National characters How useful is it to characterise an election with a single anthropological specimen such as ‘Workington Man’? ‘Worcester Woman’ was identified by Tory strategists ahead of the 1997 election as a key voter who had helped John Major win, against expectations, in 1992. Worcester was then a Conservative seat. Has the city followed
Home Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Labour MP for Chorley and deputy Speaker since 2010, was elected Speaker by the Commons. His first words were: ‘No clapping.’ Nigel Farage, the leader of the Brexit party, proposed an electoral pact with the Conservatives, but only if Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, repudiated the agreement on Brexit that
There is an unspoken truth about British life: we have two classes of citizen. The first are those born or formally settled here, who have all the rights and protections of the law. Then there are perhaps a million others who may have lived here with their families for years but without the proper documents.
On 19 October John le Carré turned eighty-eight (hinted at by TWO FAT LADIES (19/26/20)). His real forenames are DAVID JOHN MOORE (1A). The titles suggested were A Perfect Spy (GOLDEN MOLE: 16), The Looking Glass War (RAW: 29), A Small Town in Germany (BAD REICHENHALL: 46), The Russia House (ROMANOV: 21) and The Little Drummer
Philip Hensher The best novels of the year were Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys (Fleet, £16.99) and James Meek’s To Calais, In Ordinary Time (Canongate, £17.99). These days, novels are often praised for the gravity of their subjects, but what elevates Whitehead’s treatment of race and American brutality is the elegance of its style and
Another referendum? Sir: Matthew Parris’s article ‘What question should a second referendum ask?’ (26 October) occasioned a wry smile from me this morning. His first question — whether Britain should remain in or leave the European Union — has already been asked and answered, at great expense and trouble, in 2016. The only logical reason why
A December election How unusual is a December general election? Of the 56 elections held since 1800, 5 essentially took place in December: in 1868, 1900, 1910, 1918 and 1923, although prior to the first world war voting took place over several days and weeks and so cannot be pinned down to a single date.
Contrasting Boris Johnson’s enthusiasm for a general election with Jeremy Corbyn’s reluctance, it would be easy to assume that the result was pretty well assured: the Conservatives will win a majority. The pollsters and the bookmakers seem to concur — as they have done before misjudging the result of virtually every major election on either
Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, having shelved his Brexit Bill in the face of parliamentary opposition, persuaded the Commons to vote by 438 to 20 for a general election on 12 December. A one-clause Bill was given its third reading after an amendment put by Labour to change the date to 9 December was
The unclued lights are linked with MAN (at 7A). AXE and AGE were also allowed at 40A. Thanks to various people for pointing this out. First prize John Pugh, Cardiff Runners-up John Foster, Yearsley, York; Cathy Staveley, London SW15
‘We binge-read the Bayeux Tapestry over the weekend.’
Cameron’s fatal error Sir: Jo Johnson’s otherwise informative review of David Cameron’s For the Record (Books, 12 October) suggests Cameron’s ‘mistake’ was to not call the referendum earlier, and his ‘fatal error’ was his failure to nail down the Leave campaign on how they ‘would actually deliver Brexit’. Not so. Cameron’s mistake was to assume
Big Ben protests An Extinction Rebellion protestor climbed to the top of the Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben, with a bit of help from the scaffolding. Who has achieved this before? — A Greenpeace protestor scaled the tower in 2004 to protest the Iraq war. — A protestor was arrested in May last year
Home The Commons voted by 329 to 299 for a Brexit Withdrawal Bill but then stymied progress by defeating a timetable for enacting it by 31 October. Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, immediately favoured a delay for Brexit. Downing Street called for a general election. Sir Oliver Letwin had torpedoed the government’s
It has become perceived wisdom that we are heading for a ‘people vs parliament’ election. But that is a false construct. Who gets to sit in parliament is the one matter in our political system over which the people have almost total control. The battle currently underway is to limit the powers that parliament has
The unclued lights are stations along the Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh train line, the pairs being 8/9 and 29/39. The title suggested a railway version of the ‘Road to the Isles’. First prize A.T. Lymer, Edinburgh Runners-up Brenda Widger, Bowdon, Cheshire; Jeffrey Frankland, Milnthorpe, Cumbria
Boris Johnson’s bid to fast track his Brexit bill through Parliament has been defeated in the Commons. These are the nine ex-Tory independent MPs who voted against the Government: Guto Bebb; Ken Clarke; Justine Greening; Dominic Grieve; Philip Hammond; Richard Harrington; Anne Milton; Antoinette Sandbach; Rory Stewart And these are the five Labour MPs who
After a remarkable turnaround, Boris Johnson succeeded in brokering a Brexit deal with the European Union last week. Now, he has the difficult task of navigating it through the House of Commons. On Saturday, Boris Johnson pulled a vote on his deal, after MPs backed Oliver Letwin’s amendment, which forced the government to ask for
