Can Emily Thornberry break into the Labour leadership race?
- 5 February 2020
- From the section UK Politics
Emily Thornberry is the most experienced politician in the race to become Labour's next leader.
Why then is she lagging so far behind the others in the contest?
And why does it look tricky for her to get into the final round when she is one of the party's great survivors?
Her explanation is that she is stuck in a "good old fashioned squeeze".
She told me some Labour voters are telling her they would love to vote for her, but, if they are on the left of the party, they "want to stop Keir Starmer".
Read full article Can Emily Thornberry break into the Labour leadership race?
Brexit: Will it be a Canadian or an Australian ending?
- 3 February 2020
- From the section UK Politics
Image copyright
EPA
First "Brexit meant Brexit". Then it was the "exact same benefits". Then it was "frictionless trade".
Then it was a reluctant acknowledgement that to get a deal done with the EU, there would have to be some friction, some customs checks, but the promise was they would be minimal.
Read full article Brexit: Will it be a Canadian or an Australian ending?
Brexit's happened... so what now?
- 1 February 2020
- From the section UK Politics
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PA Media
What now? It's happened.
A dreary night didn't discourage those celebrating in Parliament Square. We wake this morning out of the European Union. But we follow their rules until the end of the year, without a say.
Brexit: UK is leaving the EU but remains in the departure lounge
- 30 January 2020
- From the section UK Politics
Image copyright
AFP
What will change? Well, everything and nothing. Today, the UK is embarking on a totally different course.
We are unplugging from the legal and political infrastructure that we have been part of for four decades. Do not underestimate how big a step it is.
Read full article Brexit: UK is leaving the EU but remains in the departure lounge
Varadkar: UK won't get 'piecemeal' EU trade deal
- 27 January 2020
- From the section UK Politics
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PA Media
For a long time, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has sidestepped talking at length about his role in the fraught political journey of Brexit in the last few years.
But with just a few days until the UK's departure, he opened up a little, in an interview with me, about what happened, and what might unfold next.
Read full article Varadkar: UK won't get 'piecemeal' EU trade deal
Labour leadership: How much would Rebecca Long-Bailey change?
- 22 January 2020
- From the section UK Politics
It's not right to suggest that nothing would change in the Labour Party under Rebecca Long-Bailey.
And it's not fair to suggest that all the shadow business secretary would be is Jeremy Corbyn dressed up in a different package, with a different accent.
Read full article Labour leadership: How much would Rebecca Long-Bailey change?
Can Boris Johnson calm fears for the union?
- 20 January 2020
- From the section UK Politics
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PA Media
We have heard former Prime Minister Gordon Brown make the case before that the rest of the political establishment should pay more attention to the fraying bonds between different parts of the UK.
We have also heard the ex-Labour leader suggest, on many occasions, that if Westminster's tribes don't take the notion of giving power away seriously, they might find that before too long, the people who give them their votes may make decisions they don't like very much.
Read full article Can Boris Johnson calm fears for the union?
Labour leadership: What does Keir Starmer stand for?
- 16 January 2020
- From the section UK Politics
"I don't need someone else's name or badge."
Sir Keir Starmer wouldn't today reveal whether he saw his ideas and his ambitions for the country as closer to Jeremy Corbyn or Tony Blair.
Read full article Labour leadership: What does Keir Starmer stand for?
Labour leadership: Activists look to move on from election defeat
- 13 January 2020
- From the section UK Politics
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Getty Images
"We've had some pretty mad ideas and a lot of disappointments really."
Pam Dyal is one of thousands and thousands of Labour Party members who gave it their all in November and December.
Read full article Labour leadership: Activists look to move on from election defeat
Brexit: What a difference a majority makes
- 9 January 2020
- From the section Election 2019
Do not adjust your screen, or your set. MPs have been voting on Brexit.
It's been the most contentious question in UK politics for decades; the argument that cracked our political parties in two and the clash that stretched our famously flexible unwritten constitution well beyond comfort.
Read full article Brexit: What a difference a majority makes
