Tom Goodenough

Tom Goodenough

Tom Goodenough is online editor of The Spectator.

Boris goes back to throwing rocks from the sidelines

From our UK edition

Dropping out of the Tory leadership race does mean one good thing for Boris: he can now go back to throwing rocks from the sidelines. Having landed himself in hot water last week with his Telegraph column in which he appeared to offer both freedom of movement for Brits abroad whilst introducing a much stricter immigration policy in the UK - which looked, at best, like wishful thinking - he's now somewhat freer to speak his mind this time around. Boris certainly makes the most of that opportunity today. In his column, he says: 'It is time for this nonsense to end.

What Liam Fox’s unlikely leadership bid tells us about the Tories

From our UK edition

There's much speculation about who will be the two MPs chosen by the Tory party to fight it out for leader, but there is less dispute about the candidate who looks set to get knocked out on Tuesday when voting actually starts on Tuesday. Barring an unlikely surge of support from fellow Tory MPs, Liam Fox's backers so far are not going to be sufficient for his candidacy to survive the week. So why is he running? Here's what he had to say to that question on Sunday Politics today: 'If you remember back to 2005, they were all wrong then. But let's leave that aside on the arithmetic. The reason that I am in this race is that I think we need to take the argument on now from the referendum to how we actually take Britain out of the European Union.

The Spectator podcast: The Tory leadership contest turns nasty | 2 July 2016

From our UK edition

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 have emerged 'seem strangely united in their vision for post-Brexit Britain'.

A nasty Tory leadership battle favours one person: Theresa May

From our UK edition

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 in modern politics'.

Theresa May launches her Conservative leadership bid

From our UK edition

Theresa May has launched her Conservative leadership bid this morning. Her scheduled announcement came just moments after Michael Gove announced that he was also entering the race in a surprise move, having broken ranks with Boris Johnson's own campaign. In her speech, which you can read in full here, the Home Secretary said: 'My pitch is very simple. I'm Theresa May and I think I'm the best person to be Prime Minister of this country' May spoke at length of her reasoning for wanting the top job during her 16-minute speech. On Brexit, she said the country had emerged from a 'bruising and divisive campaign'.

The Spectator podcast: The Tory leadership contest turns nasty

From our UK edition

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 have emerged 'seem strangely united in their vision for post-Brexit Britain'.

Tory leadership race: Who is backing who?

From our UK edition

The race to be the next Tory leader is underway. Conservative Party members will decide between Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom after Michael Gove was knocked out in the second round of voting. But which Conservative MPs are backing who?

Coffee House shots: Boris vs May, Labour woes and Britain’s Brexit deal

From our UK edition

Politics is still moving at breakneck speed - David Cameron is in Brussels and meanwhile, in Brussels, the fight to succeed him is intensifying. The bookies suggest Theresa May is pulling ahead of Boris in the race to become the next Prime Minister. But others including Jeremy Hunt, Stephen Crabb and Sajid Javid are also throwing their hats into the ring. So who will come out on top? On today's Coffee House Shots podcast, James Forsyth tells Fraser Nelson: 'I think what I would say is there is serious doubt about Boris but no great enthusiasm for Theresa May among MPs. Those, I think, will be the final two.

Nigel Farage does his best to alienate the rest of Europe

From our UK edition

Thankfully, many in Europe - not least the European Parliament - will have stopped listening to Nigel Farage a long time ago. The Ukip leader, no stranger to attempting to infuriate his MEP colleagues, has been winding them up again. In this morning's session, he gloated: ‘You all laughed at me. Well, I have to say, you’re not laughing now, are you?’ But Farage didn't stop there, telling those around him: ‘I know that virtually none of you have ever done a proper job in your lives, or worked in business, or worked in trade, or ever created a job, but listen’ It was clear from the huge smile across Farage’s face during the proceedings that he was having a whale of the time mocking his fellow MEPs.

George Osborne rules himself out of Tory leadership race

From our UK edition

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 his party furious at what they saw as an attempt to scare voters into sticking with the status quo.

How can we reassure other countries that Brexit isn’t a victory for ‘Little Britain’? Howard Drake has the answer

From our UK edition

Reassuring other countries that Brexit doesn't mean Britain is hauling up the drawbridge is vital for ensuring the UK continues to succeed. So far, much of the foreign coverage of the outcome in the EU referendum has certainly painted the decision as an isolationist move. The German newspaper Taz.am wochenen summed up that sentiment with its front page at the weekend, which said simply: 'Well done, little Britain'. So what is being done to offer assurances to other countries that Britain is, in the words of George Osborne this morning, still 'open for business'? Not a lot if the Foreign Secretary's appearance on TV at the weekend was anything to go on.

Coffee House shots: Tory turmoil, Jexit and Boris’ bid for No.10

From our UK edition

As the spate of resignations from the Labour shadow cabinet continues this morning and the rival candidates in the race to replace David Cameron as Prime Minister step up their campaigns, politics shows no signs of slowing down today. Boris Johnson and Theresa May are the front runners in the upcoming Conservative leadership contest - but who will emerge on top? And amidst Tory turmoil, the crisis at the top of the Labour party continues this morning. On today's edition of our Coffee House shots podcast, James Forsyth tells Isabel Hardman that: 'One of the rules for politics at the moment is that however bad things are for the Conservatives at the moment, they're worse for Labour.

