Inside Politics: Jeremy Corbyn looks for boost after BBC bruising

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There are only 15 days until we go to the polls

“How do you do, fellow kids?” Like the cringy Steve Buscemi meme – in which the star carries a skateboard and wears a backwards baseball cap – Michael Gove and other leading Conservatives have been using Jamaican patois online in a bid to appear hip, clever and funny. I don’t think any of Gove’s “fellow kids” are fooled. The Tories have reason to be worried about their unpopularity with millennials. A spectacular, unprecedented surge saw more than 450,000 people under the age of 35 register to vote on the final day of applications. Could this be the youthquake Jeremy Corbyn – who the kids used to call “the absolute boy” – so badly needs after his bruising encounter with Andrew Neil? 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 on the campaign trail today:

Jeremy Corbyn will try to change the music to Labour’s favourite issue, the NHS, but after his refusal to apologise over antisemitism during last night’s BBC interview, he will likely face yet more questions on the subject. Boris Johnson will be in the south west, where he will promise to tackle the scourge of poor mobile phone reception in rural areas through a deal under which phone companies will share masts and infrastructure. And the SNP will launch its manifesto, with Nicola Sturgeon claiming a vote for her party is a vote to “escape Brexit” and deprive Johnson of a majority at Westminster.

Daily briefing

RATTLE AND HUM: It might not have been Prince Andrew bad, but last night’s interview with Andrew Neil did not go well for Corbyn. He was rattled by the veteran inquisitor’s questions about antisemitism, and refused four times to apologise to the Jewish community for his party’s handling of the issue. Corbyn also hummed and hawed over his spending plans, admitting Labour might have to borrow some of the £58bn needed to compensate women screwed over changes to the pension age. It wasn’t just the mainstream media delivering a verdict of “car crash”. A message send around Labour activists’ WhatsApp groups acknowledged the interview was “truly horrific … Like, awful”. The latest polls have been encouraging for Labour, however – with the last three big surveys showing Corbyn cutting Johnson’s lead. We’ll have to wait and see if the trend continues after Neil’s interrogation.

YOUTH IN REVOLT: He’s not necessarily a numbers guy, but Corbyn may wish to sooth himself this morning by looking at the extraordinary voter registration figures. The government website shows another 660,000 signed up yesterday before the deadline – the biggest spike of the campaign. Roughly two-thirds were aged between 18 and 34, the most likely demographic to vote Labour. Can they be persuaded to vote tactically? Campaigners for a second Brexit referendum have released a list of 25 key seats where tactical voting could block a Tory majority. The Vote for a Final Say group is urging voters to back Labour candidates in 17 of those constituencies and the Lib Dems in seven. But unified action is not easy to arrange. The Vote for a Final Say group is made up of former personnel from the People’s Vote campaign before there was a massive fall out.

TUNE CHANGED: The Lib Dems badly wanted to be the anti-Brexit party. But it has not gone according to plan. The party is said to have stopped campaigning on its “revoke Article 50” pledge, choosing to sing a different song about thwarting a Johnson majority. One candidate told The Times: “It hasn’t been a popular policy. People are only hearing the revoke message and say we have abandoned the People’s Vote … People don’t think it’s realistic.” The latest YouGov poll shows Jo Swinson’s outfit down three points on 13 per cent. Anthony Wells, the director of political research at YouGov, said the revoke offer “clearly hasn’t worked” and there was a two-party “squeeze” going on.

LA GAZZETTA DELLO SPOOF: The Libs Dems have also become embroiled in a series of disputes over low-brow election literature. Swinson has succeeded in her legal bid to stop an SNP leaflet which falsely claimed she had accepted a £14,000 donation from “a fracking company”. The Court of Session said the Nats’ hand-out contained “a prima facie defamatory statement” and ordered the party pay Swinson’s costs. But the Lib Dems have been accused of pushing “fake” material by publishing a mock “Gazette” newspaper in Mid Hampshire. The editor of the area’s real local paper – The Basingstoke Gazette – was outraged, accusing the party of a “flagrant attempt to manipulate voters”. The Society of Editors also offered a rebuke and said all parties should make sure campaign freesheets are “markedly different” to newspapers.

PLAGUE UPON BOTH: It’s been a horribly dispiriting 24 hours in the election campaign, with the Chief Rabbi effectively advising people not to vote Labour and the Muslim Council of Britain effectively advising people not to vote Tory. The latter organisation accused the Conservatives of “denial, dismissal and deceit” over Islamophobia. Sajid Javid rather pathetically tried to explain away Johnson’s use of the terms “bank robber” and “letterboxes” to describe hijab wearers as a “perfectly valid” attempt to “defend the rights of women”. The latest YouGov poll has found that exactly the same proportion of people – 30 per cent – think Corbyn is “personally antisemitic” and Johnson is “personally racist”. Grim isn’t it? Remarkable how low our politics has sunk since even 2017.

SPOILSPORT: Speaking of sinking low, let’s finish up this morning with Nigel Farage. The Brexit Party leader said he is thinking about spoiling his ballot paper since he can’t vote for his party in his own constituency. The rabble-rouser is distinctly un-roused by this campaign and is predicting a low turnout. “My impression of it is that this election has not taken off at all.” To be fair, plenty of candidates have been talking about the lack of interest on the doorstep – with many reporting “No canvassers” signs in the window. Let’s spare a thought for Sir Desmond Swayne, the Tory candidate for New Forest West, who complained about getting drenched in the rain waiting for doors that never open. He posted a photo of a house where nobody appeared home – apart from a sinister, solitary hand in the window. “THE CURSE OF THE DISEMBODIED HAND,” Sir Des tweeted.

On the record

“The only response to the Chief Rabbi that is moral is, ‘I’m sorry and I’ll do whatever I possibly can to win back your community’s trust’.”

Labour’s Jess Phillips offers her party’s leadership some unheeded advice.

From the Twitterati

“For those folk crying foul tonight about @afneil pulling apart Corbyn, just wait until he gets hold of Boris.”

Labour activist Tom Keeley is looking forward to the PM’s big interview on the BBC...

“Indeed. The prep has already begun.”

...prompting Andrew Neil to sound a warning for Johnson.

Essential reading

Gina Miller, The Independent: Boris Johnson is about to destroy our democracy – just because he wants to get back at me

Tom Peck, The Independent: Jeremy Corbyn’s interview with Andrew Neil was so bad it redefined the genre

Matthew Parris, The Times: This wave of prejudice and hatred baffles me

David Frum, The Atlantic: Heads, Trump wins. Tails, we all lose

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