, the most important has been overlooked. A few weeks ago Riyadh ceded control of the Grand Mosque in Brussels, leased to the Saudis in 1969 and since then instrumental in promoting Islamic supremacy, anti-Christian and anti-Semitic hatred in the heart of Europe. The deal had given
Oh dear. After Labour’s better-than-expected snap election result, the prospect of Prime Minister Corbyn has never looked more real. With John McDonnell tipped to be Chancellor should Corbyn triumph at the next election, businesses are having to pay the socialist close attention. Alas, it’s not clear this effort has been reciprocated. When asked ‘who are
I am grateful to the Lord Mayor and all his team at the Mansion House for hosting us this afternoon. And in the midst of the bad weather, I would just like to take a moment before I begin my speech today to thank everyone in our country who is going the extra mile to
It’s ending in jeers for Arsène Wenger as his relationship with the club he began managing in 1996 hits rock bottom. In those twenty two years he has given Arsenal fans like me some glorious highs but many more gruesome lows. Nothing has been quite as bad as Sunday’s capitulation in the final of the
It speaks volumes about protectionism that while the share prices of steel and aluminium makers rose on the news that President Trump is to place tariffs on imports (from exactly which countries he didn’t say), shares in companies which use large amounts of steel immediately plunged: General Motors by 3.7 per cent, Ford by 3
Has Donald Trump sparked off a trade war? His plans for a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and 10 percent tariff on aluminum have shocked friend and foe alike. China is outraged; so are Canada, Japan, and South Korea—allies that in fact export more steel to the U.S. than China does. They stand to
‘Whatever complicates the world more — I do,’ Donald Trump once said. As President, that still seems to be his mantra. Everybody knows that he feels America has been ripped off for decades when it comes to global trade — and that he intends address imbalances that hurt his country wherever he can. But his
This year’s tournament at Bunratty in Ireland was the celebratory 25th in the series and I was invited to deliver the closing peroration. The competition was particularly stiff on this occasion, with British champion Gawain Jones sharing first prize with grandmaster Sergey Tiviakov, ahead of Nigel Short, Jon Speelman, Luke McShane and a host of other
White to play. This position is from Tiviakov-Jones, Bunratty Play-off. White’s next led to a decisive material gain. What did he play? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 6 March or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal
Leonard Rosoman is not a well-known artist these days. Many of us will, however, be subliminally familiar with his mural ‘Upstairs and Downstairs’ in the Grand Café at the Royal Academy, painted in 1986 when the artist was in his early seventies. Two worlds are portrayed with a degree of satire — dressy guests arriving
Corbyn and the zeitgeist Sir: Your leading article is right about university tuition fees and the fruitlessness of Tory half-measures, name-calling and then unedifying policy-swapping (‘Corbyn’s useful idiots’, 24 February). But I believe the writing is on the wall for the wider involvement of ‘free markets’ in the public sector. We have seen growing public
Gstaad They have busy eyes and the set of their mouths is that of a hungry carnivore. Their hands are always working, stroking, exaggerating. They’re salesmen to the rich and famous and flog them trinkets, pictures and dresses — and at times even people. They gush like no Hollywood agent ever did, and once upon
Poperinghe, Bailleul, Wytschaete, Gheluvelt, Ploegsteert, Messines, Zonnebeke, Passchendaele. The other week I grandiosely claimed that I have been reading about the first world war, on and off, all my life. What I ought to have added was ‘with little or no understanding’. Because it wasn’t until a fortnight ago, when I bought a 1916 Ordnance
‘Good afternoon, my name is Bradley, and how may I be of help to you today?’ After you’ve spent ten minutes negotiating an automated system that quite clearly aims to frustrate you from ever getting through to a human being, when you do get through to one, through dint of your own bloody-minded refusal to
You can tell by the tone of the jokes how most occupations are regarded and we’ve all heard the traditional ones about the old enemy. ‘Why don’t sharks attack bookies?’ ‘Professional courtesy’. ‘Why did God invent bookmakers?’ ‘To make used-car salesmen look good.’ ‘Why are bookmakers buried an extra six feet down?’ ‘Because deep down
No February blues for me. The past couple of weeks have been the most exciting and interesting (bridge-wise) I could ever imagine. Super sponsor Pierre Zimmermann hosted the second Winter Games in Monaco, which he has made better than a European Championship. Seventy-eight teams competed over seven days for the title. Then we rushed back