Britain’s government published a new definition of extremism on Thursday that it intends to use to cut ties or funding to groups deemed to have crossed the line, but which critics fear could curtail campaigners’ rights and curb free speech. Michael Gove, a senior cabinet minister, said in a statement that the move was intended […]
Read MoreTag: Conservative Party (Great Britain)
U.K. Moves to Bar Foreign State Ownership of Newspapers, a Blow to Telegraph Bid
An audacious effort by the American media executive Jeff Zucker and his Emirati backers to acquire London’s Daily Telegraph appeared to be on life support on Wednesday after the British government advanced legislation that would bar foreign state ownership of newspapers and newsmagazines. The move by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would torpedo Mr. Zucker’s bid […]
Read More‘You Can Hear a Pin Drop’: The Rise of Super Strict Schools in England
As the teacher started to count down, the students uncrossed their arms and bowed their heads, completing the exercise in a flash. “Three. Two. One,” the teacher said. Pens across the room went down and all eyes shot back to the teacher. Under a policy called “Slant” (Sit up, Lean forward, Ask and answer questions, […]
Read MoreTheresa May, Former U.K. Prime Minister, Won’t Stand in Next Election
Theresa May, the former British prime minister whose time in Downing Street was scarred by a protracted battle over Brexit, is to leave Parliament at the next general election after 27 years as a lawmaker. With the Conservative Party trailing badly in opinion polls before an election that many analysts expect it to lose, Mrs. […]
Read MoreU.K. to Cut Taxes Again as Election Nears
Amid lackluster prospects for economic growth, the British government announced it would cut taxes for workers ahead of a general election this year. Jeremy Hunt, Britain’s top financial official, told lawmakers on Wednesday that he would cut National Insurance, a payroll tax paid by workers and employers that funds state pensions and some benefits, by […]
Read MoreIn Britain, Shockwaves From Israel-Hamas War Are Jolting Domestic Politics
Inside Britain’s Parliament, lawmakers jeered, booed, and stormed out of the House of Commons to protest the speaker’s handling of a vote calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. Outside, a crowd of pro-Palestinian demonstrators projected the slogan, “From the river to the sea,” on to the facade of Big Ben, drawing denunciations from those who […]
Read MoreRishi Sunak Back in Hot Seat After Parliamentary Election Losses
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain could find himself in a familiar predicament after his Conservative Party went down to defeat in parliamentary elections in two districts on Thursday: isolated, embattled and the subject of whispered plotting by restive Tories bent on pushing him out for a new leader. The crushing loss of two seats […]
Read MoreConservatives Suffer Setback in Parliamentary Election in Britain
Britain’s governing Conservative Party has lost the first of two parliamentary elections in a new blow to its embattled leader, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose future has been questioned by critics within his fractious political party. The Conservatives were defeated in Kingswood, near Bristol, by 8,675 to 11,176 votes, losing a seat that the party […]
Read MoreThe U.K. Labour Party’s Worst Enemy Might Be Itself
These days, the only thing that can stop the Labour Party, it seems, is the Labour Party. For more than a year, the leader of Britain’s main opposition party, Keir Starmer, has sat on a double-digit lead in the polls over the Conservative Party. But a pair of embarrassing suspensions of Labour parliamentary candidates for […]
Read MoreIn Northern Ireland, a Knotty Brexit Problem Is on the Brink of Being Solved
Almost two years of political gridlock. Decision-making paralyzed. Rising tension in a place where peace remains fragile even after the end of decades of sectarian strife. There are few places where the impact of Britain’s exit from the European Union been felt more sharply than in Northern Ireland. But on Wednesday there were rising hopes […]
Read MoreTelegraph Takeover Deal Seen as Fight for the Heart of U.K. Conservatives
The Daily Telegraph has long been viewed as the house paper of Britain’s Conservative Party. So, it’s perhaps not surprising that a takeover battle for the 168-year-old paper has mutated into a political struggle within the Tory ranks — one that some commentators have gone so far as to cast as a contest for the […]
Read MoreBritain Is Lobbying U.S. Republicans on Ukraine. Here’s Why.
When David Cameron, Britain’s foreign secretary and onetime prime minister, visited Washington last month, he took time out to press the case for backing Ukraine with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia Republican who stridently opposes further American military aid to the country. Last week, Boris Johnson, another former prime minister, argued that the […]
Read MoreSunak’s Rwanda Immigration Plan Passes Vote in U.K. Parliament
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain dodged a potentially dire threat to his leadership on Wednesday, preserving for now his beleaguered government’s immigration plan to put asylum seekers on one-way flights to Rwanda. In an effort to overcome resistance from British courts, the lawmakers in Parliament voted to back legislation declaring Rwanda a safe country […]
Read MoreWhy Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives Have Splintered Into Factions
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain faces a litany of woes, from a double-digit deficit in the polls to a grinding cost-of-living crisis. But this week, his biggest source of agita comes from the “five families,” a loose coalition of right-wing factions in his Conservative Party that is threatening, yet again, to torpedo his asylum […]
Read MorePlaying for Time, U.K. Leader Sets Up Chance of U.S. Election Overlap
When Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said this week that he was not likely to call a general election in Britain before the second half of the year, he was trying to douse fevered speculation that he might go to the voters as early as May. But in doing so, he set up another tantalizing prospect: […]
Read MoreRishi Sunak’s Rwanda Plan Is Approved by U.K. Parliament
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain survived a major threat to his leadership on Tuesday, advancing his flagship immigration policy over the objections of hard-right factions in his Conservative Party. But the victory may prove fleeting as he faces several more hurdles to the plan, which would deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. While a number […]
Read MoreUK Parliament’s Rwanda Vote Today, Explained
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain survived a crucial test of his authority on Tuesday, facing down at least for now a rebellion from the hard right of his party. At issue was a highly contentious immigration policy that aims to deter asylum seekers from crossing from France to Britain on small boats by putting […]
Read MoreRishi Sunak Faces One of His Toughest Weeks as U.K. Prime Minister
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain embarked on one of the most politically fraught weeks of his tenure on Monday, facing a mutiny against his flagship immigration policy while testifying before an official inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic about whether he had contributed to driving up infections. On a day of split-screen drama in the […]
Read MoreBritons Love the N.H.S. Some Will Also Pay to Avoid It.
