All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
So when can the UK start negotiating its own trade agreements? Throughout the campaign and thereafter, Brexiters have made passionate pleas for liberating the UK from the EU so it can pursue trade deals of its own. Daniel Hannan, a senior campaigner for Leave, quipped that every continent was growing except Europe and Antarctica, and
The decision we took on the 23rd June was a great moment in history. Not just a historic opportunity for our country but for Europe as a whole. Perhaps the biggest moment since the Berlin Wall came down. We are not leaving any of our historic ties with our European friends, We are choosing freedom
Nigel Farage has joined the growing list of politicians to resign after stepping aside as Ukip leader this morning. It was a surprise move, which Farage said was brought about by him feeling that he had ‘done his bit’ following the Brexit vote last month. In a speech, the Ukip leader said that he wanted
Anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave for the past week or so will by now be growing increasingly tired of the repetitive and overly emotional responses of camp Remain. But what the visceral social media posts and pessimistic articles in the media have revealed is the genuine fear felt by many Remainers. These
Today Andrea Leadsom has officially launched her campaign to be the next Tory leader. Speaking at the Cinnamon Club, the former banker declared that she would not be the candidate for the rich; ‘the richest people in Britain will not be my priority’. However, Mr S cant help but wonder if she should have gone for
I’m aware that not everybody in this country is happy. Indeed, a lot of young people have been wound up by scare stories and are actually very angry and very scared about their future. It’s an irony really, that it’s the youth of a country that appear to be worried right across the whole of the
Andrea Leadsom is the last of the five candidates to launch her bid for the Tory leadership. But if the bookies odds are anything to go on, she is rapidly emerging as a potential frontrunner in this race. Many will view Leadsom as one of the ‘Brexit candidates’ in this fight. Somewhat refreshingly, though, she
Nigel Farage’s departure comes at the best possible time for Ukip. The party could be hoovering up votes from Labour’s heartlands which voted for Out in surprisingly large numbers in the referendum. But since that result, figures in Ukip had been feeling dismayed that their party seemed angry and disorganised, unable to reach out to
Today Nigel Farage has announced that he will be standing down as Ukip leader. Farage has pledged not to ‘unresign’ this time around, stating that now he has achieved his goal in the referendum, it’s time he ‘stood aside’ as leader of the party. This means that the search is on to find Farage’s successor. With Farage
Nigel Farage has resigned as Ukip leader. Farage announced his decision to stand aside as the party’s leader in a speech this morning. In a surprise move, Farage said that the Brexit vote meant that his ‘political ambition has been achieved’ and that he was calling time on his leadership of the party. He said:
Have you ever wondered what led to the birth of the modern insurance industry? No, me neither. But it turns out that the Great Fire of London was the catalyst for what is today a multi-billion pound industry encompassing everything from contents, cars and caravans to pets, festivals and holidays. I admit to finding that
The Chancellor has floated a plan to cut corporation tax to encourage businesses to continue investing in the UK following the Brexit vote. In an interview with the Financial Times, George Osborne said he would reduce the rate to below 15 per cent. The current rate is 20 per cent rate. A new low rate would give the UK
Appallingly, Philip Hammond has just echoed Theresa May’s threat to use the two Britain’s million European Union immigrant workers as bargaining chips in negotiation with Brussels. He said it would be “absurd” to say – as Michael Gove, Boris Johnson, Dan Hannan and Vote Leave members have said – that no EU national will be deported no
Der Speigel has published a fascinating write-up giving last week’s extraordinary events from Angela Merkel’s perspective. Specifically, it seems, she’s had enough of Jean-Claude Juncker, the egregious president of the European Commission, and has told him to bow out from future negotiations with the UK. She’s fed up of him insisting that Britain rushes to invoke Article 50.
Dropping out of the Tory leadership race does mean one good thing for Boris: he can now go back to throwing rocks from the sidelines. Having landed himself in hot water last week with his Telegraph column in which he appeared to offer both freedom of movement for Brits abroad whilst introducing a much stricter
After Michael Gove turned on his one-time ally Boris Johnson and decided to run for leader himself, there was disbelief and anger among the former Mayor of London’s supporters. While Jake Berry declared that there was a special place in hell for Gove, his fellow Tory MP Ben Wallace has used a comment piece in today’s
Does Theresa May really understand Brexit? Speaking to Robert Peston today, the Home Secretary seemed to be entertaining the idea of deporting European nationals staying in Britain. Or, almost as bad, using them as collateral in some negotiation with Brussels: a deeply worrying and, to me, revolting suggestion. But coming from the Home Secretary, we have no
Robert Peston: Now it’s time for our big interview and I’m absolutely delighted to be joined by the Home Secretary and leadership frontrunner Theresa May. Very good to see you. Theresa May: Good to see you Robert. Peston: Home Secretary, there’s a lot of talk this morning that you’re streets ahead of the other candidates.
