Tom Goodenough is online editor of The Spectator.
Theresa May’s ability to survive the summer has emboldened her to stay on in Downing Street and fight the next election. That, at least, is what is being read into the Prime Minister’s remarks during her trip to Japan that she is in it ‘for the long term’. In fact, while it might seem that
Jean-Claude Juncker is a ‘preposterous oaf’, according to the Sun. The paper says that, particularly on this side of the Channel, people shouldn’t care much about what he thinks. Yet ‘diehard Remainers’ continue to treat his word as gospel and ‘seize on Juncker’s every self-serving snippet as “evidence” of our Government’s failings’. Yes, there are some
Is the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier actually serious about doing his job, wonders the Sun. In its editorial, the paper says that yesterday ‘yet another round’ of talks went by with hardly any progress. Once again, Barnier used the lack of any substance to complain. But the Sun is questioning whether this is all
In any deal, says the Sun, ‘no party should agree to the rules being set by the other side’. So the Prime Minister is ‘reassuringly spot on’ to insist we cut ‘direct ties with the European Court of Justice’. Whatever some might say, ‘make no mistake..’ the ECJ is no independent institution’, argues the paper
Theresa May could not have been any clearer: the UK is leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice after Brexit. Here’s what she told the Tory party conference back in October: ‘Let’s state one thing loud and clear: we are not leaving the European Union only to give up control of immigration all
The EU holds all the ‘trump cards’ in Brexit talks. Or at least that’s what some ‘Remainers’ would have you think, says the Sun in its editorial today. Don’t believe it, the paper insists, pointing out that the EU 27 ‘export a massive amount of goods to the UK’. In fact, as the government pointed
Theresa May says ‘a positive and constructive partnership’ with the EU after Brexit is the target. Beneath the jargon, the message to Brussels in the government’s latest position paper is simple: a trade deal is in your interests too. Ministers are at pains to point out that a messy Brexit won’t just do damage to
‘It is vital for our future prosperity’, says the Sun, ‘that we cut a trade deal with Brussels’. David Davis was correct then, the paper argues, to ‘call on the EU to start trade talks running “parallel” with our exit talks’. ‘After all, how can we settle our bill until we know what we’ll get in return,’
14 people have been killed and more than 100 injured after a van ploughed into pedestrians on Las Ramblas in a suspected jihadist attack Five suspected terrorists were shot dead by police in Cambrils, a coastal resort near to Barcelona, after a second vehicle attack was foiled It is believed the incident in Cambrils – in
‘Here we go again’, says the Sun, which criticises the ‘chorus of doom-mongers’ who pop up whenever the government proposes a ‘sensible, serious suggestion for moving towards Brexit’. On Tuesday, this reaction was sparked by details setting out plans for a customs union after Brexit. Now, a fresh wave of cynicism has greeted the idea
Since Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader, resignations from the shadow cabinet have been ten-a-penny. The latest Labour MP to quit hasn’t done so over Brexit or Corbyn though – and the reason for her departure doesn’t bode well for the state of debate within the top ranks of the party. Sarah Champion has stepped down
Avoiding a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is the government’s top aim in Brexit talks. Brussels wants much the same: the EU Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt has insisted that there should be no return to a fixed border. This is an aspiration shared by the EU, which makes the issue one
Britain’s Brexit wish list is slowly being filled out. Today, the government sets out its plans for the temporary customs union it wants with the EU after Britain leaves in 2019. Brexit secretary David Davis says the aim for this new relationship is for it to be as ‘close as we can to the current
Theresa May is back from holiday and the Brexit work continues in earnest. Over the next few days, two key papers – spelling out detail on the customs union and the Irish border – will be published. There’s no doubt, says the Times, that this ‘is a crucial week for Brexit’. ‘After more than a year
Modern slavery is affecting every town and city in Britain, according to the National Crime Agency. Despite William Wilberforce saying two hundred years ago: ’Let us put an end at once’ to this practice, ‘slavery persists to this day, probably within a mile of the parliament in which he spoke’. ‘In car washes and in
Donald Trump’s fighting talk has the world worried. But his promise to bring ‘fire and fury’ to North Korea will only make things harder, says the Guardian. This type of brinkmanship is nothing new – and the paper points out the ‘dire’ warnings that greeted China and others joining the ‘nuclear club’. Trump, however, is
Ruth Davidson has called into question the government’s pledge to bring net migration down to the ‘tens of thousands’. The Sun welcomes her comments and says that it is ‘good to hear a senior Tory…talk sense on immigration’. The migration target, according to the paper, is a ‘random, nonsense figure’ and achieving it would probably
The furore surrounding the Brexit divorce bill is hotting up. The weekend’s papers saw speculation that Britain would cough up £36bn as part of a settlement package for its departure from the EU. Nonsense, says Downing Street, with the Prime Minister’s spokesman saying this morning: ‘I don’t recognise the figure’. It’s not only the government hitting
Mark Carney is often accused of being downbeat about Brexit. But the Bank of England’s quarterly inflation report is ‘more sanguine than one might expect’, says the FT. The paper points out that despite a cut in the country’s growth forecast, the Bank ‘expects stronger net trade and business investment to drive a recovery in
Jeremy Corbyn might be ‘on a high’ but he shouldn’t be allowed to forget his party’s ‘highly inconsistent, profoundly confusing’ position on the issue of the day: Brexit. Labour’s stance became yet more tangled yesterday, says the Daily Telegraph, with Keir Starmer saying the party wanted to keep Britain in the single market – ‘only 10
