Inside Politics: Boris Johnson holds Cobra meeting, as coronavirus hits budget plans

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Keep calm and carry on? For the Queen, it’s not just a twee slogan on a tea towel. Her Majesty has vowed not to let the coronavirus disrupt her duties, attending the Commonwealth Day service in Westminster Abbey today. Boris Johnson is also keen to send out a message of untroubled normality, shaking hands with spectators at the England-Wales match at Twickenham at the weekend. But as the PM kicks off budget week with a series of emergency meetings, the dreaded coronavirus threatens to disturb almost every aspect of political life – including his precious spending plans. 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 at Westminster today:

Boris Johnson will host a Cobra committee meeting today on the coronavirus, and could decide whether to move from the “containment” to “delay” phase – likely to involve the cancellation of major gatherings. Speaker Lindsay Hoyle will meet with the Commons authorities, and consider whether to ban visitors to parliament and cease all travel abroad by MPs and their staff. Meanwhile environment secretary George Eustice is speaking with the supermarkets about support for vulnerable groups who may be in isolation.

Daily briefing

HEY BIG SPENDER: Rishi Sunak hoped his first budget was going to be all about splashing the cash – showering new Tory voters in the north with goodies. But the chancellor’s splurge now looks set to be defined by how well it helps the country adjust to the coronavirus. Sunak insisted the NHS will get “whatever resources it needs”, and said he was considering extra measures to help businesses. Firms are expected to get more time to pay tax if staff are unable to work. “I’m keen to make sure when we get through the other side, we haven’t lost these great small businesses permanently,” he told The Andrew Marr Show. The government is planning emergency legislation to allow three million volunteers willing to support the health system while having their jobs protected for up to four weeks. It comes as government officials have begun describing a figure of 100,000 as the “central estimate” of the virus’ potential UK death toll, according to The Sunday Times.

BEST LAID PLANS: The possible impacts of the coronavirus appear endless. Almost everyone in Whitehall is figuring out how far it might disrupt their plans. Reports indicate May’s local elections may have to be delayed, while Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle is said to favour shutting parliament for three months if someone is diagnosed with COVID-19. Former chancellor Philip Hammond suggested Brexit talks might even have be delayed, predicting both sides will “work together in good faith to decide how to manage that”. While environment secretary George Eustice talks supply chains with supermarkets today, culture secretary Oliver Dowden is gathering sports bodies to talk about contingency plans – including the possibility of playing Premier League matches behind closed doors. There’s one contingency plan ministers are thought to be dead against. Justice secretary Robert Buckland was reportedly “given advice” on ways to release thousands of low-risk offenders from prison early. “As soon as ministers saw that, they said there is no way it is happening,” said one official.

SEASON IN THE SUN: I bet Boris Johnson would love another holiday right about now. But he’s still facing questions about the last one. Kathryn Stone, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, has initiated a formal investigation into who paid for the PM’s 10-day trip to Mustique. It’s the very first time a sitting PM has faced an inquiry of this kind, and follows a request by Labour for the commissioner to get to the bottom of the mystery over the £15,000 cost. Speaking of investigations, Tories can’t stop gossiping about the Cabinet Office probe into Priti Patel. Iain Duncan Smith has claimed the ministerial code needs to be rewritten because it’s not specific enough on bullying. Describing Patel as “the Dennis Wise of the cabinet,” a cabinet source told The Sunday Times punishing Patel’s behaviour could lead to “open season” on others. “They will be after Dominic Raab and Michael Gove next … It sets a dangerous precedent.”

BY HECKLE: Johnson dug out his wellies and headed to the flood-hit town of Bewdley on Sunday – having claimed only last week that his visits tend to “distract and disrupt” volunteers and emergency services. It’s fair to say he got a “mixed” reaction after claiming he would “get Bewdley done”. Some booed, someone called him a “traitor” and he was also told to “do your f***ing job”. We know Sunak will double spending on flood prevention schemes to £5.2bn over five years. But will the chancellor do enough to meet the challenge of global warming? The IPPR think tank said he needs to spend an additional £33bn a year to meet the target of net-zero carbon by 2050. BMG polling for The Independent found 51 per cent of the voters are willing to be taxed more to deal with climate change. An overwhelming 73 per cent would be prepared to pay more to boost spending on the health service, while 63 per cent support the idea of a mansion tax.

PAST REMARKABLE: Trevor Phillips, the former head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has been suspended from Labour pending an investigation into allegations of Islamophobia. He is reportedly under scrutiny over past remarks including comments on Pakistani Muslim men sexually abusing children in northern British towns – with general secretary Jennie Formby suspending him to “protect the party’s reputation”. That mighty reputation must be upheld! Elsewhere in Labourland, John McDonnell has rejected leadership hopeful Lisa Nandy’s claim that senior figures around Corbyn “made it very, very clear they were going to continue to wage that factional war until the other side had been crushed”. The shadow chancellor told Andrew Marr: “I’m sorry I just don’t recognise any of that”. As the contest moves into its 178th week (or something like that), McDonnell said “let’s have shorter leadership elections... it’s a bit interminable”.

On the record

“Brexit hasn’t been done. If this was a computer game, we have got to the end of level one and level two is the hard bit.”

The European Movement UK’s Stephen Dorrell on why the group is launching a new initiative to monitor the impacts of quitting the EU.

From the Twitterati

“Who paid for Boris Johnson’s luxury Caribbean holiday? The public has a right to know, so it is right that Parliament’s sleaze watchdog is launching its first ever inquiry into a serving Prime Minister.”

Labour MP David Lammy is pleased about the parliamentary commissioner’s investigation...

“‘Sleaze’ is the right word.”

...as philosopher AC Grayling finds the description of the commissioner as a ‘sleaze’ watchdog appropriate.

Essential reading

John Rentoul, The Independent: Has the Labour Party won it for Joe Biden?

Dawn Butler, The Independent: The coronavirus is heaping yet more unpaid labour on women – and this is how

Nesrine Malik, The Guardian: Under the Tories, expertise has been replaced by a phoney test of patriotism

Amy Davidson Sorkin, New Yorker: Trump should be scared of both Biden and Sanders

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