Well I might as well say publicly what I’ve been saying to everyone who will listen privately for the last week. It seems to me that our country will regret the distraction and levity we have shown this past week. For those who campaigned to leave the EU, June 24th was not an opportunity to
Stephen Crabb made a passionate plea this morning for Tories to stop thinking in terms of Remain and Leave when it comes to picking a leader. He warned that if people carry on doing this, it will lead to the party splitting. But all things being equal, I do think it would be best for
Eleven years ago, I was one of the small handful of people working to make David Cameron the next Leader of the Conservative Party. In the early days, the media joked that you could fit all of us into a London Taxi. Our team included both Boris Johnson and Michael Gove. David Cameron won in
There’s much speculation about who will be the two MPs chosen by the Tory party to fight it out for leader, but there is less dispute about the candidate who looks set to get knocked out on Tuesday when voting actually starts on Tuesday. Barring an unlikely surge of support from fellow Tory MPs, Liam
Call it femocracy or gynocracy (my preference), or, a new age of women, as Justine Greening has it, the excited consensus is that we’re in for a benign new world of female governance. Hillary in the US, Theresa May over here, Ruth Davidson and Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland, Angela Merkel in Germany…what could be more
Every candidate comes into a leadership contest needing to answer questions about their flaws and experience. But the questions that Michael Gove is having to answer about his own bid are of altogether a different order. The Justice Secretary spent the first chunk of his interview with Andrew Marr this morning having to explain not just
Is Andrea Leadsom a serious contender to become Prime Minister? A few days ago, she was almost about to sign up to Team Boris, and even held talks with Team Crabb & Javid. Which made sense: she has been in parliament for just six years, and has been a junior minister for an even shorter time. But to those
So 17 million people vote to take Britain out of the European Union – but 40,000 of the Remainers took to the streets of London today to protest. We heard the voices of Britain’s growing anti-democratic movement: those who believe that Brexit was the result of consulting voters who were confused, malign, northern – or all three. Who,
Stephen Crabb has a 3pc chance of winning the Conservative leadership, according to to the bookmakers. Yes, the same ones who said there was a 10pc chance of David Cameron winning a majority and a 7pc chance of Brexit. The seemingly impossible is happening all the time in politics. The obstacles to his joint bid
There is a slap Michael Gove game on the internet, and it’s very popular. All you have to do is slap him in the face. I must admit I was tempted when I read his synthetically pious toss about how he had felt forced to stand as leader, deep sense of regret, false humility leaking
Officially, we will not have a new leader of the Tory party—and thus a new Prime Minister—until the 9th of September. But there are plans afoot to install a new PM far quicker than that, as I say in The Sun this morning. This scheme would see huge pressure put on whoever is second at
To subscribe to The Spectator’s weekly podcast, for free, visit the iTunes store or click here for our RSS feed. Alternatively, you can follow us on SoundCloud. A week after Britain backed Brexit, politics shows no sign of slowing down. David Cameron has resigned, Michael Gove has pulled out of Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign before
Although Mr S is running his own Michael Gove inspired Game of Thrones competition for readers, the Justice Secretary’s colleagues also can’t seem to resist sticking the knife-in when it comes to picking which machiavellian character Gove best resembles. After Gove turned on his former ally Boris Johnson, Ben Wallace, the Conservative MP for Wyre and Preston, has claimed that when
Auf wiedersehen, Boris. He’ll be back, like a blond, bloated Voldemort inhabiting another life form – Top Gear host? Archbishop of York? Or endless BBC camping tours of Britain on a bike, the Portillo of the Portacabin? As Boris’ agent collects the offers – and his publishers are still owed a Shakespeare biography by the
Labour has gone oddly quiet today, and that’s not just because the party is enjoying the mayhem in the Conservative leadership contest. After a very well-organised week of resignations, the rebels have now decided to sit back and wait for Jeremy Corbyn to come to terms with what the party he leads now looks like.
With Boris Johnson’s hopes of making it into Number 10 dashed, the former Mayor of London is now on a damage limitation exercise with the focus on retaining his dignity. Bruised from Theresa May’s dig yesterday that his EU negotiation experience amounts to his controversial purchase of three ‘nearly new’ water cannons, it’s safe to say that
