All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Boris Johnson has just given a rather urgent-sounding, fast-paced speech in Downing Street. So fast-paced, in fact, that it almost appeared he was in a hurry to catch a train. He of course promised to deliver Brexit by 31 October, but the bulk of his statement was in fact focused on what he wanted to
I am about to go to Buckingham Palace to tender my resignation to Her Majesty the Queen and to advise her to ask Boris Johnson to form a new administration. I repeat my warm congratulations to Boris on winning the Conservative leadership election. I wish him and the Government he will lead every good fortune
Forget Churchill. Never mind the Iron Duke. Ignore the claims of Pitt the Younger. The greatest prime minister in British history is Theresa May. That was the message from PMQs today. Tory after Tory stood up to heap praise on their departing chief. Wages are up. Homelessness is falling. Employment is on the rise, thanks
So, what do the French make of Boris Johnson? Ridicule, contempt and inevitable comparisons to President Trump characterise the reaction of the media and political classes here, who are simply incapable of understanding the appeal of a politician operating outside the blob. Le Monde this morning had little to say about Britain’s new prime minister
Boris Johnson may have been elected by Tory members and become leader of the Conservative party, but until he finally meets the Queen in Buckingham Palace he is not, constitutionally, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Which explains why some, clearly still hoping to stave off his premiership, made a desperate bid to stop
The appointment of Remain-leaning Mark Spencer to Chief Whip in Boris Johnson’s incoming government has excited Conservative MPs from across the benches. Many will be wondering who else will be chosen to join what could be a broader coalition than had been expected. Perhaps though they should show some caution. Speaking on The Spectator’s Women with Balls,
Theresa May’s final statement in Downing Street before she left for Buckingham Palace was very dignified and generous to her successor. She offered her ‘warm congratulations’ to Boris Johnson and wished him ‘every good fortune in the months and years ahead’. As with her performance at Prime Minister’s Questions, May was keen to emphasise her
Theresa May’s final Prime Minister’s Questions had all the tributes you’d expect for an outgoing leader. Members from across the House praised her commitment to public service and the way in which she has made tackling mental illness, modern slavery and domestic abuse her priority throughout her time in government. She received a standing ovation
Theresa May’s time at Parliament’s despatch box is up. The Prime Minister has just faced her final session of PMQs, finishing off by telling MPs the ‘duty’ to ‘serve my constituents will remain my greatest motivation’. Here is the video of the moment she said goodbye: Most MPs stood up and applauded the PM as
The closest analogy to the government Boris Johnson is forming is Blair’s and Brown’s New Labour government of 1997, when they appointed super powerful political advisers – Campbell, Powell, Balls, Whelan – to boss conservative Whitehall. That is what Johnson is doing – in spades – by making former Vote Leave campaign chief Dominic Cummings
Fairness is not a concept known to political reporting. That’s not how the lobby works. I used to be a Westminster correspondent. We hunted as a pack. We kicked those who were down and sucked up to the winners. In this article, far too late, I will try rescue the reputation of one of Theresa
There are high expectations among Tory MPs today for Boris Johnson’s Cabinet appointments. The problem? He has more supporters who believe they will be promoted than plum jobs to give. It follows that this evening’s first wave of hires for the most senior jobs will undoubtedly lead to disappointment. Johnson has at least got off
Barring a huge upset, it seems inevitable that Boris Johnson will be walking through the black door of Number 10 in two day’s time. Once there, he is expected to conduct a sweeping reshuffle of government ministers – appointing his allies and removing members of May’s Cabinet who are opposed to his Brexit strategy. So
Donald Trump didn’t take long to congratulate Boris Johnson on his victory in today’s Tory leadership race. ‘He will be great!’ was Trump’s snap verdict on a man who he described at a rally this afternoon as a ‘really good man’. It’s safe to say Boris has a fan, at least for the time being,
The penny has finally dropped here in Berlin. After the Brexit party’s success in the European elections – and several missed Brexit deadlines later – most Germans are slowly realising that Brexit will happen. There are some who still hope that the offer of a new Brexit extension – as Ursula von der Leyen has
Jared O’Mara, the former Labour MP (who was briefly suspended from the party in 2018 over a series of online comments) has been something of an enigma in Westminster of late. Although he promised to fight for his constituents when he left the Labour party to become an independent, the politician has since missed a
Tom Watson’s face is splashed across the front pages of the newspapers today but unfortunately for the typically publicity-hungry Watson it’s for all the wrong reasons. Labour’s deputy leader is facing calls to quit following the conviction of Carl Beech, a fantasist who was yesterday found guilty of making up claims about a VIP paedophile
