All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
There’s a delicious irony to Remainers’ branding of Leave voters as confused individuals who have simply made a desperate howling noise, whose anti-EU vote was a ‘howl of anger’ (Tim Farron) or a ‘howl of frustration’ (JK Rowling). Which is that if anyone’s been howling in recent days, it’s them, the top dogs of the
Over the last few years, Scots have had to get used to Nicola Sturgeon telling them what they think. When the SNP had its majority (one the voters stripped away in the recent Holyrood election) she was keen to present herself as the voice of the country: l’Ecosse, c’est moi. If the SNP wants X, then
The First Minister gave an interview on Scotland’s position in the UK after Brexit on the Andrew Marr Show this morning. Here’s what she said: Andrew Marr: Can I ask first of all, is it your priority to have a negotiation as Scotland with Brussels to allow Scotland to more or less seamlessly stay inside
The Shadow Cabinet fightback is on. After Hilary Benn appeared on the Andrew Marr Show to set out the reasons for a no confidence vote in Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell has appeared on the Sunday Politics to make the case for the Labour leader. While Benn — along with a growing list of MPs who have today resigned
This morning, Philip Hammond has insisted that those running for the Tory leadership explicitly set out how they intend to leave the EU. The Foreign Secretary told Robert Peston that he wanted to know how they would manage the trade-off between single market access and free movement. Hammond himself appears to favour a version of
The Tory leadership contest is looking decidedly sedate compared with the ructions in the Labour party this morning. But tomorrow the 1922 Committee Executive will meet to discuss the timetable and rules for the battle to replace David Cameron as Tory leader and Prime Minister. As I report in the Observer today, senior Tories are
As Jeremy Corbyn tries to hold off the threat of a coup from members of his shadow cabinet, it’s probably for the best that he pulled out of a planned appearance at Glastonbury today. However, not everyone in Labour’s top command appears to have received the memo about putting the party’s woes above the annual music festival.
With the sacking of Hilary Benn from the Shadow Cabinet, we have reached open hostilities in the Labour party. The former Shadow Foreign Secretary has just told the Andrew Marr Show that there is ‘never an ideal time’ and that Jeremy Corbyn is a ‘good and decent man, but he is not a leader’. The
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
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
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
The UK’s EU Commissioner, Jonathan Hill, has resigned today saying that he couldn’t carry on as ‘though nothing had happened.’ This strikes me as an act of gross irresponsibility. Britain has not yet invoked Article 50, the two-year process for leaving the EU, and Hill staying on would have provided some continuity at a time of uncertainty. Supporters
It’s not turning out to be a great weekend for Jeremy Corbyn. First he had to pull out of a planned appearance at Glastonbury on Sunday to focus on Brexit, now his visit to London Pride has, too, been ruined by the referendum result. On meeting with members of Labour’s LGBT community at Pride, Corbyn was
Westminster is still digesting what happened on Thursday night. But before Britain can turn itself to the big question of how to leave the EU, a new Prime Minister has to be chosen by the Tory party. Nearly every Tory MP I’ve spoken to since Friday morning is of the view that the new PM
I suspect a lot of people who voted out have mixed emotions this weekend, especially given how emotional the debate became. People on both sides did go a little bit mad. My Twitter feed reminded me of that Danny Boyle film 28 Days Later: you watch with horror as friend after friend (on either side of
In June 1975, I was given the heavy responsibility of writing the Telegraph’s ‘light’ op-ed on the conduct of the first Euro-referendum campaign, which duly appeared on the day of the vote. My theme was that it had been the nicest possible stitch-up. ‘From the establishment and the respectable anti-establishment, from the Economist and the
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
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
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
A few thoughts on today’s events. First – it wasn’t working. With each year it was becoming more and more obvious that Britain and the EU wanted different things. Many (though not all) continental countries seem happy with a political union which pools their national sovereignty. There may be virtues in that, problems in it
The Irish prime minister, Enda Kenny, was quick off the block to react to the referendum result – see his speech below. Having done his utmost to galvanise support among the Irish in Britain for Remain, with no discernible result (though Bob Geldof’s parallel efforts may have driven thousands to Brexit) he’s now getting to
Share prices in freefall. Pension funds obliterated. A sea of red ink across trading screens. Billions wiped off the value of leading companies. And brokers, or at least the automated trading algorithms that have replaced them, contemplating throwing themselves out of the window, or whatever exactly it is that an algorithm does when it has
My part of north London feels like the morning after England get knocked out from the World Cup. People look genuinely angry, and down the road in Islington the benevolent moral guardians of the current year have been shouting ‘scum’ at Boris Johnson outside his house. Boris leaves his house to crowds shouting 'scum' #EUref
Given that the result of the EU referendum was likely to have a monumental impact whatever the outcome, Jeremy Corbyn’s plan to speak at this weekend’s Glastonbury festival was always a curious choice. Now faced with Labour MPs calling for his removal, it seems Corbyn has had second thoughts. The Labour leader has pulled out of his
In the past few minutes, two Labour MPs – Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey – have submitted a motion of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn. This is not a surprise given how angry the parliamentary party was after last night’s referendum results in its heartlands, but it now depends on whether their parliamentary colleagues have
Don’t know about you, but the healing process is proving difficult from my point of view in dealing with my friends and family. My daughter, who is 9, broke down and cried over breakfast when she heard the result. Which is nothing to what her class will do: to a child, they’re solidly pro-Remain, and
I want to begin this morning by paying tribute to David Cameron who has spoken earlier from Downing Street. I know I speak for Michael in saying how sad I am that he has decided to step down but obviously I respect that decision. I have known David Cameron for a very long time and
We all know that we should be switching financial products for a better deal, potentially saving ourselves thousands of pounds a year. But do we have time to do this? Certainly some products are easier and less time-consuming to switch than others. Gocompare.com questioned people who have shopped around for financial products in the last
David Cameron has announced his decision to step down as Prime Minister following the vote to leave the European Union. Here’s what he said on the steps of No.10 Downing Street this morning: The country has just taken part in a giant democratic exercise – perhaps the biggest in our history. Over 33 million people
In an emotional but dignified statement, David Cameron has announced his resignation as Prime Minister. However, he will not resign immediately. Instead, he will stay to, in his phrase, ‘steady the ship’. But he wants a new Prime Minister in place by the Tory party conference this autumn. Sensibly, Cameron said that he himself would
Today the world woke up to a UK vote to leave the European Union, the resignation of the Prime Minister and the tanking of the pound. After a tumultuous night, the result of the EU referendum was declared in the early hours: 51.9 per cent leave, 48.1 per cent remain. Although the pound rallied shortly after
The betting markets are all-but-ready to crown Boris Johnson as the next Conservative leader. After it became clear that Leave had won, the implied chance of Johnson succeeding David Cameron spiked to over 50 per cent – while the chance of George Osborne taking over plummeted. But these are the same betting markets that predicted a 14
David Cameron has announced he will resign as Prime Minister following the vote for Brexit. Cameron has said he will remain in his role for the next three months. Here are the results from overnight: Leave 52%, Remain 48% with 382/382. Turnout 72.2% Remain: 16,141,241; Leave: 17,410,742
As Katy reported earlier, Labour has prepared a script that attempts to exonerate Jeremy Corbyn for the party’s terrible night in its heartlands in this referendum. I have now been leaked that script, which MPs are expected to use from 6am, and it makes rather entertaining reading. The best line is the following: ‘Jeremy Corbyn