For David Haselgrove, it was a battle each day to get out of bed, then another struggle to put on his socks. Stairs were often impossible, and the pain made him tetchy and difficult to live with. But when he sought medical help for his arthritis, Mr. Haselgrove was told the wait for a specialist […]
Read MoreCan Boris Johnson Keep His Cool at U.K.’s Covid Inquiry?
Boris Johnson, the ousted prime minister who led Britain through the pandemic, will testify before an official inquiry on Wednesday, giving his first detailed public account of how he grappled with a rampaging virus that divided his government, laid the seeds for his political downfall and nearly killed him. Mr. Johnson, who left Parliament earlier […]
Read MoreWhite House Eyes Possible Threat to Good Friday Agreement
The British government’s effort to salvage its contentious policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda is drawing attention from the White House, which wants to make sure any revamped legislation does not undermine the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, according to two Biden administration officials. “Definitely all keeping an eye on Northern Ireland,” said […]
Read MoreRishi Sunak’s Dilemma: When to Hold an Election He Looks Poised to Lose
No question in British politics will be more regularly asked, and reliably brushed aside, over the next few months than when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak plans to call the country’s next general election. He must do so by January 2025. The conventional wisdom is that with his Conservative Party trailing the opposition Labour Party by […]
Read More‘It’s Like I Am Blind’: Waiting for Asylum in a British Hotel
Every morning, Mohammed Al Muhandes wakes up in a hotel in Leeds, England, and wonders how to pass the day. Along with dozens of other asylum seekers, he eats the same breakfast each morning, then returns to his room or walks in a nearby park. The 9.58 pounds, or $11.90, he is given each week […]
Read MoreIn Britain, Reality Is Cleaving in Two
In Britain, Armistice Day is usually an understated affair, marked only by two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. This year was considerably more eventful, as two very different protests descended on London. One, composed of hundreds of thousands of people calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, snaked peacefully through the west of the city […]
Read MoreCharles to Deliver ‘King’s Speech’ to Parliament
King Charles III will open a session of Parliament on Tuesday for the first time as monarch, outlining the British government’s legislative priorities as part of a tradition-steeped ceremony that will test his skill at displaying the political neutrality for which his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was famous. Drafted by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, […]
Read MoreRishi Sunak, Britain’s Prime Minister, Is Probably Doomed
There’s an argument that any leader would struggle with the conditions Mr. Sunak inherited: high inflation, increased borrowing costs and low growth. Across the world, incumbent governments of all stripes are finding their time is up — whether it’s the center-left Labour Party in New Zealand or the right-wing populist Law and Justice party in […]
Read MoreA Project Supporting Migrants Was Cost Effective. Why Did It End?
At the age of 13, she came to England from Nigeria with her relatives for what she thought was a summer vacation. It was only after they arrived in Bedfordshire, in the east of England, that she discovered there were no plans to go back. Because of what she describes as the “irresponsibility” of her […]
Read MoreAnother Setback for Rishi Sunak in a Local Election
Britain’s governing Conservative Party, which is trailing badly in the opinion polls, lost one of its safest parliamentary seats on Friday in a significant new setback for the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who was also awaiting the result of another closely watched contest. Voting in the two Conservative strongholds of Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire took […]
Read MoreKeir Starmer, UK Labour Party Leader, Vows to Rebuild Britain Amid Protest
Buoyed by the polls and brimming with confidence, the leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, declared on Tuesday that he was ready to assume the mantle of power. But first he had to shake the glitter off his suit jacket. As Mr. Starmer took the stage at his party’s annual conference in Liverpool, […]
Read MoreUK’s Labour Holds Party Conference After a Big Win
Only a month ago, some Labour Party officials were fretting about the risks of fighting a parliamentary election in Scotland days before the party’s annual conference. What if the party underperformed, just before its leader, Keir Starmer, had to make one of the most important speeches of his career? In the end, the opposite happened. […]
Read MoreScottish By-election Result: Labour Beats S.N.P. in Key Parliamentary Vote
Britain’s opposition Labour Party won back a parliamentary seat in Scotland on Friday by a thumping margin, after a closely watched race that had been viewed as a barometer of the party’s national appeal before a general election next year. In a dramatic swing of votes, Labour unseated the Scottish National Party from the Rutherglen […]
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