Politics

Project Fear is back after a seasonal break. Far from resolving anything, Theresa May’s decision to delay Brexit back in the spring simply kicked the can down the road, frustrating companies who invested scarce resources into getting ready for a 31st March departure. Damaging as the decision to delay Brexit was, the silver lining is that seven months’ on, the UK is likely to be in a much better position to cope with the no-deal fall out. You wouldn’t know if it you listened to the CBI who continue to churn out “no-deal” scare stories. Or if you read the civil service memo apparently “leaked” to the media, explaining that

Leaked diplomatic cables are a hoot, aren’t they? The Mail on Sunday’s big scoop shows that Britain’s man in Washington, Sir Kim Darroch, has been briefing his government about President Donald Trump in much the same way as the average American news pundit on TV on speaks to his or her audience. That is to say, he can’t stand the man in the Oval Office, and he makes his animosity pretty clear. ‘Inept’, ‘insecure’ and ‘uniquely dysfunctional’ — these quotes read like somebody who has just read Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff’s tell-all hitjob on the presidency, before sitting down to write. And Sir Kim’s line about Trump fans being ‘almost

John McDonnell – Labour splits are ‘myths and rubbish’ Stories of deep division within the Labour party have appeared in this morning’s papers, with the Sunday Times reporting calls for two of Jeremy Corbyn’s closest advisers – Seumas Milne and Karie Murphy – to be sacked. Andrew Marr spoke to the Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell – rumoured to be one of the dissenters – about the allegations: JM: I’ve not said to sack anybody… In terms of the Sunday Times story about any splits between me and Jeremy, it’s myth, it’s rubbish. Jeremy and I go back 40 years, we’re the closest of friends… AM: And you have full confidence

The heady drama when Britain and the EU agreed on a series of Brexit extensions earlier this year is hard to forget. But amidst the chaos, it’s worth asking: did Britain accidentally leave the EU on 1 June? A badly-drafted EU law – which also challenges the idea of EU competence – seems to suggest so. So how did this apparent blunder happen? And why has no one noticed? When Article 50 timed out on 29 March 2019, the UK and the EU agreed to extend to 12 April. When an extension is made it has to be done in both EU law and UK law. On that occasion, it was: both

White smoke emerged from the European Council in Brussels on Tuesday, as EU heads of state revealed their recommendations for the next European commission president, head of the ECB, president of the European council, and high representative for foreign affairs. The candidates, who included the German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen and IMF head Christine Lagarde, were selected behind closed doors after three days of intense negotiations, and will now need to be confirmed by the European Parliament. But if you were hoping that the EU had selected highly-competent former politicians and officials to lead the supranational body responsible for policies that affect millions, you would once again have been disappointed.

Voting is finally underway in the Tory leadership contest. So should Britain’s next prime minister be Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt? Boris is the clear frontrunner but could Jeremy Hunt’s impressive campaign mean that another political upset is on the cards? In some areas, the pair are in complete agreement: they both oppose a second referendum on Scottish Independence, want to reduce Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 and have pledged to tackle the North-South divide. But what of the policy differences? Here’s a round up of where each candidate stands: Brexit Boris Johnson: Boris has pledged that Britain will leave the EU by 31 October ‘come what

It has been a spring of party madness in London and New York. I was lucky enough to have several birthday parties thrown for me in both cities, including Evgeny Lebedev’s glamorous soirée at which Nigel Farage announced that he was no longer being served at any pub in Brussels, which may explain why he’s cut down on the drinking. There was also the ultra-glam Met Ball in New York: Dame Anna Wintour mingling with a half-naked Lady Gaga; divine Bette Midler in top-to-toe black sequins and a top hat, dancing with the talented Julianne Moore (wearing green sequins) and Cher in ripped jeans and an anorak. Not to be

The winner of this year’s Orwell prize for political writing, announced last week, was a book that centres around the disappearance in Belfast of Jean McConville. McConville, a widowed mother of ten, was snatched from her home in December 1972 by a gang of armed men. She was never seen again. What irony then that the person who chaired the panel of judges was none other than Labour MP Tulip Siddiq. Over a number of years, Siddiq has assiduously refused to publicly denounce the responsibility of her very own family, currently ruling Bangladesh, for hundreds of secret detentions, enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings, or indeed even to lobby her family members to

When I posted on Facebook a picture of me standing next to Boris Johnson, I expected a few likes and probably a few more harsh comments. What I didn’t anticipate were the hundreds of words of ranting vitriol posted by friends, some of whom I had known since school. My picture was harmless enough: a selfie, quickly snapped when Boris visited my hometown of Sevenoaks on Monday. It wasn’t a ringing endorsement, or even an approval of him. And it offered no comment on what he stands for. It was simply a picture of us squinting at the camera with the caption: “kicked off the week with this guy, our next