Inside Politics – Coronavirus special: Boris Johnson faces fury over £900,000 ‘Brexit jet’

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There’s nothing quite like the roar of the crowd. Sadly, the producer of Hamilton, Mary Poppins and The Phantom Of The Opera has revealed West End shows won’t welcome back audiences until 2021. Anyone who watched the slightly sterile theatre of last night’s Premier League curtain raiser will be pleased to hear the government may allow fans to return later this year. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson will hope to find a friendly audience when he welcomes Emmanuel Macron to No 10 today, as he faces mob fury over plans to re-paint his plane in red, white and blue at the cost of almost £1m. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing during the coronavirus crisis.

Inside the bubble

Our political editor Andrew Woodock on what to look out for on Thursday:

Boris Johnson hosts Emmanuel Macron for talks during the French president’s visit to London to mark the 80th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle’s wartime speech to his Nazi-occupied nation. High on the agenda will be the UK’s current 14-day quarantine on visitors and the potential for allowing holiday makers to travel between the two countries. The PM is also likely to press Macron for concessions on fisheries in the hope of salvaging his battered ambitions for a post-Brexit trade deal.

Daily briefing

WEST END TOWN, DEAD-END WORLD: Culture secretary Oliver Dowden said he hoped football clubs would be able to bring “some fans” back for the start of next season. Dowden indicated stadiums could re-open before theatres because “people are outside … and there is more scope for social distancing”. Dowden was grilled on the theatre after producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh attacked the government for failing to offer “tangible, practical support” to the industry. The minister admitted it would be “exceptionally difficult” for theatres to resume anytime soon – even if two-metre rule was cut to one. London’s west end could see a different kind of audience this summer. Authorities are considering a plan to block off traffic routes so “continental-style” dining and boozing can happen in the streets of Soho and other areas.

PLANE STUPID: Boris Johnson is under pressure to make yet another U-turn after it emerged his government plans to spend £900,000 on repainting the plane used by the PM in the colours of the Union flag. No 10 claimed the so-called “Brexit jet” represented “value for money”, but Labour said people will “rightly question the government’s priorities”. Keir Starmer mocked Johnson at PMQs for making “three U-turns in a month” – highlighting abrupt changes on health charges, MPs’ voting procedures, and free school meal vouchers. Starmer said he was happy to “swap places” with the PM. Johnson isn’t get much love from Tory backbenchers at the moment either. Reports suggest he was given an extremely hard time at last night’s virtual 1922 committee meeting over the two-metre rule – and the number of policies MPs are having to defend before he changes his mind.

GOING, GOING, GONE: Another statue is set to fall. The governing body at the University of Oxford’s Oriel College announced it had voted in favour of removing the monument of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes. Johnson and Macron are honouring WWII heroes today. Will they find time to discuss the not-so-glorious past? They are expected to talk about travel corridors. Health secretary Matt Hancock confirmed the government is working on a list of countries that could be made exempt from current quarantine rules. Hancock had a busy day. He was spotted slapping a colleague on the back in the Commons (later apologising for “a human mistake on my part”). He also apologised for referring to Marcus Rashford as “Daniel”. More importantly, fellow health minister Lord Bethell told MPs the contact-tracing app may not be ready until the winter, and “isn’t a priority for us”.

GOING NUCLEAR: Donald Trump apparently had no idea the UK was a nuclear power, according to one of the sensational claims in John Bolton’s new book. The former national security adviser’s memoir also alleges Donald Trump asked Chinese president Xi Jingping to help him win the 2020 election by buying more US agricultural products. According to advance copies obtained by The Washington Post, Trump also told Xi building camps to “re-educate” Uighur Muslims was the right thing to do. The Department of Justice has sought an emergency order from a judge to block publication, and Trump called Fox News to complain. “This is highly classified information and he did not have approval,” he said. “He was a washed up guy. I gave him a chance.”

PRUDENT IN PERU: Peru’s government has extended a national lockdown until 30 June, as infections continue to increase in some regions. The country has now topped 240,000 total cases of coronavirus – surpassing hard-hit Italy. The country has the seventh highest number of cases globally and second highest in Latin America behind Brazil (now close to one million infections). It appears Latin America has become the epicentre of the pandemic outbreak, logging nearly four million infections and 204,000 deaths.

FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH: The Chinese capital Beijing reported 21 further cases of the coronavirus, down from 31 on Wednesday, as the city’s authorities continued to press stricter measures to contain the cluster of new infections believed to have begun at a wholesale food market. The director of China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said the recent outbreak may have happened one month earlier than thought. Gao Fu said it could have begun in late April or early May because of “a lot of asymptomatic or mild cases”, according to Chinese state media.

On the record

“If the prime minister wants to swap places I’m very happy, we could do it now.”

Keir Starmer suggests he might be better at the other dispatch box.

From the Twitterati

“£900,000 to paint the PM’s personal plane? That’s 60,000 free school meal vouchers. That’s 1 year’s salary for 36 newly qualified nurses.”

Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy suggests painting a plane is a terrible way to spend taxpayers’ money…

“How about Boris Johnson uses the plane as it is now but goes to all the meetings in Union Jack facepaint?”

…while comedian Chris Addison suggests a cheaper option.

Essential reading

Tom Peck, The Independent: Boris Johnson is back to his worst – and he is dragging Keir Starmer down with him

Joel Wayne, The Independent: I grew up poor and white in America. This is why I support reparations

Afua Hirsch, The Guardian: Boris Johnson does have a strategy on racism after all. It’s called the ‘war on woke’

David A. Graham, The Atlantic: John Bolton plumbs the depth of Trump’s depravity

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