On Wednesday afternoon Boris Johnson will meet with the Queen in Buckingham Palace, will be invited to form a government, and then will stroll through the black door of Number 10 as the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. There, he will officially begin the process of appointing his Cabinet, the ministers who will
Westminster is, naturally, fixated on Boris Johnson and his first speech since his Conservative leadership victory. But it’s just possible that the most interesting and important speech of the day took place in Scunthorpe. That’s where Andy Haldane, chief economist of the Bank of England was delivering a speech called ‘Climbing the Jobs Ladder’. His
Theresa May has had a busy few weeks, frantically churning out press releases, consultations and policies to build a legacy before she is replaced by her nemesis Boris Johnson. And as one of her final acts as Prime Minister, Theresa May took the unusual step of appointing Imam Qari Asim as a new Islamophobia tsar this
When Boris Johnson chants his mantra of delivering Brexit, uniting the country and beating Jeremy Corbyn, it is very much a personal imperative. For the simple reason that if he fails, as many of his colleagues anticipate, he will look like a blithering idiot. The point is that back in the spring of 2016, he
Boris Johnson became the next prime minister of the United Kingdom and leader of the Conservative party this afternoon, after Tory members overwhelmingly backed him over Jeremy Hunt. And almost as soon as the result was announced, messages began pouring in from people across the world. US president Donald Trump was the first to pass
Boris Johnson will now be receiving plenty of unsolicited advice about how to be Prime Minister. As his victory speech a few minutes ago showed, though, he’s not planning to ditch one of the qualities that got him into this job in the first place. Brand Boris isn’t about the typical prime ministerial behaviour, stood
Boris Johnson is the new leader of the Conservative party. He has defeated Jeremy Hunt by a two to one margin, 66 to 34 per cent. This gives him a mandate and will boost his political authority—a boost that he desperately needs given how small his working majority will be, even in combination with the
Thank you, Cheryl. Thank you, Charles. Thank you very much, Brandon, for a fantastic, well-organised campaign. I think it did a lot of credit, as Brandon has just said, to our party, to our values and to our ideals. But I want to begin by thanking my opponent, Jeremy. By common consent, an absolutely formidable
In today’s Holy Smoke podcast, Harry Mount and I discuss the mysterious religious beliefs of the man who will be the first baptised Catholic to enter Number 10. Boris Johnson’s Catholic baptism – as a baby he was given the faith of his mother, Charlotte Fawcett – has received little publicity. Understandably, perhaps, because he
The trickle of ministers resigning before they are pushed by Boris Johnson continues this morning, with Anne Milton stepping down as an Education Minister. In her resignation letter to Theresa May, Milton cites ‘grave concerns about leaving the EU without a deal’. These resignations could set the tone for the start of Johnson’s premiership. Certainly
Boris Johnson will be Britain’s new prime minister after winning the Tory leadership race. Boris picked up 92,153 votes, or 66.4 per cent. His rival Jeremy Hunt won 46,656 votes, or 33.6 per cent. Turnout in the leadership race was 87.4 per cent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTASH_xM9qw Boris Johnson paid tribute to Jeremy Hunt after his win was
At just before midday today, Brexiters will own Brexit for the first time, and that will really matter – if, as expected, Johnson is crowned Tory leader. Because from that moment, they will have no one but themselves to either praise or blame, for either Britain’s brave new dawn or its slow and painful demise
Roger Scruton has been reappointed as head of a government housing body after he was sacked in April following a magazine interview in which his views were misrepresented. The letter from housing secretary James Brokenshire, who fired Scruton, is published below: Dear Sir Roger, Thank you so much for our conversation about the next steps on the
Until half past eight yesterday morning I was a little concerned for the future of private schools. They haven’t helped themselves by offering only a premium product, replete with Olympic-sized swimming pools, drama centres and other fripperies – ignoring demand from parents who could afford £5000 a year. Moreover, some state schools have improved hugely
The following tweet comes from a very talented US author: ‘The irony that in T***p Dark Age with its public expressions of hatred, bigotry, & cruelty literary publishers hire “sensitivity readers” to peruse upcoming books for “insensitivity.”’ That’s Joyce Carol Oates. A great writer. A great writer who does not know the meaning of the
Jo Swinson has been elected as the new leader of the Liberal Democrats. Succeeding Sir Vince Cable in the role, Swinson, the first woman to hold the position, beat her rival Ed Davey – winning 47,997 votes against 28,02 with 63 per cent of the vote. In her victory speech, Swinson said that on joining
Alan Duncan may have been the first to resign ahead of Boris Johnson’s expected coronation as prime minister but he won’t be the last. Philip Hammond has already announced he’ll jump before he is pushed. And the rest of the so-called Gaukeward Squad are preparing to make their feelings about Boris known. But what about