David cameron

Der Speigel has published a fascinating write-up giving last week’s extraordinary events from Angela Merkel’s perspective. Specifically, it seems, she’s had enough of Jean-Claude Juncker, the egregious president of the European Commission, and has told him to bow out from future negotiations with the UK. She’s fed up of him insisting that Britain rushes to invoke Article 50. Indeed, her “utmost concern,” says the magazine, is “giving Britain as much time as possible” for an orderly transition. Here’s an extract:- At 1 p.m. on the Friday after the Brexit referendum, Merkel makes a statement to Berlin journalists in which — in contrast to Schulz — she does not demand a rapid British withdrawal. One

To subscribe to The Spectator’s weekly podcast, for free, visit the iTunes store or click here for our RSS feed. Alternatively, you can follow us on SoundCloud. A week after Britain backed Brexit, politics shows no sign of slowing down. David Cameron has resigned, Michael Gove has pulled out of Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign before launching his own. And Boris has decided not to run in the contest. We now have a final slate of five candidates vying for the top job. In his Spectator cover piece this week, James Forsyth says the Tory party is in a ‘deeply emotional state’. But he also points out that the leadership candidates who

Even by the standards of Westminster politics, yesterday’s developments will be remembered for a long time. But meanwhile, in the short-term, Michael Gove’s decision to launch his own campaign – and Boris’ subsequent move to drop out – favours only one person in the Tory leadership race: Theresa May. The Home Secretary made her pitch as the quieter candidate who would just get on with the job. Amidst the noise of what looks set to be a nasty leadership campaign, that strategy already seems to be paying off. This morning, May has won the backing of the Daily Mail. The paper described yesterday as one of the most ‘unedifying days

Rare to see a plank-walker at the helm of the ship. Today there were two. Cameron has accepted the inevitable and his demeanour at the despatch box was relaxed, amused, peaceable. Buoyant at times. Even foes like Bernard Jenkin exchanged warm words with him. And he handled Corbyn with extreme mildness until a rush of blood seized him at the end. ‘For heaven’s sake, man, go!’ he lashed out. But go where? Jezza’s impersonation of Rasputin is his best performance yet. He’s indestructible. Last weekend he was hacked to pieces by a flash-mob of tooled-up colleagues. He then suffered a thundering defeat in a no-confidence vote which merely boosted his confidence

George Osborne has ruled himself out of the Tory party leadership contest. The Chancellor said that whilst he accepted the outcome of the referendum, ‘I am not the person to provide the unity my party needs at this time’. Osborne went on to say that: ‘As for my ow future, I will not be a candidate in the Conservative leadership election to come’ Osborne’s decision is hardly a surprise. He had become the face of a ‘Remain’ campaign which angered many Tory MPs. In particular, his ‘punishment Brexit budget’ – which he suggested would be implemented in the event of a vote for ‘Out’ – had a large group within

David Cameron came to the House of Commons this afternoon to update the House on Brexit. Cameron was greeted by the loudest Tory cheer that I’ve heard of seven years of sitting in the press gallery. He was in remarkably good spirits, considering what has just happened. Jeremy Corbyn’s predicament appear to have cheered Cameron up. He joked that the new Labour MP for Tooting should keep her phone on as she might be offered a job at any moment. He also joked at Corbyn’s expense that he thought he was having a bad day until he saw what was happening to Corbyn. When it came to the process of