United Kingdom

    Boris Johnson has claimed he feels "deep regret" over the failure to implement his promise of Brexit by Halloween. The Prime Minister replied "of course, of course" when asked if he will apologise to those Conservative Party members who voted for him as they believed he would deliver the UK's exit from the EU by October 31. Mr Johnson also said he can see "no reason whatsoever" about why the UK should extend the Brexit transition period beyond December 2020, adding: "If you get the right Parliament anything's possible. "But what you can do from the beginning is, of course, you can begin negotiating, not just with the EU but with countries around the world, and that's one of the great opportunities that we have next year." The PM earlier said the UK has secured a "...

    Downing Street has taken emergency action to head off winter pressures in the NHS amid growing fears in government that a healthcare crisis could derail the Tory party’s general election campaign. The prime minister Boris Johnson has been holding regular meetings at No 10 with the head of NHS England, Simon Stevens, as evidence mounts of lengthening delays in treatment caused by shortages of doctors and nurses. In addition, the health secretary Matt Hancock has been seeing Stevens every week, on Monday mornings, to assess how to prevent a deterioration in waiting times at hospitals and GP surgeries. The Observer has also learned that No 10, in an unprecedented move, has been planning to set up its own NHS “operations unit” as evidence mounts of lack of capacity and ...

    A halt to fracking called by the government has been branded an election stunt by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. The suspension in the run-up to the 12 December poll came after scientific research raised fresh fears over the risk of earthquakes linked to the controversial method of extracting shale gas. It marks a major U-turn by the Tories including Boris Johnson, who once hailed fracking as glorious news for humanity. The moratorium comes after a report by the Oil and Gas Authority found it is not currently possible to accurately predict the likelihood of strength of earthquakes connected to fracking operations. Fracking has provoked protests at sites across the country including Lancashire and Yorkshire, and the issue was expected to feature prominently campaigni...

    Boris Johnson has rejected Nigel Farage's offer to form a Leave alliance. With the general election campaign now under way, the prime minister told Sky's Sophy Ridge: I've ruled out a pact with everybody because I don't think it's sensible to do that. We're proud of our beliefs, we're proud of our One Nation Conservatism. Brexit Party leader Mr Farage said on Friday he would hold back from fielding a candidate in every seat in Britain if the PM dropped his EU Withdrawal Agreement and joined him in a non-aggression pact. But Mr Johnson insisted he would not do a deal with any party leader over the 12 December election. He said: The only likely consequence of voting for them [other party leaders], rather than for us as Conservatives, is that you are making it more ...

    Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson will go head-to-head in TV debates it has been announced. The PM and Labour leader will square off on November the 19th on ITV. Jeremy Corbyn welcomed the announcement. In a tweet the Labour leader said: This is a once in a generation election. So it's welcome that Boris Johnson has accepted our challenge of a head to head TV debate. The choice could not be clearer: Boris Johnson’s Conservatives protecting the privileged few or a Labour government on the side of the many. Confirming the tussle ITV press tweeted: ITV will show the first head-to-head debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn on 19th November. Details of further multi-party debate and comprehensive general election coverage in due course.

    Chancellor Sajid Javid has condemned Spectator columnist Rod Liddle after he suggested holding elections at a time when Muslims are unable to vote. In an article headlined If you do one thing this election, stop your kids voting, Mr Liddle wrote: My own choice of election date would be a day when universities are closed and Muslims are forbidden to do anything on pain of hell, or something. There must be at least one day like that in the Muslim calendar, surely? That would deliver at least 40 seats to the Tories, I reckon. Mr Javid, who is of Muslim heritage, slammed Mr Liddle's comments, saying they were not funny and not acceptable. Not clear if the Rod Liddle comment is supposed to be a joke but it's not funny and not acceptable, he tweeted. No community in our...

    An Uber driver has been sentenced to death for murdering a British diplomat. Tarek Houshieh confessed to the "senseless" attack on Rebecca Dykes, whose body was found dumped by the side of a highway on December 16 2017. Houshieh raped the 30-year-old before strangling her and dumping her body. Lebanese judges routinely call for death sentences in cases of murder. But the country has an unofficial moratorium and has not carried out an execution since 2004, according to the monitoring group Human Rights Watch. It is believed Dykes had been at a colleague’s leaving party in the Gemmayzeh district of Beirut on the night before she was found dead. Houshieh, a Lebanese national, had allegedly picked up Dykes from Gemmayzeh after she requested an Uber ride. The indictm...

    Appearing on LBC Radio with host Nigel Farage, the leader of the Brexit Party, the US president also heaped praise on Prime Minister Boris Johnson as a fantastic guy. Mr Trump said: I have great relationships with many of the leaders, including Boris who's a fantastic man - I think he's the exact right guy for the times. Turning to the Labour leader, he added: Corbyn would be so bad for your country, he'd be so bad, he'd take you in such a bad way. He'd take you into such bad places. But your country has tremendous potential, it's a great country. The prime minister has repeatedly dismissed speculation of an electoral pact with the Brexit Party ahead of the 12 December poll, despite an offer from Mr Farage. Yet, Mr Farage has refused to rule out the prospect of t...

    If you’ve ever sat and wondered why Prince William and Prince Harry’s children don’t have the same surname then don’t worry, you’re not alone. This topic came to fruition when Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, was pregnant with gorgeous Archie Harrison, and now we’re eager to explore why the little royals don’t share the same name. William and Kate Middleton's children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis all have the last name Cambridge, whilst Harry and Meghan’s tot goes under Mountbatten-Windsor. This is because William and Kate’s children have taken the last name of William, whose title is the Duke of Cambridge, whilst Archie Harrison has not been issued with a title and would therefore be known as Master Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor, a...

    Boris Johnson and the Conservatives have surged to a huge 17-point lead at the start of the general election campaign, a major poll revealed today. The Ipsos MORI survey shows the Tories up eight points since September to 41 per cent, while Labour is marooned on 24. At the same time, the Prime Minister’s personal scores have leaped, including for his handling of Brexit, while those of Jeremy Corbyn have stayed at rock bottom. The findings are excruciating for the Labour leader, suggesting that his fence-sitting on Brexit has turned into a disaster. Eight in 10 people think he has done a bad job at handling Brexit, indicating that neither Leave nor Remain supporters admire his performance. And just over half of Labour supporters think Mr Corbyn has handled Brexit ...