Latest from Coffee House

Latest from Coffee House

All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories

The three 'C's' that explain Boris's historic election win

This was an election as important and as divisive for the UK as Margaret Thatcher’s victory in 1979. Vast numbers of British people will never be reconciled to Boris Johnson as prime minister or to Brexit. In fact, a whole nation, Scotland, is already asking permission to leave. My assumption, however, is that Johnson will

'I will stay here': Jeremy Corbyn doubles down after Labour defeat

Jeremy Corbyn was roundly defeated in yesterday’s general election, so what lessons have been learned? Not many, if his interview just now on ITV News is anything to go on. The Labour leader defended Momentum, insisted his party’s manifesto was popular and vowed not to walk away from the party for the time being. On

'We will fight them in the streets': Labour MP reacts to Tory win

You wouldn’t know Labour had suffered a dismal night in the polls from Lloyd Russell-Moyle’s acceptance speech. The arch Corbynista and MP for Brighton Kemptown channelled Winston Churchill as he vowed to take the fight to the Tories. Russell-Moyle launched into an explosive rant as he reacted to news of Boris’s big win: ‘The Conservative party

Watch: Corbynista insists Labour's policies 'are incredibly popular'

Labour has had a dreadful night. The party has lost 59 seats overnight, handing the party its worst result since 1935. But some Corbynistas are taking a different view of what took place at the election. Pro-Corbyn commentator Grace Blakeley insisted that, however badly the party did, Labour’s policies were not at fault. She told Good

What kind of Prime Minister will Boris Johnson be now?

Boris Johnson has just given a fully-charged victory speech at a rally in London, telling joyful activists that today marks ‘a new dawn and a new government’. The event was emblazoned with a new logo, ‘The People’s Government’ as the Tories claim victory for representing all parts of the country. Johnson echoed this in his

The fall of Labour's 'Red Wall' is a moment to celebrate

The ‘red wall’ has fallen. Brick by brick. Almost every bit of it. Seats held by Labour for decades have been seized by the Tories. To me, this is the most exciting thing in this extraordinary election. It feels almost revolutionary. Working people have smashed years and years of tradition and laid to waste the

Jo Swinson's election nightmare

The Liberal Democrats have capped off a bad campaign with a disastrous results night. The party is on course for a mere 11 seats. To put that into perspective they won 12 seats in 2017. Jo Swinson started the campaign suggesting she could be prime minister. Instead, she has lost her seat. The Lib Dem

Dennis Skinner gets the boot in Bolsover

The Beast of Bolsover is no more. Dennis Skinner has lost his seat to the Tories – winning 16,492 votes to the Tories’ 21,791. The red wall has been demolished overnight.  Skinner has been the MP for Bolsover since 1970, in a constituency which has never elected anyone other than a Labour MP. Tonight, that

Watch: Jeremy Corbyn's resignation speech

Jeremy Corbyn has been re-elected in Islington North. But after leading his party to a second election loss, the Labour leader also announced that he would stand down before the next campaign. Watch Corbyn’s resignation speech here:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMlqlJOjK48&feature=youtu.be  

Watch: Alan Johnson tears into Momentum's Jon Lansman

‘Corbyn was a disaster on the doorstep. Everyone knew that he couldn’t lead the working-class out of a paper bag.’ After what looks to be a disastrous night for the Labour party, it appears that Alan Johnson is not happy with the Corbynite wing of his party. The former Labour Home Secretary absolutely tore into the

Election live blog: Boris Johnson leads Tories to huge victory

Election headlines (all 650 seats now declared) The Tories have secured a majority of 80, with a vote share of 44% – higher than achieved by any party in any election since 1970 Labour’s ‘red wall’ demolished as Tories take 28 seats from Labour across the north of England, including Blackpool South, Darlington, Blyth Valley, Grimsby

Has Nicola Sturgeon pulled off a second historic victory?

It’s just an exit poll. They can be wrong. They were, substantially, in 1992 and lowballed the Tory result in 2015. Those caveats stated, we have to address that number for the SNP. Fifty-five seats, every seat but four north of the border, would represent the Nationalists’ best result since 2015. Before polls closed, SNP

Corbynistas react to the exit poll result

Tonight’s exit poll has predicted that the Conservatives are heading for a bumper majority of 86 – a remarkable result. And while the exit poll is still just a prediction at this stage, that hasn’t stopped Labour’s various Corbynistas melting down at the result. Here are the best reactions so far: https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/1205246679835910145 https://twitter.com/RichardJMurphy/status/1205247150751387648 https://twitter.com/AyoCaesar/status/1205248597975031814 https://twitter.com/paulmasonnews/status/1205247632135872516

This exit poll is a triumph for Boris Johnson

The exit poll is predicting a Tory landslide, a majority of 86 seats. The United Kingdom will leave the EU on the 31 of January. (The exit poll does have a margin of error but it is inconceivable that it could possibly be this wrong.) This is a huge achievement by Boris Johnson. Earlier this

The polling that shows Corbyn is to blame for Labour's decline

The reason Jeremy Corbyn is not preparing to lead the first majority Labour government since 2010 is Jeremy Corbyn. The Labour leader is proving the falseness of the cliché that ‘oppositions don’t win elections, governments lose them’. Unless enough people are convinced of an opposition’s competence and decency it will not take power, even when

Jewish activists abused outside Corbyn's eve of poll rally

Jeremy Corbyn held a small rally last night in east London, telling supporters to go and spread the message of ‘socialism, which is about hope’. Many British Jews will have woken up this morning feeling anything but hope. They have seen a Labour party led by a man who many consider to be a harbinger of left-wing

Today is an exciting and nerve-wracking day for Brexiteers

It’s tense for us Brexiteers, isn’t it? We know that if the Tories don’t secure a Commons majority today then our country probably won’t end up leaving the EU at all. Almost certainly, an alliance of pro-Remain parties would put Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street. They would keep him there just long enough for Remain

Magic Grandpa to Free Stuff: The A to Z of the 2019 general election

A is for Alliance. All across the country voting pacts and tactical deals are being fixed. These arrangements are helpful to cash-strapped smaller parties who can save money and present their thrift as a statesmanlike decision to ‘withdraw for the good of the country.’ For activists, voting pacts may be problematic. The deals rely heavily

Trump's impeachment can only go one way - in his favour

After 17 witnesses, weeks of closed-door depositions and public hearings and a lot of heated back-and-forth between the parties, it has all come down to this: the unveiling of the formal articles of impeachment. Early on Tuesday morning, the six Democratic chairs who have been investigating President Trump on everything from obstruction of justice to violations

Why Germans are warming to Boris Johnson

There is a strange dual narrative on Brexit here in Berlin. On the surface, nothing has changed. Donald Tusk’s comments last week, that Brexit has been ‘one of the most spectacular mistakes’ in EU history, speak for many Germans who have looked upon the UK with ridicule and pity since 2016. Germans have relished in the

15 viral videos that could win (or lose) this election

Election campaigning has changed in recent years. While the Saturday morning door knock is here to stay, the battle for hearts and minds is increasingly fought on social media. As Katy Balls recently wrote in The Spectator, there’s a whole other conversation happening online: one that consumers of traditional media just don’t see. Here’s a rundown