Category : Political

We are all Johnson's exes now, led on by false hope and dishonesty

You’d be forgiven for thinking we would exit lockdown into something better, but the prime minister’s harsh tier system was our destiny“Now is not the time,” gibbered the prime minister, “to take our foot off the throat of the beast.” Its throat? A l...

Priti Patel is all for 'personal responsibility' – unless you're home secretary | Marina Hyde

Her behaviour has prompted the prime minister’s adviser on standards to quit. Maybe he’s the only one who has any?“Standards in public life” has become such a preposterous phrase in Boris Johnson’s government that the prime minister’s adviser on stan...

Boris Johnson's saboteur is back, and looking strangely familiar | Marina Hyde

The prime minister’s remarks about Scottish devolution are those of a man who is his own disloyal backbencherI see Boris Johnson continues to be a thorn in the prime minister’s side. It has been his political role for more than a decade, so maybe we...

So goodbye, Barnard Castle Spice. Looking forward to your solo material | Marina Hyde

Dominic Cummings is leaving the band. But that was always the plan – nothing to do with the impending Brexit endgameIs it bigger than Geri leaving the Spice Girls? Don’t be ridiculous. There are, however, similarities with the scheduled departure of...

Behold Trump's pre-election secret weapon: Nigel Farage, 'king of Europe' | Marina Hyde

In the final, critical days of his campaign, who does the US president call on? The vestigial tail on Britain’s body politicHow poignant to see Kent garagiste Nigel Farage interfering in the US election, much in the way a drop interferes in the ocean...

Only this government could miss the open goal of free school meals | Marina Hyde

If it weren’t so serious, there would be deep comedy in seeing Marcus Rashford run rings around Boris Johnson’s lotWill nobody think of the prime ministers? Everyone has a story of deprivation that has stuck with them during this pandemic, and mine i...

Why worry about no-deal Brexit? If Gove says it'll be better that's good enough for me | Marina Hyde

Internal borders, criminals on the loose – this is the utopia we’ve dreamed of. Who needs fresh vegetables anyway?The Derbyshire village of Coton in the Elms is the place farthest away from the sea in all the United Kingdom, suggesting it cannot be l...

What exactly are the Conservatives conserving? It’s certainly not the union | Marina Hyde

With his ever-evolving ‘plans’, Boris Johnson has succeeded in alienating even those who were once his biggest fansI hate to stray into superforecasting, but I wonder whether Boris Johnson’s wheeze of dividing the UK into a number of bitterly resentf...

The Covid mugger is back – but this time Boris Johnson isn't even wrestling it | Marina Hyde

The second wave is here. But the summer has been squandered on vanity obsessions instead of fighting the virus Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageBoris Johnson cannot offer blood, sweat or toil. What he has got is some tiers....

Learn lessons from the first wave? Johnson and co are far too busy for that | Marina Hyde

Meddling with Brexit, mulling a new leader – the Tories will do literally anything except reflect on their Covid responseAnother week, another opportunity to wonder if the country has slipped through a tear in the government-Covid continuum. It was b...

Thought leader? Surely Laurence Fox's cruellest miscasting yet | Marina Hyde

The culture warrior’s new party has received funds from Tory donors. What could be more anti-establishment?Draw near, rubberneckers, for there are further developments in the vision quest of future I’m a Celebrity booking Laurence Fox. On Sunday, one...

Like a Thames whale, Boris Johnson has got stranded at Westminster | Marina Hyde

He thought making it upriver would fulfil his dream – instead it’s turned into a cruel form of humiliationHow poignant to read at the weekend that Boris Johnson, the latest Thames whale, “is more determined than ever not to be a one-term prime minist...

Matt Hancock, could you honestly think of no one better to run test and trace? | Marina Hyde

With the system in chaos, Dido Harding says the increased demand could not have been predicted. Yes, reallyDo you remember Ye Olde Operation Moonshotte, an ancient promise by the elders of this government to test 10 million people a day? My apologies...

Tutting at the decor while Britain burns: that's life in the Cameron chumocracy! | Marina Hyde

His memoirs in the bag, the artisan politician has emerged to weigh in on Brexit. Pity he wasn’t so alert when it countedWhat ho, David Cameron! I note the artisan politician has surfaced briefly from his money trench to offer a wan opinion on the go...

The Tories' biggest trick? Convincing the world they have a cunning plan | Marina Hyde

As the cock-ups continue to pile up, some people bizarrely still seem to think it’s all part of an ingenious strategyAnother dignified week for Boris Johnson’s administration, which now wishes to override its own Brexit deal by claiming not to have u...