George Osborne ditches ‘Project Fear’ as he breaks his Brexit silence

From our UK edition

George Osborne has turned his back on 'Project Fear' after finally breaking his Brexit silence. The aim of his speech this morning was all about reassuring the financial markets before they opened. To help him do that he reeled off a couple of sound bites about how Britain was open for business, how it ‘will not be plain sailing’ but that it was a good job we’d ‘fixed the roof’. The Chancellor also said that whilst this ‘is not the outcome I wanted or that I threw everything into campaigning for’, ‘the people have spoken’ and we must all accept that result. But what was more interesting was what wasn’t mentioned.

What are the European – and world – papers saying about Brexit?

From our UK edition

Brexit is, unsurprisingly, continuing to dominate the front pages of the newspapers overseas for a second day in a row. Whereas many of yesterday's European paper splashes focused on Britain's decision to vote 'Out', though, the big question now is: what does this mean for us? Several front pages across the continent ask this question this morning, with others trying to address the issue of whether their own countries might follow suit with their own brand of Brexit. It's clear that whilst Britain is now at a crossroads, so, too, is the rest of Europe. And many across the continent are waking up to that realisation today.

David Cameron’s resignation speech in full

From our UK edition

David Cameron has announced his decision to step down as Prime Minister following the vote to leave the European Union. Here's what he said on the steps of No.10 Downing Street this morning: The country has just taken part in a giant democratic exercise – perhaps the biggest in our history. Over 33 million people – from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar – have all had their say. We should be proud of the fact that in these islands we trust the people with these big decisions. We not only have a parliamentary democracy, but on questions about the arrangements for how we are governed, there are times when it is right to ask the people themselves - and that is what we have done.

Coffee House Shots: The final countdown

From our UK edition

There are now only hours until the polls open in the EU referendum. But the campaigning has continued today right up until the wire as both 'Remain' and 'Leave' do their best to win every vote in what looks set to be a close contest. David Cameron, Jeremy Corbyn, Sadiq Khan and Boris Johnson have been across the airwaves as they attempt to convince the public which way they should vote. It's not only political figures from the UK who have had their say, though: Jean Claude Juncker has insisted Britain would not be getting a new reform package after tomorrow's vote. Was it wise for him to speak out? On today's final Coffee House Shots podcast before the referendum, James Forsyth tells Fraser Nelson that: 'He was trying to say 'Don't think you can vote out and get a better deal.

The PM boils his entire referendum campaign into a single word. But will it convince voters?

From our UK edition

David Cameron has boiled down his entire EU referendum campaign into a single word: together. The Prime Minister made one of his final pitches to Britain on the Today programme just now. But despite doing his best to put forward the positive case for staying in, he still came unstuck on the age-old issue of migration. He was repeatedly quizzed on his net migration target to reduce numbers to the tens of thousands. We knew before that this is, to say the least, a tricky subject for Cameron. And he didn't offer much in the way of substance to salve voters' worries. Instead, when immigration came up, he flipped the discussion to being one about the economy.

Would a narrow win for ‘Leave’ be useful in getting a better post-Brexit deal?

From our UK edition

In less than 24 hours, the polling booths will finally open. We've seen today the now familiar raft of letters from both sides calling on people to vote 'Remain' or back Brexit. 51 FTSE have signed a letter saying they think the UK should stay in the European Union. Whilst Tate and Lyle Sugars said Brexit would be the best way ahead for its business in a message to employees. But amidst this final push for votes, the polls show that tomorrow's referendum will likely be an even race: the 'What UK think's' poll of polls has 'Remain' on 51 per cent and 'Leave' on 49 per cent. So what if the margin between the two sides really is so small? In an interesting interview on Today just now, leading Brexit campaigner Daniel Hannan touched on the subject.

Coffee House shots: Who will triumph in tonight’s final TV showdown?

From our UK edition

As many as eight million people are expected to tune into tonight's BBC Brexit debate, where Boris Johnson, Sadiq Khan and Ruth Davidson will battle it out in their final attempt to win over voters ahead of the referendum. The last time Boris appeared in a TV debate, Remain's 'Operation batter Boris' was mobilised in a misguided attempt to discredit the former Mayor of London. So can we expect more of the same tonight? On today's Coffee House Shots, James Forsyth tells Fraser Nelson: 'Ruth Davidson is a fierce debater. She is combative, she goes for people. It would be very surprising if she didn't go for Boris.

David Beckham backs ‘Remain’. But his reasons why don’t make any sense

From our UK edition

To be fair to David Beckham, he is at least slightly higher profile than some of the other ‘stars’ from the football world who have had their say on Brexit. And Michael Gove didn’t sound convincing when he traded off the news that ‘Becks’ had backed ‘Remain’ by saying John Barnes and Sol Campbell had done the opposite. In a post this morning, Beckham spelt out his reasons for wanting Britain to stay in the EU by suggesting he wants to ‘live in a vibrant and connected world where together as a people we are strong’. That kind of rhetoric, whilst apparently noble, tells us little. People from both sides of the debate are after the same, whether they want Britain to leave the EU or not.