Who are you Mr President? Nigel Farage asks Van Rompuy
I’m the Mayor of London
I'm Out and Prou
The empire on which the sun never sets called Trading with the Colonies
Boris Johnson said colonialism in Africa should never have ended and dismissed Britain’s role in slavery
15 June 2020 read ...
MPs call on prime minister to explain whether he still believes ‘the problem is not that we were once in charge, but that we are not in charge any more’
Boris Johnson said colonialism in Africa should never have ended and downplayed Britain’s role in the slave trade, an article written by the prime minister while he was a Tory MP reveals.
Critics are urging Mr Johnson to explain whether he still holds the views expounded in the 2002 piece, where he argued that Africans would not have grown the right crops for export without British direction.
Brexit bearpit leaves no room for decent MPs October 30 2019 read ...
Principled politicians are being driven out by the intolerance of their parties and the public
Not since the referendum have I been so distressed by British politics. The list of politicians quitting either the Commons or their parties at this election, driven out by relentless abuse, vicious partisan faction-fighting, or because the mainstream parties have become so extreme that they will not tolerate the principled moderates who used to have a home in them, includes many of the most talented and honourable people in the House. Our politics no longer has a place for them. That should scare all of us.
Monarch voices disdain for today’s ‘political class’
August 11 2019 read ...
The Queen has privately expressed her disappointment in the current political class and its “inability to govern”, The Sunday Times can reveal.
It is among the starkest political statements the Queen is known to have made during a 67-year reign, when her views on the political climate have rarely been exposed.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby tells Boris Johnson: You’re pouring petrol on divided Britain
October 27 2019 read ...
The Archbishop of Canterbury has issued a rebuke to Boris Johnson, warning the prime minister that the use of “inflammatory” language risks pouring “petrol” on Britain’s divisions over Brexit.
In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Times, Justin Welby said Britain had become consumed by “an abusive and binary approach to political decisions” in which Brexit rivals treated their opponents as “my total enemy”.
The archbishop warned that social media meant it had become “extraordinarily dangerous to use careless comments” in a society that was “polarised and volatile”. He was “shocked” by Johnson’s recent dismissal of warnings about extreme language encouraging death threats against politicians as “humbug”.
Trust - Wrecks It means Wrecks It
What’s at stake now is not just Brexit, but how we are governed as a country read …
22 March 2019
Theresa May is like a driver who takes her vehicle confidently down a cul-de-sac. After a bit, she reaches the brick wall which blocks the road. Instead of turning round to find another way, she just starts shouting at the passengers. As a result, they shout back. For as long as this happens, the vehicle goes nowhere.
The logic of the situation is that someone else has to take the wheel. Unfortunately, this cannot be accomplished before March 29, the current legal date of our departure, and probably not within the short extension that she now seeks.
Down, Boy, Down! read ...
Nigel Farage should be involved in the government's Brexit negotiations and the UK should be prepared to leave the EU with no deal, Donald Trump has said.
Mr Trump also said Boris Johnson would be an "excellent" Conservative Party leader. Breaking with diplomatic convention, Mr Trump said the leader of the Brexit Party - an arch critic of Prime Minister Theresa May - "has a lot to offer" in negotiations with the EU, and should be included. "Think how well they would do if they did," he added.. He also said the UK should walk away if it does not get what it wants from EU negotiations.
Deal or no deal - a story without words
Deal
No deal
No deal
No deal
Leave and Remain
The UK European election winners were the political parties with the clearest stance on Britain’s future relationship with the European Union - the Leave and Remain parties.
The rise of populism and nationalism in the UK and throughout Europe threatens Europe's political stability and security.
To help resolve disputes between European States and reduce the possibility of confrontation, a forum, the European Parliament is necessary to facilitate debate and help find solutions.
Jo Cox MP and Arron Banks
Arron Banks broke agreement to suspend Brexit campaigning after Jo Cox murder, investigation finds read …
Arron Banks flouted an agreement to suspend Brexit campaigning after the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox, according to an investigation by Channel 4 News.
Nigel Farage’s ally ordered Leave.EU team to “up the spend” on Facebook and “press it harder”, emails obtained by the programme reveal – the morning after the killing that shocked the nation.
Channel 4 said the emails also showed a Leave.EU press officer drafted a press release accusing the media of politicising Ms Cox’s murder for the Remain side, but in the name of the Labour Leave campaign group.
