Inside Politics: Boris Johnson faces Tory fury over mansion tax

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Monday 10 February 2020 09:11 GMT

Brexit briefing: How long until the end of the transition period?

Storm Ciara has been bad enough. But there’s scary weather in space to worry about too. The Solar Orbiter is setting off on a mission to the Sun today – a mission aimed at figuring out the dangers posed to Earth’s communication systems by powerful solar flares. Boris Johnson – a classical scholar who will remember what happened when Icarus flew too close to the sun – is sure to feel the heat this week. His own party is incandescent over possible tax rises, the HS2 decision and a cabinet reshuffle. Over on planet Labour, a fiery row has flared up over the party’s data – with some incendiary claims made against frontrunner Keir Starmer. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing.

Inside the bubble

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock on what to look out for today:

The government is setting out plans for up to 10 new tariff-free “freeports” across the country today – but will face flak from Labour about the scheme’s tax avoidance potential. In the Commons, the Windrush Compensation Scheme bill will get its second reading, and Home Office ministers will likely be grilled over plans to deport up to 50 Jamaican nationals convicted of offences in the UK. Some of those set for removal have lived in Britain since they were children, and regard deportation as a repeat of the Windrush scandal.

Daily briefing

HOORAY HENRY HOOLIGAN: After his massive election win, Boris Johnson was supposed to walk on water. But Tories are discovering he’s not the messiah after all. The naughty boy at No 10 is said to be considering stealing one of Ed Miliband’s old policies – a “mansion tax” imposed on owners of expensive homes. According to The Telegraph, the PM is also mulling over cuts to pension tax relief at the Budget to help pay for a public spending boost. Cue outrage. “It is ridiculous,” a senior Tory MP told the paper. “If you are happy for people to get on in the world … you vote Conservative.” One investment manager said cutting tax relief would be “an act of fiscal hooliganism”. Johnson is expected to finally give the green light to the London to Birmingham stretch of HS2 tomorrow, antagonising as many as 60 Tory MPs opposed. Reports suggest there will be a short review into the second phase from Manchester to Leeds – which means he’ll probably manage to annoy those in favour of HS2 as well. And of course there’s the reshuffle on Thursday, with several female ministers thought to be in the firing line.

SCRAPING THE BARREL: Tax and spending rows are par for the course in politics, of course. But these days people somehow manage to fall out about data too. The Labour party has reported two members of Keir Starmer’s campaign team to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), accusing them of hacking the membership database in an attempt to go “data-scraping”. The leadership frontrunner’s team dismissed it as “utter nonsense”. Starmer campaign sources suggested the claims have only come about because they were looking into how the database could be hacked (the team had reported an alleged data breach by rival Rebecca Long-Bailey’s campaign team). “This is a factional attack by the party machine,” a source told The Independent. “This contest was always going to be a David against Goliath struggle because we have the entire party machine on the side of one candidate.” It comes as Starmer deals with the very sad news his mother-in-law died two weeks after suffering an accident. No decision has been taken on when his campaign will resume.

FAST FOOD FEUD: Elsewhere on the Labour campaign trail, Emily Thornberry managed to say some more mildly entertaining things – claiming Labour have got to stop being “cuddly hopeless lefties” at a hustings event in Nottingham. Thornberry took a swipe at Rebecca Long-Bailey over the left-wing darling’s claims of late-night pizza-fuelled working sessions. Thornberry said she did her job as shadow foreign secretary without having “to be up late eating pizza”. Long-Bailey responded to the catty remark with: “Ooh, meow!” Some are struggling to stay in good spirits. Neil Coyle MP said around a dozen MPs would quit if Long-Bailey won. “Favouritism and bullying will continue. Antisemitism will continue. Failure in elections will continue. More MPs and others will leave … It’s a recipe for disaster.” Lisa Nandy, meanwhile, offered some hope to Europhiles. She told The Independent she wanted “a closer economic and political alliance with Europe” than No 10 is pursuing – including access to the single market.

CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION: There’s a political earthquake going on in Ireland this morning – and the tremors are sure to be felt in Downing Street. Sinn Fein looks to have secured around 24 per cent of first-preference votes, making it impossible for one of the big centrist parties to govern alone. Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Fein’s leader, said it amounted to a “revolution”. Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar is refusing to enter into a coalition with the left-wing republicans. But Micheál Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, refused to rule out, saying: “I’m a democrat. I listen to the people.” So it looks like Martin – and not Varadkar – will be the one winding up the British government over the trade deal talks. Will Martin’s possible new pals in Sinn Fein insist on a harder line? Almost certainly.

P*** TAKER, HISTORY MAKER: The great Irish writer James Joyce described history as “a nightmare from which I am trying to awake”. The Brexit nightmare is set be enshrined at The House of European History – but one former Labour MEP is determined to ensure there’s a few jokes amid the screaming. Seb Dance has donated the sign he used to mock Nigel Farage during a European parliament debate. Dance scrawled “he’s lying to you” on a piece of paper with an arrow pointing at the Brexit Party boss. He told The Independent: “It was a moment of pure rage … my hope was that it would play whatever small part in making people question what he says.” Another tiny crumb of good news for those who question what Farage says. The EU flag is set to stay on British driving licences for up to a decade. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) will keep it on new, 10-year cards issued this year, meaning some will still have it on their licence in 2030. It’s the small things that keep you going.

On the record

“I think what they are doing is a kind of a witch-hunt. Huawei is a private-owned company.”

The Chinese ambassador Liu Xiaoming accuses a group of Tory MPs of fear-mongering over the 5G build.

From the Twitterati

“Labour accuses Keir Starmer campaign team of data breach. And here comes the dirty tricks from the hard-left establishment.”

The former Labour MP Tom Blenkinskop thinks the Corbynites have it in for Starmer...

“Labour people now openly speculating that this could be the start of moves to have Keir Starmer booted out of the contest. Needless to say this would be an incendiary development.”

...while Politics Home editor Kevin Schofield shares some conspiracy-minded speculation.