In the UK’s Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition between 2010 and 2015, neither side could get all it wanted. Deals were struck and there was some give and take. Both sides understood the needs of the other to some extent, meaning – for example – that the Lib Dems restricted...
After the problems the UK has caused the EU over the years, and the short term headache posed by the Brexit referendum last year, Theresa May ending up with a hung parliament having hoped for a huge win last week resulted in plenty of mirth in the rest of the...
When Theresa May called the UK General Election on 18th April, her speech was all about Brexit and how the election was necessary in light of that. You can read the whole thing here, but a few quotes give the idea. “Division in Westminster will risk our ability to make a...
Note the date of this piece: 1st June 2017. One week prior to the UK’s General Election. This is written in response to the current state of the election debate and opinion polls. I cannot judge which of these outcomes will now come to pass – I instead am plotting what will...
British politics is messed up. Brexit shows it. The previous PM Cameron promised an in-or-out of the EU referendum back in 2013 if the Conservatives won the General Election, despite the fact that EU matters were considered rather unimportant by voters at that time. He promised this would happen by...
This morning I took it upon myself to read the parts of the Conservative Party Manifesto for the 2017 election that deal with Brexit. My interest in this issue was piqued yesterday when the Tory Party lines for the Paxman interviews were leaked. “…only Theresa May has a plan [my emphasis]...
A few short weeks ago when Theresa May called a General Election there was only one question on people’s minds: how big will her victory be? Faced with a Labour Party trailing in the polls, assumed to be demoralised thanks to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, and perceived to be too left...
One of the lines that Theresa May (and her defenders in the UK press) keep repeating is that she needs a greater majority in the General Election on 8th June to strengthen her hand in the Brexit negotiations. As I see it (and explain in more detail here) the rest...
In the period immediately after the Brexit referendum I often heard the line from pro-Brexit people in the UK that it would only be a matter of time before the EU would be begging the UK to somehow stay in the European Union, or at the very least that the...
At 10pm last night, The Daily Telegraph released a story entitled “Easter egg row: Church of England accuses National Trust of ‘airbrushing’ religion out of children’s egg hunt“, written by its Consumer Affairs Editor Katie Morley. The story concerns the renaming of the Cadbury-National Trust Egg Hunt from ‘Easter Egg...
I know it is Wolfgang Münchau’s job to be some sort of agent provocateur in the FT, and today he is true to form – arguing that it is now inevitable that the UK leaves the European Union, and that people who argued for Remain ought to now plan for...
“How do you feel after Brexit day?” a friend messaged me on Wednesday night. “You’ve closed that chapter already, haven’t you?” “I’m fine” was my response. The friend that sent me the message was right – I have closed that chapter. While the Article 50 notification was a significant and somehow...