Dismantling the entire political mechanism
Turkish author Ece Temelkuran: Populist politicians ‘dismantling the entire political mechanism’
16 Feb 2019 read ...
The journalist and author Ece Temelkuran is one of Turkey’s most respected political analysts. In her new book, she warns that it takes just seven steps for a country to turn from democracy to dictatorship. And after President Erdogan’s rise to power in her own country, she warns of the consequences of surging right-wing populism around the world.
Jacob - You are no Brunel. He built bridges. You destroy them!
Jacob Rees-Mogg says we should ignore the CBI on Brexit: 'They have got everything wrong in their history
12 July 2018 read …
Leading Brexiteer weighs into row with business over the economic impact of leaving the EU
Jacob Rees-Mogg has urged the government to ignore the voice of business leaders as they have “got everything wrong in the whole of their history”.
He said, "vested interests" were colouring the views of major firms, which wanted to protect themselves from tariffs on their goods.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel 1806 - 1859 read ...
Brunel was one of the most versatile and audacious engineers of the 19th century, responsible for the design of tunnels, bridges, railway lines and ships.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born on 9 April 1806 in Portsmouth.
His father Mark was a French engineer who had fled France during the revolution. Brunel was educated both in England and in France.
Donald Tusk: "Special place in hell" for those without Brexit plan
Donald Tusk calls for Brexit to be a 'ONE-OFF' and not disintegrate the EU Mar 24, 2017 read ... The European Council president said it was not a coincidence that those working to break up the EU are people who "question liberal democracy".
He said Brexit must not be the beginning of a process which leads to further splits in the EU's "unique territory of freedom".
Archbishop of Canterbury prepares for five days of prayer after Brexit
February 24 2019 read ...
For many voters, the day we stop talking about Brexit and leave the EU cannot come soon enough. But the Archbishop of Canterbury is so concerned about the state of the nation after March 29 that he is preparing us for five days of prayer.
Under plans discussed at Lambeth Palace, Justin Welby wants to pray in public with the leaders of the Catholic, Methodist, Baptist and United Reformed churches on the day after Britain leaves.
Theresa May, a practising Anglican, and Jeremy Corbyn, who has refused to discuss his beliefs, are being sounded out to join them.
Churches and chapels across the country will be urged to stay open to welcome those who would not normally consider kneeling in the pews.
Queen Elizabeth breaks silence on Brexit — in a very queen-like way
October 24, 2018 read …
For the first time since the 2016 Brexit vote, Queen Elizabeth II has spoken out about the contentious issue of Britain’s upcoming exit from the European Union.
But she did it in an uncontentious way. This queen doesn’t do politics. That’s the key to her staying power: She rules by not ruling.
And so it was that on Tuesday evening, she referred to Brexit in an oblique way. She told the king and queen of the Netherlands that Britain is looking “toward a new partnership with Europe” and that shared values between Britain and Europe are “our greatest asset.”
Plan to evacuate the Queen after a no-deal Brexit
February 3 2019, read ...
Whitehall has drawn up secret plans to evacuate the Queen in the event of riots following a no-deal BrexitThe evacuation plan dates from the Cold War but is being updated amid fears that the Queen’s position is being ‘dangerously politicised’
The Queen and other senior royals will be evacuated from London in the event of riots triggered by a no-deal Brexit, under secret plans being drawn up by Whitehall.
Emergency proposals to rescue the royal family during the Cold War have been “repurposed” in recent weeks, as the risk continues to rise of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal before next month’s deadline.
The plans, which were originally intended to be put into action in the event of a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union, would see the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh moved out of London to a secret location, which The Sunday Times has agreed not to disclose.
Good Governance!
Our elders are supposed to be older and wiser. But not these Brexit clowns
21 December 2018 read …
Parliament seems hellbent on frittering away my generation’s future – while destroying young people’s faith in politics
Lara Spirit
Former chairman, Association of Independent Showmen and a former chief clown with Zippos circus: "Please don’t compare politicians to us."
Even the clowns object!
David Konyo read …
Please stop misusing the word ‘clown’ I am deeply offended by the misuse and misrepresentation of “clown” :
Chaos in row over who said what.
MPs told to clean up their act
No more vomit October 6 2018, read …
Commons cleaning staff have complained about having to tidy up after the ‘debauchery’ that goes on in some offices
Cleaners at the House of Commons are tired of finding used condoms and other debris in the offices of MPsHeshphoto/Getty Images
MPs will be warned about their conduct after cleaners complained of finding used condoms and vomit in their Westminster offices.
David Natzler, the clerk of the House of Commons, is among those said to have received reports from disgusted cleaners forced to clear up the debris left by partying MPs and their staff.
