Politics

If YouGov’s projections come anywhere near to being true and control of the House of Commons teeters on a knife’s edge, then suddenly Northern Ireland’s 18 MPs go from a curiosity to being right at the heart of parliamentary arithmetic. The DUP holds the largest batch of eight seats – precisely the same as the Lib Dems won in the entire United Kingdom in 2015. They’re likely to win a similar number this time around. So what happens if we end up with a hung Parliament? If invited to cooperate with the Tories, the DUP’s price will not be extortionate. But it won’t be insignificant either. In particular, they will not want

Last night, Diane Abbott appeared — perhaps for the first time — to have something in common with Philip Hammond. Weeks after Theresa May refused to confirm her Chancellor’s job security post-election, Jeremy Corbyn declined to say Comrade Abbott would be Home Secretary in a Labour government. Given that his comments followed Abbott’s disastrous interview on Sky News, and after she cancelled two scheduled media appearances (apparently due to ill health), many took it to be a sign that Abbott’s time as shadow home secretary was running out. Today Labour have issued a statement announcing that Corbyn has asked Lyn Brown to stand in for Abbott as Shadow Home Secretary for the period

This time tomorrow, the politicians will have finally fallen silent and the polls will be open. But who to vote for? Here’s what the papers say: The Sun backs Theresa May and has a ‘simple message’ for those considering voting for Ukip or Labour: ‘don’t’. Given that the ‘Tories alone are committed to seeing Brexit through in full’, the Sun suggests a vote for the ‘Kippers would be redundant. And for those who believe Labour will ensure Brexit happens, the Sun says that it ‘does not believe’ it ‘for a second’. For those who have always voted Labour, the Sun says to remember that Corbyn’s party ‘is not the moderate Labour of Tony

With Theresa May on the back foot today over Tory cuts to police numbers, CCHQ can count their lucky stars that Diane Abbott has been doing the media rounds this evening. The shadow home secretary was interviewed by Dermot Murnaghan this evening on Labour’s position on terrorism measures following Saturday’s attack. However, Abbott soon hit a problem when Murnaghan asked her about the 2016 Lord Harris report on improving London’s terror preparedness. It soon became clear that Abbott was not familiar with its contents – not that she was willing to admit this: DA: I think we do need to revisit that report DM: Which part of it? DA: Well, I

It is not often, especially in the midst of what has been a grimly dreadful election campaign for her, that one feels some measure of pity for Theresa May. But there she was today, gamely putting on her bravest, gamest, face when she was asked for her reaction to Donald Trump’s latest witless provocations.  The American president, you can hardly failed to have noticed, has not covered himself in glory since the weekend’s terrorist attack in London. When the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, suggested that Londoners should not be alarmed by the deployment of additional armed officers on the streets of London, Trump blustered “At least 7 dead and 48

Although it’s Theresa May who has earned a reputation for performing U-turns, today Jeremy Corbyn has given the Prime Minister a run for her money. The Labour leader kicked off the day by boldly claiming that May ought to resign over cuts to police numbers, in light of recent terror attacks. Given that there’s an election in just three days, it was a peculiar statement from the man hoping to be prime minister come Friday. Perhaps that’s why Jeremy has since had a change of heart. In a tetchy interview with Sky News, Corbyn said he did not think May should resign three days before an election: Sky: Do you