Jeremy Corbyn will face some of his toughest internal challenges yet at this year’s Labour conference; despite his currently unassailable position as Party Leader. While Corbyn has weathered votes of no confidence, a leadership challenge and constant backroom briefing from his detractors since taking the helm three years ago, the challenges he faces this year […]
The controversial Chequers Agreement put forward by the British Government has its detractors. That, perhaps, is putting it mildly given the number of resignations it triggered, But if Eurosceptics hate it that much, why is the EU talking about rejecting Mrs May’s big compromise? Afterall, much to the chagrin of Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Government has […]
This week was the Liberal Democrat’s annual conference, when Members, MPs, Lords and Lobbyists all got together to talk policy. Or in the case of the Lib Dems, to talk Brexit; specifically, how to stop it and how to do so through a ‘People’s Vote’. The notion of a second referendum is one I have […]
There have been a great number of words, some may say too many, written about Donald J. Trump over the last three years. Well, here are some more. From his shock entry in the Republican Primary race, through his stunning victory in November 2016, to pulling out of multiple international agreements that sought to reduce […]
Monday 3rd September was a pretty important day in Brussels. No, it wasn’t not the start of the sprout harvest, nor international waffle day, nor even a day of solidarity in support of a generic and predictably beige campaign. Monday was the day Emily O’Reilly, the EU Ombudsman, published her report into the promotion of […]
They say a week is a long time in politics. The last year has been a political lifetime for the EU. Moreover, it has been a cataclysm for the Social Democratic left that has been so instrumental in delivering stability and some predictability at the heart of Brussels. Just under eighteen months ago the former […]
Barnier’s eleventh hour pronouncement that the Chequers deal is unacceptable to the EU should come as no surprise to anyone. Life is a series of lessons. We learn from our own lived experiences and by observing the varied fortunes of those around us. Unfortunately, when it comes to contemporary British politics, people have […]
Barndoor Director Chris Alley sets out how free ports could revolutionise trade and manufacturing in the UK For thirty years Britain staggered on after the war. The “sick man of Europe” weighed down by militant unions, rampant inflation and obsolete business practices, Britain was locked into a spiral of decline. At its zenith the dead […]
With EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier reportedly driving a hard bargain, Brexit will likely consume Westminster’s attention for some time, leave hard feelings on both sides of the Channel and trigger Britain’s geopolitical drift away from the Continent with no clear political and geographic aim in sight to date. That aim should be Asia with its steep […]
Without question the UK withdrawing from the EU will fundamentally impact UK foreign, defence and economic policy. The question is, now that the UK has broken away from the EU how will this policy shift manifest itself? Well it is quickly looking like a pivot to the East, the UK is looking to reassert itself […]