Inside Politics: Boris Johnson makes plea for ‘great national effort’

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Acclaimed video game The Last Of Us, a post-apocalyptic adventure about a strange and frightening new disease, is getting made into a series for HBO. The producers hopes to stay true to the original and deliver another “breathtaking work of art”. Boris Johnson has a strange and frightening new disease to manage, but there is little chance anyone will mistake his handling of the outbreak as a work of art. He’s hoping to stay true to the spirit of his original, ‘don’t panic’ plan – even as his government prepares to move into a new phase of the coronavirus adventure soon. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing.

Inside the bubble

Our chief political commentator John Rentoul on what to look out for at Westminster today:

The main business in parliament is health (and social care) questions, but as health secretary Matt Hancock answered an urgent question on coronavirus yesterday, and Boris Johnson held a news conference, don’t expect much new. Cabinet secretary Sir Mark Sedwill will be giving evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs select committee, and will be asked about Priti Patel and her dispute with her top civil servant. Today also sees the remaining stages of the telecommunications infrastructure bill.

Daily briefing

GRIPPING YARNS: Timing is everything, so they say. Boris Johnson is not quite ready to take the drastic measures expected of the “delay” phase of the coronavirus – but suggested they could be coming soon. Chief medical adviser Chris Whitty – appearing alongside the PM at a No 10 press conference – said the virus would “spread really quite fast” and that within around 10 to 14 days people with any symptoms of fever will be advised to self-isolate for a week. Johnson called for “a great national effort” to get through this thing. But the sense of crisis hasn’t stopped the criticism. The London mayoral candidate Rory Stewart said Johnson had made “a serious mistake” by failing to implement draconian, Italian-style restrictions such as school closures and the cancellation of big events. Culture secretary Oliver Dowden insisted we are “nowhere near that sort of stage”. Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell – condemning so many “vague” government statements – said: “I just say gently, someone needs to get a grip.”

SUSPICIOUS MINDS: Any disruption on the horizon for our politicians and diplomats? Not yet. The Commons and Lords authorities confirmed there were no plans to suspend parliament at the moment. Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove and chief negotiator David Frost said they would table a draft free trade agreement ahead of the second round of post-Brexit negotiations with the EU – still scheduled to kick off in London on 18 March. Gove acknowledged “significant differences” remained. But he left the feisty rhetoric to Ursula von der Leyen – who isn’t sure the Brits know what they want. The European Commission president said the UK must follow the “rules of the game” if it wants tariff-free trade, telling Johnson’s government “make up its mind” whether it wanted to keep close access to the single market. After former chancellor Philip Hammond suggested the talks may have to be pushed back because of Covid-19, one post-Brexit arrangement is getting rescheduled. New visa-style fees and forms for British travellers visiting EU countries have been delayed until the beginning of 2023.

ARE YOU GONNA GO HUAWEI: The spirit of the “great national effort” doesn’t seem to have rubbed off on those pesky backbench Tories. The PM may have a lot on his plate, but it won’t stop a rebellion in the Commons today over the decision to grant Huawei a restricted role in Britain’s 5G network. Iain Duncan Smith’s cabal of anti-Huaweists – who want “high-risk vendors” banned entirely from the network by the end of 2022 – believe they have 30 Conservative MPs ready to back an amendment to the telecommunications infrastructure bill. Not enough for a defeat – but enough to start “laying down a marker”, in the words of Tory rebel Bob Seely. “The vibe that we’re getting from colleagues, many, many more are very concerned about it,” he said. According The Telegraph, No 10 has been worried enough about the scale of the revolt to arrange briefings for Tory MPs with GCHQ. Let’s see if the behind-the-scenes move makes any difference.

24-HOUR PARTY PERSON: Labour leadership hopeful Rebecca Long-Bailey knows how to have fun. Or least she used to. In an interview with the Evening Standard, she revealed she went clubbing four nights a week (four!) in the early noughties, and was a “bit of a skater girl” who had a lip piercing and wore baggy trousers with a vest. In more serious mode, Long-Bailey admitted one of her “big regrets” was failing to contact other female Labour MPs who were subjected to anti-Jewish racism. “I didn’t speak to Louise [Ellman] or Luciana [Berger] or Ruth [Smeeth] directly. I wish I had. I should have done at the time.” Elsewhere, the row over Trevor Phillips suspension from Labour (pending an investigation into allegedly Islamophobic remarks) rumbles on. The shadow Europe minister Khalid Mahmood said it had brought “disrepute” on the party, while Phillips himself said Labour was in danger of becoming a “brutal, authoritarian cult”.

ALEX SALMOND FACES ACCUSERS: Scotland’s former first minister was in Edinburgh’s high court on Monday for the first day of an expected four-week trial over sexual assault allegations. One his accusers claimed she felt “hunted” by the former SNP leader before an alleged attempted rape in 2014, the court heard. The woman claimed Salmond “pounced” on her after at a dinner at his official residence Bute House, and pushed her on to a bed. She also claimed fighting him off felt like being in the boxing ring with “Ali and Foreman”. Salmond – who faces 14 charges of alleged offences against 10 women spanning a span a period between June 2008 and November 2014 – denies all of the charges. The trial continues today.

On the record

“Tackling this crisis is not helped by so many cuts in the NHS.”

John McDonnell on the coronavirus outbreak after a decade of austerity.

From the Twitterati

“All of Italy is now in lockdown. We’re into completely unprecedented territory with this Coronavirus, yet still @BorisJohnson says we just need to keep washing our hands. This cannot be enough surely???”

Piers Morgan doesn’t think the PM is doing enough...

“In other news, I see @BorisJohnson’s Coronavirus plan basically boils down to “let the weak ones die”.”

...and neither does author Emma Kennedy.

Essential reading

Rebecca Long-Bailey, The Independent: This has to be a climate crisis budget – anything else is a betrayal of current and future generations

Sean O’Grady, The Independent: Could parliament cope with a coronavirus shutdown

George Eaton, New Statesman: Why the UK is badly prepared for a coronavirus recession

Gabriel Sherman, Vanity Fair: Trump, germaphobe in chief, struggles to contain the Covid-19 story

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