Matt Withers

1 week ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Matt Withers

It is with some regret that we must inform you there is now another Brandreth popping up on BBC TV, talking rubbish in exchange for attention and perhaps the occasional chuckle. This one, however, is not Gyles – novelty knitwear wearer, former Tory MP and whip, now seen on The One Show interviewing the sort of people who’ve been using the same iron for 65 years. The new Brandreth is his daughter, the splendidly-named Aphra, who was elected Conservative MP for Chester South and Eddisbury last year.

2 weeks ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Matt Withers

It has happened! It has arrived! Finally. The day they said would never come!22,886 days since he was born, 3,646 days since becoming an MP, 1,852 since becoming leader of the Labour Party and 299 since becoming prime minister, Keir Starmer made a joke. An actual, proper, funny, laugh-out-loud joke at Prime Minister’s Questions.

3 weeks ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Matt Withers

After the Supreme Court ruling on the legal status of a woman, there was one question which was destined to dominate prime minister’s questions today, and so it proved: does the government agree that the legal definition of a woman should be based on biological sex? It should be a simple yes-no question, but ironically it’s less binary than that and there is a third response: that you welcome the ruling and it brings clarity.

1 month ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Matt Withers

David Cameron’s post-prime ministerial career, it is fair to say, probably hasn’t lived up to his expectations. First he tried to make a few quid in the banking world, to keep up with his Chipping Norton neighbours who went straight into hedge fund management from university. That ended in ignominy as it emerged Cameron been texting the then chancellor to secure his new employer access to a financing facility scheme during the Covid crisis.

2 months ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Matt Withers

There comes a point for every prime minister when the most dangerous questions come not from the side opposite but from behind. When the awkward questioning comes from the PM’s own benches, it’s a sign the honeymoon is over. While Keir Starmer has not really had much of a honeymoon – his relationship with the British public being less of a betrothal and more a one-night stand which got weirdly out of hand – it’s very much back home now.