6 d. ago Nothing else has worked – so Starmer and Reeves are finally telling the truth about Brexit | Rafael Behr

It is the right way to go: leaving the EU has been a disaster. But refusing to admit it has cost Labour precious time and credibilityThe UK government is trying out a new Brexit stance, not to be mistaken for a change in policy. The shift is tonal.Previously, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves talked about Britain’s detachment from the rest of Europe as a feature of the natural landscape, awkward to navigate perhaps, but nobody’s fault. Now they are prepared to say it is an affliction.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago A walk down Reform Road: The migrants who live there tell ROBERT HARDMAN why they are backing Farage in a snapshot of modern Britain

Within a minute of arriving on Reform Road, the very first person I meet suggests that what started as a bit of a joke might have some substance to it.

Events

1 week ago The crisis engulfing Emmanuel Macron contains a warning for Keir Starmer | Rafael Behr

The French president dominated the centre ground but has failed to build a legacy there. Labour is in danger of doing the sameBritain and France do not share a fixed quota of political stability such that reduced volatility on one side of the Channel causes chaos across the water. It was just a coincidence that Keir Starmer won a huge majority at precisely the moment last July when legislative elections made France ungovernable for Emmanuel Macron.It was a misfortune for both men, and for Europe, that their political trajectories were out of sync. Macron had dealt with four Tory prime ministers before finding a potential ally in the ascendant Labour leader. By then his presidency was in spiralling decline. Britain was rousing itself from Brexit delirium just as France was losing the plot.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Badenoch’s ‘thoughtful Conservatism’ turns out to be just the slower road to Faragism | Rafael Behr

The Tory leader’s intellectual meanderings have shrunk her party into little more than a holding pen for future Reform party candidatesBritish politics is starting to look post-Conservative. That isn’t a forecast of extinction for Kemi Badenoch’s party, just an observation of decline. Their agenda-setting days are behind them. Their loyal voters are old and they are not recruiting new ones.There is vigour on the right of the political spectrum, but the most energised people prefer burning things to conserving them. In parliament, Badenoch is still leader of the official opposition but in swaths of the country, the role of chief antagonist to the government has been usurped by Nigel Farage. Every speech at the Tory conference in Manchester has been a strangulated plea for relevance. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Badenoch says Robert Jenrick’s thoughts are ‘my thoughts repackaged’ in withering putdown

The Tory leader took a swipe at her shadow justice secretary ahead of the party’s conference in Manchester this weekend

Politics

3 w. ago Robert Jenrick’s thoughts are ‘my thoughts repackaged’, says Kemi Badenoch

The Tory leader took a swipe at her shadow justice secretary ahead of the party’s conference in Manchester this weekend

Politics