The Commons authorities are considering plans to introduce a new service agreement to force MPs and their staff to adhere to strict new rules about the appropriate use of their workspace. Failure to comply would result in sanctions being imposed against the worst culprits, according to a senior source familiar with the discussions.
War and Peace!
Europe and the UK - Mr Winston Churchill speaking in Zurich,
I9th September 1946.
Britons undermining the country through 'extreme EU loyalty' must be tried for treason, says Tory MEP
27 July 2018 read …
British people undermining the country through “extreme EU loyalty” must be tried for treason, a Tory MEP says.
David Campbell Bannerman has been accused of “putting the knife into free speech” after demanding the revival of an archaic law to prosecute strong allegiance to the EU.
“It is about time we brought the Treason Act up to date and made it apply to those seeking to destroy or undermine the British state,” he tweeted.
CBI chief: "a tidal wave of ideology"
CBI chief: Car firms face Brexit extinction 13 June 2018 read ...
Sections of the UK car industry face extinction unless the UK stays in the EU customs union, the president of the CBI has said.
Paul Dreschler also said there was "zero evidence" that trade deals outside the EU would provide any economic benefit to Britain.
He blamed a "tidal wave of ideology" for the government's Brexit approach.
Patrick Stewart - European Union
Patrick Stewart, speaks about the importance of the European Union and how it has been an integral part of his life.
What has Europe
ever done for us?
Studying in Europe
Studying at a university in Europe can be a life changing experience. It could be cheaper, another language can be learned, and, with a EU university qualification,
it could be easier to find work with new skills in
any one of a number of EU countries.
EURES - Job Mobility Portal Ploteus - Learning opportunities Europe Direct - Help for EU Citizens
Contact by telephone, email or letter
Tel: 00 800 67 89 10 11 - no call charge
A salutary warning
I don't feel welcome
I don't feel welcome anymore
24 August 2017 read …
“I don’t feel welcome here anymore,” says Lukasz, a Polish man who has lived in the UK since he was eight years old. “It’s like staying at someone’s house and you definitely outstayed your welcome – that’s how I feel.” The 28-year-old is one of thousands of European citizens considering leaving Britain because of last year’s vote for Brexit.
Jewish Labour MP 'feels unwelcome' read …
A Jewish Labour MP says she feels "unwelcome" in the party after a video emerged showing Jeremy Corbyn accusing British Zionists of having "no sense of English irony".
Liverpool Wavertree MP Luciana Berger described the Labour leader's comments in a 2013 speech as "inexcusable".
The clip was published on the Daily Mail website as Mr Corbyn makes efforts to tackle anti-Semitism in his party.
The nuclear option
Super-hard Brexit - Fear not, there is a plan
2 April 2017 read … Civil servants acknowledged the atomic bomb plan could convert the tunnel into a mortar firing nuclear explosives into Kent and Calais, but reasoned it would be "100 per cent effective" at destroying our only physical link with France. It wasn't the first - or last - time that Channel tunnel plans showed how Britain's relationship with the rest of Europe has rarely been straightforward.
UK threatens to return radioactive waste to EU without nuclear deal
19 July 2017 read …
Nuclear experts who have advised the British government:on brexit:
“It might just be a reminder that a boatload of plutonium could end up at a harbour in Antwerp unless an arrangement is made,” one nuclear expert told the FT.
EU diplomats told the FT that they had noted the veiled threat on nuclear waste. One reportedly joked that they would have “the coastguard ready”.
Philip Hammond calls EU 'the enemy' in extraordinary outburst
13 October 2017 read …
Chancellor Philip Hammond has referred to the EU as "the enemy" in Brexit negotiations, in an extraordinary outburst likely to cause major divisions with European leaders.
Mr Hammond urged Tory colleagues to stop squabbling and to unite against the EU to secure the best withdrawal deal for Britain
Calls for UK to rejoin EU 'should be treason', urges Tory petition
17 October 2016 read …
A Conservative councillor from Surrey has been suspended after launched a petition calling for Victorian-era legislation to be amended to make supporting UK membership of the EU a treasonable offence.
Christian Holliday added the petition to the UK Government and Parliament website, and it calls for:
The Treason Felony Act be amended to include the following offences:
‘To imagine, devise, promote, work, or encourage others, to support UK becoming a member of the European Union;
To conspire with foreign powers to make the UK, or part of the UK, become a member of the EU.
The petition goes on to say:
It is becoming clear that many politicians and others are unwilling to accept the democratic decision of the British people to leave the EU. Brexit must not be put at risk in the years and decades ahead. For this reason we the undersigned request that the Treason Felony Act be amended as set out in this petition.
