Brexit

Reuters reports: Britain was speeding toward Brexit on Friday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a crushing election victory, ending three years of uncertainty since the country decided to leave the bloc. Johnson is now free to lead his country swiftly out of the vast trading bloc, but faces the daunting task of negotiating trade deals around the world, not …

NBC News reports: Jeremy Corbyn, the socialist leader of the opposition Labour Party, announced Friday he will step down after election results showed the party not only failed to oust the ruling Conservatives but also lost a swath of formerly dependable seats. Corbyn admitted it had been a “very disappointing” night as support crumbled in his party’s former heartlands, with …

The Guardian reports: Nicola Sturgeon has challenged Boris Johnson to give Scotland the powers to hold a second independence referendum after the Scottish National party won a landslide in the general election. The first minister said she had won “a renewed, refreshed and strengthened mandate” to call for a fresh independence vote after winning 47 of Scotland’s 59 Westminster seats, …

The Washington Post reports: Prime Minister Boris Johnson appears to have won a large, decisive and potentially powerful majority of parliamentary seats in Thursday’s election, according to the exit poll released minutes after the voting ended. The Conservatives are expected to win 368 seats, according to the national exit poll. The party needs 322 seats to control Parliament — and …

The Guardian reports: Boris Johnson retreated into a fridge to avoid a TV interview, amid rattled nerves at CCHQ over a narrowing in the opinion polls. The prime minister was ambushed by the Good Morning Britain producer, Jonathan Swain, during a pre-dawn visit to Modern Milkman, a business in the Tory-held constituency of Pudsey, in Yorkshire. When Swain first approached …

Business Insider reports: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has parodied the 2003 rom-com “Love Actually” in an ad asking people to vote Conservative in support of Brexit. In Johnson’s remake of the iconic Christmas-carol scene, the British prime minister imitates the character Mark (Andrew Lincoln), holding up cards telling a woman in the scene — mimicking the film’s Juliet (Keira …

Politico Europe reports: The British Conservative Party was given a huge boost on Wednesday when Donald Trump left the U.K. without smashing up its election strategy. The U.S. president was supposed to hold a press conference at the end of a gathering of NATO leaders but canceled it, saying he had answered enough questions. “We won’t be doing a press …

The Independent reports: Google has banned eight different adverts paid for by the Conservatives over the last month because they broke its rules, The Independent can reveal. The move by the search giant comes amid mounting concerns about the Tories’ use of disinformation and fake news as campaigning tools at the general election. Transparency data released by the search giant …

Reuters reports: Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday it would be “best” if U.S. President Donald Trump does not get involved in Britain’s election when he visits London for a NATO summit next week. Trump waded into the election in October by saying opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn would be “so bad” for Britain and that Johnson should …

Politico Europe reports: Boris Johnson is on course to win a 68-seat majority in the U.K. general election, according to a major new poll. The YouGov seat prediction survey — which accurately predicted that Theresa May would lose her majority in 2017 — said the Tories would win 359 seats (up 42) with Labour dropping to 211 (down 51) if …

The New York Times reports: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will promise to bring his Brexit deal back to parliament before Christmas when he launches his Conservative Party’s manifesto on Sunday, the cornerstone of his pitch to voters to “get Brexit done”. With less than three weeks before Britain heads to the polls on Dec. 12, the governing Conservatives and …

Reuters reports: Twitter accused Britain’s ruling Conservative Party on Wednesday of misleading the public during a televised election debate, but Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said voters did not care about the cut and thrust of social media. Twitter spoke out after the Conservative Campaign Headquarters press office changed the name of its account from “CCHQPress” to “factcheckUK” while Prime Minister …

The Guardian reports: Nigel Farage has said the Brexit party will not field any candidates against the Conservatives in the 317 seats they won at the last general election, after Boris Johnson committed to leaving the EU by 2020 and pursuing a Canada-style trade deal. Farage said his party’s climbdown came after months of trying to create a leave alliance …

The Sunday Times reports: Nine Russian business people who gave money to the Conservative Party are named in a secret intelligence report on the threats posed to UK democracy which was suppressed last week by Downing Street. Oligarchs and other wealthy Tory donors were included in the report on illicit Russian activities in Britain by the cross-party intelligence and security …

Reuters reports: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s election campaign launch was marred by the resignation of one of his ministers, a gaffe about the victims of a deadly tower blaze and a doctored video of an opponent released by his party. Just an hour after meeting Queen Elizabeth to formally begin the election campaign, Johnson’s minister for Wales, Alun Cairns, …

The Metro reports: Boris Johnson left Downing Street this morning to visit the Queen at Buckingham Palace as campaigning for the general election kicked off. The prime minister must formally ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament – shutting it down for five weeks – ahead of the 12 December election. Mr Johnson will then return to Downing Street where he …

The Guardian reports: A potentially explosive parliamentary report on the security threat posed by Russia to the UK has been effectively blocked from being published before the general election by Downing Street. The 50-page document from the intelligence and security committee (ISC) examined allegations that Kremlin-sponsored activity distorted the result of the 2016 EU referendum – but has to be …

The Associated Press reports: Britain’s election campaign heated up Sunday even before it officially started, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying he would apologize to Conservatives for failing to take the U.K. out of the European Union by Oct. 31 and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage saying he won’t personally run for a seat in Parliament. Johnson’s promise to have …

CNN reports: A controversial policy allowing politicians to run false ads on Facebook will extend to the United Kingdom as the country prepares to vote in a historic December election, Facebook confirmed to CNN Business. The policy is being championed by Facebook executive Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom who himself once complained about “lies” …

Courthouse News reports: In a tag-team effort, President Donald Trump and Nigel Farage, a nationalist British politician supported by the far right, joined forces to push Prime Minister Boris Johnson into breaking off ties with the European Union and backing an even more hardcore Brexit strategy before the December elections. Ignoring the diplomatic protocol of not meddling in elections in …