Brexit
One damned thing after another: Britain’s crisis-ridden century so far
The Iraq war, the financial crisis, Brexit and Covid have seen many prime ministers blown off course. Will Keir Starmer be any luckier than his predecessors?
The danger of a Labour supermajority
We are witnessing what could well be the last few weeks of a constrained Labour party. Sir Keir Starmer is…
The EU ‘elections’ vindicate Brexit
If Britain had not left the European Union, we would be going to the polls this week as well as…
A walled garden in Suffolk yields up its secrets
When Olivia Laing began restoring the former property of a garden designer, she had no idea of the beauty that lay hidden by rampant weeds
Must Paris reinvent itself?
The beautifully preserved, elitist metropolis now looks increasingly out of step with neighbouring capitals and may be forced to become more multicultural
Must we live in perpetual fear of being named and shamed?
Current wars, Brexit and Trumpism have sucked us into a vortex of outrage and disgrace, says David Keen – while advertisers make us feel guilty for being too fat or just poor
‘We need to start the road to rejoin’: Gina Miller on Brexit, farmers and her ambitious plans for Epsom
Gina Miller on Brexit, farmers and her ambitious plans for Epsom
Fish out of water
As a one-nation Tory, Rory Stewart was not a good fit in the party’s new incarnation. We discover how his desire to make the world a better place was always going to work against him
How the British intelligentsia fell out of love with Germany
The love affair between Britain and Germany is over
The drop in language students has nothing to do with Brexit
The number of students studying modern languages is plummeting, The Sunday Times says today. ‘The number of pupils studying German…
Why on earth did The Spectator support Brexit?
The temperature has hit 40°C in Crete, where I am writing this, and although there have been no fires, nothing…
John Major has learned nothing over Brexit
Rishi Sunak’s government is sometimes compared to that of John Major, the man who succeeded Margaret Thatcher in 1990, went…
Why Europe’s shift to the right may cost the Tories
On her recent visit to Washington, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves presented herself as the perfect candidate to be the next…
Proud to be British
Sunder Katwala, of Indian-Irish heritage, analyses the whiteness of the Remain vote, seeing Britain’s pro-European movement as a case of cosmopolitanism without diversity
Brexit could fix inflation
Has food price inflation finally peaked? Figures released by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) this morning reveal that food prices…
Remainers should be honest about the costs of Brexit
Those opposed to leaving the European Union repeatedly accuse Brexit of being based on ignorance fed by lies. The ‘lie’…
The DUP has a right to be difficult over the Northern Ireland Protocol
It’s easy to take an unsympathetic view of the Democratic Unionist Party. For many, its politicians are caricatures of the…
Sunak is taking a gamble on the Protocol
Westminster is back to the Brexit wars this week. Once again, a Conservative leader is trying to finalise a deal…
Boris Johnson fires a warning shot to Sunak
Rishi Sunak is once again facing an unhelpful intervention from one of his predecessors. As the Prime Minister attempts to…
It’s time for ‘reality-based’ politicians to start addressing Brexit
Praise be. A day or two ago, something potentially quite exciting took place in Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire. It was a two-day…
Liz Truss, Brexit and the petulant anger at reality
The time it takes to mount a political comeback gets shorter and shorter, doesn’t it? The last prime minister but…
Three years on, is Brexit worth celebrating?
Today, if you feel so inclined to celebrate it, is Brexit Day: the date on which, three years ago, Britain…
Is Sunak heading for trouble on the Protocol?
There has been excited chatter in recent days that a breakthrough on the Northern Ireland Protocol could be imminent. Last…
What’s really behind the Tories’ present woes?
Philip Hensher 25 May 2024 9:00 am
Geoffrey Wheatcroft identifies two root causes: the disastrous revision of the leadership election procedure, and David Cameron’s turn to the referendum as a device to govern