It’s always party time at the grace-and-favour boltholes our top ministers call homeBefore he became boon companion to the now-disgraced financier, Lex Greensill, David Cameron devoted a chunk of his autobiography to justifying Chequers, first among th…
Can Boris Johnson’s new faces help him deliver on old promises?
The Tory leader’s reshuffle was ruthless but the challenge is to create a post-Covid recovery and prove ‘levelling up’ and ‘global Britain’ aren’t mere slogansFor ministers who trooped into Downing Street on Wednesday it was hardly the warmest of welc…
Universal credit cut will push 800,000 people into poverty, Boris Johnson warned
Senior Tories plot to force government U-turnBoris Johnson is warned today that more than 800,000 people risk being plunged into poverty as a result of an imminent cut to universal credit, amid a plot by senior Tories to force the government into a las…
The Observer view on Anglo-French relations | Observer editorial
The exclusion of France from the Aukus pact leaves the UK at risk of further isolation after BrexitFrance’s extraordinary decision to recall its ambassadors to the US and Australia reflects deep anger over its exclusion from the secretly negotiated Auk…
The Observer view on the government’s flawed winter plan for Covid | Observer editorial
Measures taken now, such as mask wearing and better ventilation in schools, would help the NHS avoid further costly delays to non-Covid treatmentA small room, with the windows shut, packed tightly with more than 30 people, none wearing masks. This is t…
Covid and Afghanistan ‘reveal weakness of UK’s security policy’
Cross-party MPs and peers say the response to the two crises has exposed system as inadequateThe rapid fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban and the response to the Covid-19 pandemic have revealed “serious weaknesses” in the government’s approach to deali…
Business minister bids to calm crisis fears as UK gas prices soar
No cause for alarm now, says Kwasi Kwarteng as energy discussions are likened to early Covid crisis talksThe government was scrambling on Saturday night to reassure Britons that rising gas prices would not plunge the country into an energy crisis, as m…
Meet the brave, consensual mayor set to face down Hungary’s autocrat | Nick Cohen
The opposition parties are uniting behind an unlikely hero leading a broad popular frontGergely Karácsony does not have the commanding features of a warrior who can fight Europe’s authoritarian nationalists. The mayor of Budapest is 46, but his mild ma…
All aboard Boris Johnson’s lying bus – cartoon
After his reshuffle, the prime minister and his cabinet head for the sunlit uplands• You can order your own copy of this cartoon Continue reading…
Nadine Dorries should write what she likes. And I’ll read what I like | Alex Clark
High brow, low brow – for heaven’s sake, just pick up a bookIn the latest tedious round of the culture war, I did not expect to be taking a position on the books of the new culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, whose defenders point to her being a prolifi…