All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Last Tuesday evening, I tweeted the following: It was, fairly obviously, a joke. But the fallout was extraordinary. The gag split people politically. Many of those on the right thought the idea hilarious and a good way to scrutinise an activist who MPs were busy fawning over; my critics on the left suggested I should
I am not a right-winger. I am ashamed to say that I discovered Sir Roger Scruton only four years ago when an argument in a Washington DC think-tank led to a search for contemporary philosophers who took a long view of civilisation, history, ideas, and implications of philosophy. It happened when I was an advisor
As much as the country is divided by Brexit, there’s arguably an even more stark division. It’s the one between those directly and repeatedly affected by crime, and those who aren’t. Prison officers – more so than police, prosecutors, barristers, or probation officers – face the worst of state failure when it comes to crime.
Sources close to the Labour leader believe the emergency NEC meeting on Tuesday, which determines the Labour manifesto for the EU elections, will agree a formula that is “a restatement” of the party’s equivocal and prolix party conference resolution of last September. But a senior trade union source tells me that if Unison, GMB and
How does Theresa May plan to spend the six-month Brexit extension? Nearly one month in and there is little sign of a Brexit breakthrough. The Labour/Tory talks are ongoing yet those inside the room are pessimistic they will lead to an imminent solution. It now seems as though there won’t be much in the way
Why aren’t we Brits talking about the revolt just across the English Channel? Our silence on the gilets jaunes and their spectacular, sustained rebellion against the increasingly tyrannical rule of Emmanuel Macron has become pathological. There’s been barely any BBC coverage, no words of solidarity from Corbynistas, not a peep from the trade union movement.
The hunt is on within government to discover which individual leaked details of a meeting of the National Security Council on allowing Huawei to help build Britain’s new 5G network to the press. With an inquiry under way, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt today announced that he would be happy to hand over his phone as part
Spain’s general election yesterday – the third in four years – revealed a deserved winner and a big loser, as well as signalling the start of a lengthy coalition-forming process. The country’s five main political parties performed more or less exactly as the polls had suggested they would. Pedro Sánchez’s centre-left Socialist party (the PSOE)
Brandon Lewis: I hope our councillors will vote Conservative After fighting off some technical glitches this morning, the new series of the Marr Show featured an interview with the Conservative party chairman Brandon Lewis. With local elections, and potentially, European elections approaching next month, Mishal Husain (filling in for Marr) asked Lewis about the party’s
A concerted attempt by Labour MPs and MEPs to engineer that their party would campaign unambiguously for a ‘confirmatory’ Brexit referendum in the EU elections looks set to flop. Instead Jeremy Corbyn’s preferred position of characterising a new public vote only as an option is likely to prevail, because he seems to have retained the
The prompt for this challenge – to submit an elegy by a poet on another poet – was ‘Adonais’, Shelley’s celebrated 55-stanza tribute to Keats. Frank McDonald imagined Keats responding in kind: My heart aches for you, brother Percy Bysshe, Who wept for me although my name was writ In water. Dearest friend, it was
It’s not much comfort, if you like pubs, that the rate at which they’re closing across the UK has fallen from 138 per month for the past several years to 76 per month in 2018; small consolation too that this is partly the result of a rare example of government policy working — in the
The Tories have a debate on their hands about what direction they should go in. Do they return to the politics of the Cameron coalition? This delivered majority government, won over a greater percentage of AB (better off) voters, won more university towns, more professionals but fewer rural areas. Or should the Tories double down
I agree with much of Liam Halligan’s analysis of the Irish government’s approach to Brexit (‘Good Friday disagreement’, 20 April). However, I think he omits an important point. Leo Varadkar is not merely attempting to derail Brexit; he is also hoping to achieve a united Ireland. For decades politicians, officials and journalists in the south
Next week, Theresa May will sit down with Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee. He will ask her for more clarity on her departure plans. As I say in The Sun this morning, the answer that Mrs May gives will go a long way to determining her future. On Wednesday, the executive of
Until now, I haven’t been too worried about Jeremy Corbyn. True, he exceeded expectations two years ago, but that was because no one thought Labour would win. It was a protest vote, a way for Remainers to signal their disapproval of Theresa May’s approach to Brexit. If the good burghers of Kensington thought there was
For years, southern Spain has been one of the main entry points for migrants travelling to Europe from Africa or the Middle East. Yet throughout the so-called refugee crisis of 2015 – an issue that saw populist parties across the EU gain huge support – Spain proved to be one of Europe’s few exceptions. Throughout