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
What has the ECHR ever done for us?
The old dream of the past - the young, of their future
UK government seems to have stopped. During the referendum campaign
...
Politicians on all sides predict the future after in or out of Europe with Rasputin like certainty.
Political activists, once friends, are pitted against each other in a merciless slanging match. Insults are exchanged between once firm political allies and friends with wild assertions and character assassinations.
How can the UK be effectively governed with this kind of behaviour by our elected representatives?
Campaign – a poem by Carol Ann Duffy exclusively for the Guardian read …
Britain’s poet laureate responds to the general election result in a work written for the Guardian
In which her body was a question-mark
querying her lies; her mouth a ballot-box that bit the hand that fed. Her eyes? They swivelled for a jackpot win. Her heart was a stolen purse;
her rhetoric an empty vicarage, the windows smashed.
Then her feet grew sharp stilettos, awkward.
Then she had balls, believe it.
When she woke,
her nose was bloody, difficult.
The furious young
ran towards her through the fields of wheat.
Violent crime up 18% in England and Wales
20 July 2017 read ...
Crime in England and Wales has seen its largest annual rise in a decade, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The total number of crimes reported to and recorded by the police rose by 10% between April 2016 and March 2017 to almost five million.
Violent crime was up by 18%, robbery by 16% and sex offences by 14%.
Yet the Crime Survey of England and Wales, based on people's experiences of crime, showed a 7% drop.
The Crime Survey is always published on the same day as the ONS figures. Its results are based on a face-to-face survey of 38,000 adults and children in which they are asked about their experiences of crime in the previous year - which means it does include crimes that are never reported to the police.
Hate crimes in schools soared during EU referendum campaign, study claims
5 May 2017 read …
Police saw a spike in hate crimes at schools during the EU referendum, new figures reveal.
In May alone – the month before the referendum was held – saw a staggering 89 per cent hike in police reports compared to the same month in 2015.
An increase of 48 per cent in reported hate crimes and incidents were seen during last year’s summer and autumn terms, the investigation by the Times Educational Supplement (TES) claimed.
Robert Posner, chief executive of the Anne Frank Trust UK, which runs a scheme tackling prejudice-related behaviour among young people, told the TES that the charity had heard more "disparaging" comments about refugees during workshops since the referendum.
"Language that we might consider to be either racist or prejudiced has become more normal and more accepted recently," he said.
'Record hate crimes' after EU referendum
15 February 2017 read …
A majority of police forces in England and Wales saw record levels of hate crimes in the first full three months following the EU referendum, according to new analysis.
More than 14,000 hate crimes were recorded between July and September.
In 10 forces the number of suspected hate crimes increased by more than 50%, compared to the previous three months.
Ambassador to EU quits and warns staff over 'muddled thinking'
3 January 2017 read ...
Britain’s ambassador to the European Union Sir Ivan Rogers dealt a blow to the UK’s Brexit negotiations by quitting and urging his fellow British civil servants in Brussels to assert their independence by challenging “ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking”.
Sir Ivan Rogers says negotiating experience is in ‘short supply’ and that politicians disliked his warnings of pitfalls in his resignation email
Brexit: English language 'losing importance' - EU's Juncker
6 May 2017 read …
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has told a conference on the EU that "English is losing importance in Europe".
He was speaking in Florence, Italy, amid tensions with the UK government over looming Brexit negotiations.
"Slowly but surely English is losing importance in Europe and also because France has an election," he said, explaining his choice of French.
He called the UK decision to leave the EU "a tragedy".
Brexit: EU demands 'serious UK response' on citizens' rights
29 April 2017 read …
European Council President Donald Tusk has called on the UK to come up with a "serious response" on what will happen to EU citizens in Britain after Brexit.
"We need guarantees," he said in Brussels as 27 EU leaders backed the bloc's Brexit negotiating guidelines.
The rights of EU citizens to live, work and study in the UK is one of three topics they want dealt with in the first phase of Brexit talks
Negotiations will start after the UK election on 8 June.
Mr Tusk put citizens' rights centre stage at a news conference after EU leaders - minus UK PM Theresa May - nodded through the guidelines in a matter of minutes.
"Over the past weeks, we have repeatedly heard from our British friends, also during my visit in London, that they are ready to agree on this issue quickly," he said.
"But I would like to state very clearly that we need real guarantees for our people to live, work and study in the UK.
"The same goes for the Brits," living on the European continent, he continued.
