Inside Politics: Boris Johnson faces deluge of dissent over flood defences

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The show must go on. Elton John was forced to cut short a gig in New Zealand after falling ill with pneumonia – but he’ll be back as soon as his voice heals. Daniel Craig’s publicity tour of China has been scrapped because of the coronavirus – but he’ll be touring as much of the globe as possible to promote No Time to Die. Boris Johnson would no doubt dearly love to rest his voice, ditch his schedule and quarantine himself off in the Caribbean, but the PM has a mounting in-tray of problems to manage. He has to finalise the Budget, decide on a negotiating position for EU trade talks, and show he’s on top of another flooding crisis. No time to slouch. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s Inside Politics newsletter.

Inside the bubble

Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick on what to look out for today:

With the Commons in recess, attention will turn to Boris Johnson’s EU adviser David “Frosty” Frost (they’re nothing if not imaginative with nicknames in No 10), who is making a rare public appearance delivering a lecture at the Université Libre de Bruxelles tonight. He will underline the UK’s determination to strike a tariff-free trade deal while breaking free of EU rules. A British Retail Consortium report warns of higher food prices and empty shelves next year, a threat that definitely never appeared on the side of a Vote Leave bus.

Daily briefing

SANGBAGS AND GLADRAGS: Will Boris Johnson have to stick on his wellies, zip up his Barbour jacket and head north this week? Quite probably. Will he get shouted at? Quite probably. There’s growing anger over the nation’s flood defences after Storm Dennis wreaked havoc across much the country – hitting Yorkshire and south Wales particularly badly. The Tory MP for Shipley, Philip Davies, said “precious little” had changed since the 2015 floods. He demanded the government “pull its finger out”. Other MPs in the north have called for a redistribution in resources after analysis showed that one third of the £5bn allocated for defences up until 2026 is going on London and the south east. Tim Farron, the Lib Dem MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, said it was “odd” so little was going to the north. If he isn’t sloshing around in floodwater, the PM will meet with new chancellor Rishi Sunak at the Chevening country retreat on Tuesday for a crash course on spending plans, following an admission next month’s budget could be delayed.

WEIRD SCIENCE: When Dominic Cummings told us he was hiring “misfits and weirdos” obsessed with data and science at No 10, we didn’t realise how weird and misfitted they might be. There’s growing pressure on Johnson to step in and sack one of the recent hires – a Cummings fan boy called Andrew Sabisky – after it emerged he had advocated giving children the mind-altering drug modafinil even if it meant “a dead kid once a year”. So far, so terrible. Sabisky has also been found to have advocated mandatory birth control to prevent “a permanent underclass”, and compared women’s sport to the Paralympics. Some Tory special advisors have said they would refuse to attend meetings with him. “He must of course be removed,” said Labour’s Cabinet Office spokesman Jon Trickett. The SNP’s Ian Blackford hasn’t forgotten how weird last week’s reshuffle was. He wants Cummings to appear before the Liaison Committee to explain No 10’s power grab over Treasury advisers. It’s highly doubtful Dom will play ball.

TRADE WILL TEAR US APART, AGAIN: We’re lucky our EU neighbours have been relatively patient and pleasant with us over Brexit. Not for much longer. “I think that on trade issues … we are going to rip each other apart,” French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told a conference in Munich. Emmanuel Macron’s government is said to want a tough stance on alignment, demanding the UK adopts Brussels standards on workers’ rights and environmental rules. Some Tories have convinced themselves Johnson will cave in later this year. “Despite everything, I think that close alignment is still the most likely outcome of this,” one Remain-backing former cabinet minister told The Independent. “I’ve no doubt the prime minister will huff and puff … but just like last year he will be ready to fold at the last minute.” We’re not the only ones ravaged by internal conflict. EU countries are arguing over the bloc’s upcoming budget. “We are fighting like ferrets in a sack,” said one diplomat.

TATTOO YOU: Keir Starmer is large, he contains multitudes. He cannot be pinned down by your silly labels and badges. The Labour leadership frontrunner said he was neither a Blairite nor a Corbynista. “I don’t need someone else’s name tattooed on my head to make a decision.” Starmer criticised Corbyn’s refusal to back Remain in a second Brexit referendum, but kept the lefties happy by complaining about how badly the departing boss was treated by the media. Rebecca Long Bailey has called for a change in equality law so trans woman have a right to enter female-only spaces. Lisa Nandy, meanwhile, is in a spot of bother over an article she wrote while at Newcastle University. Many are unhappy about the 2001 piece in which she raised concern that “the LGB [lesbian, gay, bisexual] society for example, doesn’t accept straight members but we still have to pay for it, something many find unacceptable”. Nandy hasn’t apologised, however. She said “the suggestion I would do anything other than encourage greater understanding and tolerance is daft and offensive”.

FRIENDS LIKE THESE: We’re feuding with the Europeans, squabbling with the Americans – and now we’re bickering with the Australians too. A group of senior Aussie politicians have cancelled a trip to the UK as the row over Johnson’s decision to allow Huawei a role in the 5G network gets worse. They’re not happy about letter sent by British high commissioner Victoria Treadell (described as a “dressing down” letter) to the head of the Australian security and intelligence committee. Treadell was ticked off that details of Dominic Raab’s meeting with security officials in Canberra last week found their way into the Sydney Morning Herald. Let’s fight – but let’s do so in private, seems to have been the general message of her letter. Meanwhile, Grant Shapps denied knowledge of talks with China over an offer to help build HS2 high-speed rail. According to a letter seen by Building magazine, China's state rail company wrote to HS2 Ltd to claim it could deliver the whole high-speed rail thing “for less money”.

On the record

“Destroying the BBC wasn’t in our manifesto and would be cultural vandalism.”

Former Tory Home Office minister Damian Green on reports No 10 wants to scrap the licence fee and axe Beeb radio stations.

From the Twitterati

“Continuity McDonnell. I am pleased that the Labour leadership candidates are largely following my policies but replicating my curtains as well. Demonstrates total hegemony.”

John McDonnell is delighted Keir Starmer’s naff floral curtains were seen in his Sky News interview…

“He needs a friendly, unthreatening red jumper to really complete the weekend down-the-line look.”

…before left-wing journalist James Butler points out what’s missing.

Essential reading

John Rentoul, The Independent: Keir Starmer may find it surprisingly easy to unite the Labour Party

Lisa Nandy, The Independent: I am all for nationalisation and collective ownership – but Labour must win back power first

Clare Foges, The Times: How Rishi Sunak can give his budget a boost

Derek Thompson, The Atlantic: The Democratic Party of 2020 is broken

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