The controversy surrounding Sir Roger Scruton’s dismissal from his role as chairman of the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission continues. In this week’s cover piece, Douglas Murray talks us through the tape of the interview that got Scruton fired and tells the story of how a character assassination unfolded on Twitter. He is joined by Adrian Wooldridge, political editor and Bagehot
When summer arrives and you’re faced with the beautiful reality of endless weeks in the sunshine (OK, wishful thinking), instead of lectures and assignments, it makes sense to try to use that time wisely; and maybe even make some money in the process to have an even better summer with. www.studentbeans.com, the student discount app,
One doubts very much that Donald Trump knows who Jeremy Corbyn is. So the Labour Party leader’s decision to ‘snub’ the US President on his state visit to the UK in June won’t rupture the special relationship. However, it is quite rude. ‘Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state
Next week, the Tories will face their first big electoral test since failing to deliver Brexit on time. On Thursday, the local elections take place – with 9,000 seats up for grabs. While the focus in recent weeks has been on the European elections next month – which will see Nigel Farage’s Brexit party and
A question has come to me from a test paper in the A-level for 21st century ethics. Read the following statement and explain what is wrong with it: ‘It’s important that we take climate issues seriously. Whether or not individuals accept the current scientific consensus on the causes of climate change, it is sensible for
Roger Scruton has appeared on the Today programme to discuss the interview that got him fired. Here is the full transcript and recording of his conversation with Justin Webb: RS: I don’t think I spoke intemperately. I speak as I speak and I discuss things as they are presented to me, according to my vision
The old dog has announced. And he is in it to win it. After endless rumours about whether he will throw his hat into the ring for one last campaign, former vice president Joe Biden officially declared his presidential candidacy this morning with the customary video. The supporters who have been chanting “Run Joe, Run!” for years
Just hours after Donald Trump’s long-delayed state visit to Britain was finally confirmed, reports surfaced that Theresa May and her National Security Council have decided to let Chinese telecommunications company Huawei participate in building Britain’s 5G network. The decision is a direct slap in the face to Washington’s attempts to isolate Huawei, which itself is part
The International Commission of Labour’s National Policy Forum – which consists of MPs, trade unionists, MEPs, and constituency representatives – has voted unanimously that Labour’s manifesto for European elections should pledge to hold a confirmatory referendum on any Brexit deal. My sources say there were no dissenting voices. On Wednesday, all Labour MEPs voted in
Overheard on the eastbound Jubilee Line train today at about 1620. Two blokes, sitting next to each other, apparently friends. One of them takes out an apple and starts eating it. The other one looks at him and says: ‘What are you doing?’ His friend continues eating the apple. ‘Are you having a crafty apple?
Although Jeremy Hunt is often depicted as a more statesman-like figure than his predecessor at the Foreign Office, the Foreign Secretary has had his fair share of gaffes. Not long into the brief, Hunt made headlines when he mistakenly identified his wife as Japanese when she is in fact Chinese. At Thursday’s Press Gallery lunch,
There’s an episode of Father Ted in which the simple but endearing Father Dougal gets stuck on a milk float booby-trapped with a bomb. The finest clerical minds in Craggy Island convene to devise a solution and as they discount each increasingly far-fetched fix, the well-meaning Father Beeching pipes up: ‘Is there anything to be
Imagine the following medieval conversation: King: “We need to build a castle at Dover. ‘Tis the key to England.” Courtier: “Sire, the French build excellent castles at fantastic prices. Of course, we should not allow them anywhere near the keep, but no harm if they construct the moat and curtain walls.” Returning to the 21st
The executive of the 1922 Committee have decided not to change its rules which prevent another vote of no confidence in Theresa May until December. But the chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady will ask the Prime Minister to provide more clarity on the timetable for her departure in all circumstances. What this
Never mind sabotaging Brexit. The sight of MPs clamouring to be photographed alongside Greta Thunberg yesterday dealt yet another harmful blow to our democracy. The Swedish clairvoyant is the constituent of no British politician. She contributes not a penny in taxes to HM Treasury. And yet our parliamentarians lined up to listen in wonder to
Emily Thornberry reached a new low today. At Prime Minister’s Questions, she turned the Commons’ heartfelt offering of condolences to the family and friends of Lyra McKee into a tirade against a Hard Brexit. In reply to David Lidington — who was standing in for Theresa May, who is attending McKee’s funeral — Thornberry said
Nicola Sturgeon is a reader and, to judge by the statement she has just made to the Scottish parliament on the implications of Brexit for Scotland’s future, the book she’s been reading lately is ‘The Gentle Art of Letting People Down Gently’. The people being, in this instance, the SNP members preparing to attend the