Uk politics

This is more an election manifesto launch than a conventional Queen’s Speech, because Boris Johnson simply does not have the numbers in the Commons to legislate for all – or any – of the measures announced today. At the risk of being sexist and aide-ist, the legislative programme shows the strong influence on the PM of the two people who seem most influential on him: his partner Carrie Symonds and his chief aide Dominic Cummings, with a package of environment and animal welfare measures (Symonds’ passion) and a bunch of stuff to reinforce the UK’s science and research (Cummings’s). Otherwise it is the anticipated skeleton of a Johnsonian election manifesto: it is

Is Boris safe in Uxbridge? The Lib Dems have an eye on the Prime Minister’s 5000 vote majority and their candidate, Dr Liz Evenden-Kenyon, hopes to dislodge him at the general election. But she needs help. With the support of a new formation, Renew UK, she plans to ‘kick Johnson out of Uxbridge’. I went to a ‘meet and greet’ outside the tube station at the weekend only to find that the campaigners had packed up half an hour before the event was due to end. Perhaps it’s no surprise they hadn’t taken Uxbridge by storm. A Facebook announcement posted on 8 October had been shared just five times. My attempts

The Labour party is abuzz with talk that the party could back a second referendum before a general election. It’s not that Jeremy Corbyn has suggested such a move is on the cards – in fact, this week he’s been saying the exact opposite while setting out his stall for a general election. However, John McDonnell has used an interview with Alastair Campbell for GQ to open the door to the possibility of holding a second referendum first. Asked which ought to come first, McDonnell says while his preference remains a general election ‘let’s see what actually parliament will wear in the end’: AC: Do you agree with me that

The fate of Boris Johnson’s premiership will be determined by Nigel Farage and the Brexit party. Even if a Brexit deal can be agreed, another extension to the deadline of 31 October still seems possible. If the can is kicked down the road, the question of how Farage’s voters will react is key. Without the support of Brexit party voters, Boris Johnson could wake after the next election to find himself and his party still trapped in a hung parliament. But if he wins over half of Farage’s supporters, while the Remain camp is divided between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, then he could land nearly 350 seats and a comfortable

This feels very big: Boris Johnson spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at 8am this morning, and according to a Downing Street source, she told the prime minister that there will be no Brexit deal with the UK unless Northern Ireland is in the customs union “forever”. The source says she repeated “forever” on “multiple occasions”. So what she is saying is there can be no time-limited backstop. And of course it is a wholesale rejection of Johnson’s offer to replace the backstop. “France is saying the same thing”, according to the source. The government’s conclusion is that EU leaders have decided to make an example of the UK –

What if they succeed in thwarting Brexit? The odds seem weighted against Boris Johnson delivering his do-or-die (-in-a-ditch) promise to get the UK out of the EU by Halloween. The Benn Act has tied the government’s hands so there is no need for Brussels to budge. Donald Tusk can wait until Johnson cracks and complies, or until the Remain Parliament ousts him and installs a prime minister who will hold a second referendum or revoke Article 50 altogether.  Because MPs have no commonly agreed position, we can’t be sure which eventuality we’re heading for, but we can agree that Britain’s membership continuing on November 1 would represent a big defeat

Earlier today, I sent a message to a contact in Number 10 asking them how the Brexit talks were going. They sent a long reply which I think gives a pretty clear sense of where they think things are. So, in the interest of trying to let people understand where Number 10 reckon the negotiations are, here is their response: ‘The negotiations will probably end this week. Varadkar doesn’t want to negotiate. Varadkar was keen on talking before the Benn Act when he thought that the choice would be ‘new deal or no deal’. Since the Benn Act passed he has gone very cold and in the last week the

Is Boris Johnson on course to request an Article 50 extension within the fortnight? The Court of Session, Scotland’s highest court, has today dismissed a legal effort to force Johnson to comply with the law (dubbed ‘surrender act’ in No. 10) aimed at making the government seek a Brexit extension in the event of a no deal. Only the reason the judge in question ruled that there was no need for ‘coercive orders’ against the UK government is that he said there could be ‘no doubt’ that the prime minister had already agreed to abide by the law – after government documents submitted to the Court of Session said the prime minister would