Politics

Just when you were beginning to wonder whether we have done the right thing, along comes Jean-Claude Juncker to remind you exactly why Britain voted for Brexit. It is ‘not going to be an amicable divorce’, he tells us. Why can’t it be amicable? We’ve decided that we’ve grown apart, not run off with the milkman. There’s no need to put the car keys down the drain and upload some naked photos onto the web. It isn’t so much Ukip who are exploiting the politics of hate; it is Juncker. In his desire for revenge he is demonstrating the contempt for democracy that has been the bane of European Commission

Will Jeremy Corbyn have a shadow cabinet by the end of the day? By 9am there have already been two departures. As Isabel said on the our Coffee House shots podcast last night, a lot of Labour MPs think the mood of the membership has shifted after the EU referendum and they think this vote of no confidence could be coming at the ideal time. In the early hours of this morning Jeremy Corbyn sacked shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn. Benn had been calling fellow members of the shadow cabinet to ask whether they thought he should call on Corbyn to stand down as leader; and whether they would join him in resigning were he to

The petition to demand a second a referendum has now reached 2.8 million signatories. There’s an awful lot of people in this country who do not understand democracy; they can scream abuse at Boris and demonstrate in central London, write long anguished letters to the Grauniad and act like petulant children, but they still will not get their way. Twinkly, smiley Physics professor Brian Cox has asked (‘mischeviously’) what would happen if the petition reached 17 million. Well, Bri. Do the math. You’re supposed to be good at that. It still wouldn’t be enough, would it? Meanwhile David Lammy MP, who should know better, has insisted that Parliament take the fatuous

Since Brexit became a reality early on Friday morning, my Facebook feed has been filled with mournful posts written by friends who voted Remain. Those who voted Leave seem to be staying quiet. This is understandable. Most of my friends are in their twenties. They tend to be educated and globalist in their outlook. They have enjoyed the freedom of movement that the EU offered them, and feel they have benefitted overall from Britain being a member. It is painful to see the comity of the EU suddenly stripped away, and I sympathise on many counts. The vote for Brexit will no doubt be a defining political moment for my age group.

Jeremy Corbyn is giving a speech this morning about Labour’s response to the EU referendum. Rumours have been sweeping the party overnight that the Labour leader will use the event to step down and hand over the reins to John McDonnell, who has been on manoeuvres for months. But aides deny that this will happen today. Nevertheless, there must be recognition in the Corbyn team that the situation is pretty precarious. The lengthy Shadow Cabinet meeting yesterday wasn’t as furious as some other parts of the parliamentary Labour party might have hoped, but some members are discussing resigning en masse to trigger a change at the top of the party.

Brexit is, unsurprisingly, continuing to dominate the front pages of the newspapers overseas for a second day in a row. Whereas many of yesterday’s European paper splashes focused on Britain’s decision to vote ‘Out’, though, the big question now is: what does this mean for us? Several front pages across the continent ask this question this morning, with others trying to address the issue of whether their own countries might follow suit with their own brand of Brexit. It’s clear that whilst Britain is now at a crossroads, so, too, is the rest of Europe. And many across the continent are waking up to that realisation today. Here’s how the