Inside Politics: Health minister laid low by coronavirus ahead of Budget

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Wednesday 11 March 2020 08:55 GMT

Coronavirus: PM says anyone with cold or flu symptoms could be asked to stay home

“Art is what you can get away with,” said Andy Warhol. Politics is much the same. As the Tate Modern opens a new exhibition of Warhol’s pop art masterpieces and silvery grey “fright wigs”, Rishi Sunak unveils his first major piece of work today. The youthful new chancellor has enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame so far – but he still has to survive the Budget without his hair turning a frightful shade of silver. Sunak will also be hoping to get through his big announcement with any coughs – after the first MP was diagnosed with the coronavirus. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing.

Inside the bubble

Our political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for at Westminster today:

Rishi Sunak, making his debut on the big stage, will announce measures to help businesses and workers cope with the loss of income. But his other Budget announcements, such as infrastructure projects to “level up” the country, might be eclipsed by another Cobra committee meeting on the virus and the latest health department announcements. Boris Johnson’s handling of the crisis is sure to be tested by Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.

Daily briefing

POSITIVELY SHOCKING: Nadine Dorries is the first MP to get the coronavirus. It had to happen, I suppose, but ironic it should happen to a health minister. The 62-year-old senior Tory revealed she had tested positive after falling ill and self-isolating on Friday. “Pretty rubbish but I hope I’m over the worst of it now,” she tweeted – adding she was worried about her 84-year-old mother who is staying with her and began coughing on Tuesday. Dorries is believed to have met hundreds of people in the past week, and on Thursday attended a Downing Street event alongside Boris Johnson. No 10 did not comment on whether the PM had been tested, but all health department ministers – including secretary of state Matt Hancock – will now undergo checks. Speaking of which, the NHS is to scale up the testing operation, expanding the number of people who can tested in a day from 1,500 to 10,000.

FIXING A HOLE: Rishi Sunak wants to talk about roads, railways and plugging up potholes today. But the nation will be all ears on how the Budget will help ease the economic impact of the coronavirus. Reports this morning suggest the chancellor is ready to announce the underwriting of bank loans to ensure lending to small businesses, as well as a “hardship fund” of up to £1bn. Elsewhere, the Bank of England has cut interest rates in response to the crisis. The infrastructure stuff? Well, Sunak is set to put in £600bn over the five-year parliament to “lay the foundations for a decade of growth”. The Treasury boasted it would be the “highest levels [of investment] in real terms since 1955”. There will also be £2.5bn set aside to fix 50 million potholes. You will be stunned to hear shadow chancellor John McDonnell is not impressed. The Labour man said the pothole thing was part of a “gimmicky grab-bag of projects”. Aren’t all Budgets just gimmicky grab-bags of projects?

ROLLING ON DOWN THE HUAWEI: Well, well, well. Boris Johnson might have thought his thumping election win would have stopped backbench revolt – but there was a significant rebellion in the Commons over the Huawei’s participation in the 5G network. Despite flattering them with intelligence briefings, 38 Tory rebels backed the amendment to end the Chinese tech giant’s role by the end of 2022. Not quite enough to defeat the government, but not far away. Bob Seeley, one of the leading anti-Huaweists, said he was “surprised” by the number of whip defiers. “It was a strong first showing,” he said. Several Conservative MPs are thought to be ready to ready to join the revolt when the 5G legislation returns to the Commons. A desperate-sounding culture secretary Oliver Dowden hinted at future concessions, saying the message had been “heard loud and clear”.

SOYA THINK YOU CAN DANCE: Did you know vegetarians and vegans are ruining the planet? Tory MP Harriet Baldwin suggested there’s really no need to reduce our meat consumption to halt climate change because non-meat eaters produce emissions by “flying in soya beans from Brazil”. The bizarre claim came at a session of the Commons treasury committee. There was a bit of dry banter over at the public administration committee – where cabinet secretary Sir Mark Sedwill was asked whether the government could benefit from more “weirdos and misfits”. He replied: “Anything that widens the aperture of public service … is a good thing.” Sir Mark described Sir Phillip Putnam’s resignation at the Home Office as “regrettable” – and revealed former Brexit department officials are now working on the coronavirus response because of their experience with no-deal planning. Possibly not as reassuring as it should be.

STRAIGHT TALKER: Lisa Nandy is the only Labour leadership candidate to have generated headlines over the 24 hours, after calling on Johnson to extend the post-Brexit transition period to help the nation get through the coronavirus. She said the government had “boxed itself into a corner” over the December 2020 deadline. Nandy also clashed with Piers Morgan over trans rights on GMB. Mr Obnoxious repeatedly asked her for a “straight answer” on whether she felt it was “unfair” for athletes who now identify as female to compete in women’s sport. Accusing him of pitting women’s rights against trans rights, Nandy said: “I’m giving you a straight answer, I’m saying you are setting up a straw man in order to pit one group against another ... You need to stop it.”

JOLTING JOE: Young whippersnapper Joe Biden is speeding ahead in the 2020 Democratic race to take on Donald Trump for the presidency. The 77-year-old seized the crucial state of Michigan, following victories in Missouri and Mississippi on so-called “Big Tuesday” which push him well ahead of his elder Bernie Sanders (78-years-old) in the delegate count. In a late-night speech Biden appeared to assume he had already won his party’s nomination, thanking Sanders and his supporters for their “tireless energy and their passion”, claiming they “share a common goal” in beating Trump. I’m not sure Sanders or his supporters are ready to give up just yet, Joe.

On the record

“Keep safe and keep washing those hands, everyone.”

Nadine Dorries sends a message after testing positive for the coronavirus.

From the Twitterati

“After a great deal of discussion and deliberation I have signed, and am backing, Ian Duncan Smith’s amendment to the Telecoms Bill.”

Tory MP Anthony Mangnall, one of the 2019 intake, rebels over Huawei…

“There is something quite funny – albeit for a very small audience – in the Conservatives managing to replace Sarah Wollaston in Totnes with a nice normal former spad, nothing unorthodox or idiosyncratic there, only for him to himself start rebelling three months in.”

…and the New Statesman’s Patrick Maguire finds it amusing.