The phrase is straight out of Yes Minister. Michael Gove‘s evidence to the Covid Inquiry on Tuesday was cut off for straying into what a smooth-talking Government lawyer deemed ‘a somewhat divisive issue’. Gove, a Cabinet minister for most of the past 13 years, ventured to state that ‘there is …

Travelling home from Central London Wednesday night, our car came to a grinding halt on one of the back doubles between the BBC and the Post Office Tower. A Westminster Council dustcart was blocking the road, a narrow one-way street. There was no way past, nor any point trying to …

It began as a private conversation between senior members of the Royal Family that would normally have stayed strictly within the palace walls. But what appears to have been intended as an innocuous chat about the excitement of a new baby culminated this week with two alleged ‘royal racists’ being …

Home Office caseworkers made under 42,000 decisions on claims in 2023  Rate has rocketed as Government introduced schemes to clear backlog of cases  The data showed the largest number of applications came from Afghans By David Barrett Published: 16:53 EST, 30 November 2023 | Updated: 18:26 EST, 30 November 2023 …

Just when the Royal Family must have thought they were cruising into the beginning of a peaceful and joyous festive season, hark the imperilled angels sing. Two years after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex first opened up to Oprah Winfrey about ‘concerns’ some members of the Royal Family had …

Henry Kissinger, who has died aged 100, will be publicly remembered as one of the most creative and controversial statesmen of the 20th century. But in private he was a charismatic and entertaining personality, as those of us fortunate enough to enjoy his friendship well know. Although tubby and bespectacled, …

Eileen (15, 97 mins)  Verdict: Moody period thriller  Rating: Some names are more inherently glamorous than others. Eileen, despite the best efforts of Dexy’s Midnight Runners all those years ago, and despite the formidable Dame Eileen Atkins for that matter, suggests (if only to me) modesty, diffidence, anonymity. The same …

One entry reads: ‘Lord Arthur’s mother is a gorgon.’ ‘The dowager Marchioness has a liquor cabinet in her bed chamber, of which she takes full advantage before breakfast,’ reads another; while a third declares: ‘Lord Robert is rumoured to enjoy le vice Anglais’ — sadomasochism, to you and me. And …

By Zeenia Naqvee Published: 07:39 EST, 30 November 2023 | Updated: 18:04 EST, 30 November 2023 A mother who got a face tattoo to honour her daughter says trolls claim the inking makes her a ‘bad parent’ – but she doesn’t regret it. Katie Taylor, 27, from Rayleigh, Essex, has been …

Just as actors will not say ‘Macbeth’ for fear it will bring a hex upon their heads, Matt Hancock would not utter the name ‘Dominic Cummings’. Lip curling like a brandy snap, he spoke of ‘that witness’ or ‘some people’ or ‘an adviser’ but never once resorted to the C …