Fight breaks out between two women ahead of UKIP leader visit to Hartlepool 29 April 2017 read …
A fight broke out between two women at a mini-rally of UKIP supporters in Hartlepool today where Paul Nuttall, the UKIP leader, announced he will contest the Lincolnshire seat of Boston and Skegness in the General Election,
The two women, who have since been arrested, were photographed scratching and grabbing each other outside a pub in the town in County Durham. Mr Nuttall cancelled a rally as a result of the fight
Witnesses said one was a Ukip supporter and one was a Remainer, however Ukip and a Remain campaign group have both denied these claims.
Ukip MEP altercation between Steven Woolfe and Mike Hookem referred to police by European parliament president
26 October 2016 read …
Ukip’s troubles have deepened after two of its MEPs were referred to the French police over a fight, following which one of them needed urgent hospital treatment.
European Parliament President Martin Schulz said he would call in the "French authorities" over the incident, in the wake of which leadership frontrunner Steven Woolfe said he would quit the party
Labour MP Jo Cox dies after being shot and stabbed as husband urges people to 'fight against the hate' that killed her 17 June 2016 read ...
On a dark day for democracy, Mrs Cox, a 41-year-old mother of two, was shot three times and repeatedly stabbed by a killer screaming “Britain first”.
The first murder of an MP for more than a quarter of a century prompted widespread revulsion and led to the suspension of campaigning for the EU referendum.
United Kingdom European Movement read ...
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday urged people to unite and rise up against a Brexit that is plunging the country into an era of uncertainty on the back of a campaign run on lies.
The widely covered speech has sparked a considerable amount of reaction but one thing is certain - if we're going to work to reverse a disastrous Brexit we must do it together.
The public deserve an opporunity to change their minds given the government has announced what Brexit will actually mean; and whether it's through a referendum or general election, we'll be fighting to give them that chance.
The Man Who Would Be King
Who are you Mr President? Nigel Farage asks Van Rompuy
I’m the Mayor of London
I'm Out and Proud
Isle of Wight MP steps down after 'gay danger remark'
28 April 2017 read …
An MP is standing down after reportedly telling students that homosexuality was "wrong" and "dangerous to society
Andrew Turner, the Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight, was said to have made the remarks on a visit to a college in Newport
They were quickly posted on social media by one of the students, Esther Poucher, 16, who expressed "outrage".
Mr Turner announced he would stand down five hours after Ms Poucher's Facebook post.
He said: "After 16 years I have come to the decision that it is time for a new generation to take up the mantle of representing my fantastic constituents."
‘Brexit – if it is the kind of cutting 'red tape' Brexit that PM Theresa May has suggested – could indeed give powerful companies more leverage against consumers, patients and citizens’
Brexit: Lawyers warn of industry influence over public health laws as EU 'fundamental right' is axed Tuesday 2 May 2017 read …
People in Britain risk losing their “fundamental right to health” after Brexit, a barrister and public health professor have warned.
The Government’s white paper on the Great Repeal Bill says the charter, which sets out the rights and freedoms of EU citizens, will not be converted into UK law.
The document was published the day after Theresa May started the Brexit process by triggering Article 50 and contains proposals as to how the country will function after the UK has left the European Union.
The right to health, as set out in article 35 of the charter, was used in cases at the EU Court of Justice and the High Court in London to counteract tobacco industry arguments that the new plain packaging legislation was in violation of its rights.
Mr Roderick, a lawyer and principal research associate at Newcastle University, and Professor Pollock, the institute’s director, said currently exisiting public health laws introduced after Brexit would have to be interpreted “without the charter’s protections”.
They added that the ECHR protects many civil and political rights through the Human Rights Act, but does not include the “economic and social rights” such as the fundamental right to health.
“The real protections for public health and inequalities that the charter represents will be set aside if the present government is re-elected in June and its plan to ditch the charter goes ahead,” they warned.
Fall in jobseekers sparks fears of Brexit skills gap
Weak pound and immigration uncertainty blamed for slump
May 9 2017 read …
Photo: An NHS surgical team drawn from around the European Union. The nursing and medical sectors are reporting the strongest demand for staff
The number of candidates available for jobs has hit a 16-month low, prompting fears that Brexit has triggered a skills shortage in areas ranging from IT to engineering to nursing.
There was the steepest fall in availability for permanent and temporary roles in April since December 2015, according to a report from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.
Kevin Green, chief executive, said that the weakness in the pound after last year’s referendum and concern over future immigration arrangements were making people reluctant to move jobs. The organisation said that recruiters complained of shortages of applicants for more than 60 different roles.