Fury at holidays muddle as tourism chiefs blast Boris Johnson for his ‘traffic lights’ travel chaos 

Travel chiefs reacted with fury tonight as ministers warned Britons not to book foreign holidays and refused to rule out extending the international travel ban into summer. Boris Johnson confirmed plans to replace the foreign holidays ban with a ‘traffic light’ system which would open up quarantine-free travel to destinations rated green. Higher-risk locations would … Read more

Boris Johnson allies blame ‘gotcha’ questions for Covid lockdown muddle

Boris Johnson’s allies were accused of excusing ‘incompetence’ today after ‘gotcha’ were blamed for his bungle over coronavirus lockdown policies. The PM faced a welter of ridicule after embarrassingly getting muddled yesterday about the draconian rules imposed on households mixing in the North East.  The blunder elicited a rare apology from Mr Johnson, who admitted … Read more

Ex-Supreme Court judge LORD SUMPTION denounces No10’s rule of muddle and authoritarianism 

We are witnessing the slow demise of one of the great conceits of the modern world: the notion that the big-hearted State can protect us against every misfortune and that human beings are mere tools of State policy to be pushed about like pawns on a chessboard according to the changing impulses of its ministers. The … Read more

ANDREW PIERCE: Theresa May’s muddle over women at the top table

Theresa May, Britain’s second female Prime Minister, has sounded off about the absence of women in company boardrooms in a recent report. By gender diversity group Pipeline, the report criticised the fact there are only 13 female chief executive officers at the top 350 FTSE companies. Mrs May thunders in the report: ‘Every single male … Read more

ANDREW PIERCE: Theresa May’s muddle over women at the top table

Theresa May, Britain’s second female Prime Minister, has sounded off about the absence of women in company boardrooms in a recent report. By gender diversity group Pipeline, the report criticised the fact there are only 13 female chief executive officers at the top 350 FTSE companies. Mrs May thunders in the report: ‘Every single male … Read more

ASK TONY: British Gas threatened to send bailiffs after meter muddle

I moved into a new-build home in December. The developer passed meter readings, meter numbers and my personal details to British Gas. I intended to switch from the expensive standard tariff. A bill arrived in April and, although it was in my name, it was addressed to a neighbour’s house and had a different meter … Read more

Political books of the year: Thatcher’s despair Cameron’s gamble… and May’s muddle

Margaret Thatcher Vol 3: Herself Alone by Charles Moore (Allen Lane £35, 1,072 pp) Margaret Thatcher Vol 3: Herself Alone by Charles Moore (Allen Lane £35, 1,072 pp) Political biographies don’t get any better than this. For a start, there’s the thorough research sifting through a million pages of government and personal papers, backed up by … Read more