Inside Politics: Joy for England as pressure mounts on Johnson over lockdown lifting

Scientists are urging PM to change course on bonfire of restrictions, writes Matt Mathers

(PA)

There will be plenty of hangovers across the country this morning! England have beaten Denmark and face Italy in the Euro final at Wembley on Sunday, in what is likely to be a fiercely contested battle. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson is coming under increasing pressure from scientists to change course on lockdown lifting. And a Labour MP has branded ministers “spineless” for defending breaches of Covid rules.

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Inside the bubble

Dido Harding, the former Test and Trace chief and Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer, appear before the Public Accounts Committee this morning. Both will give evidence on the Test and Trace system, taken over by the latter in April. The Lords debates improving women’s health outcomes this afternoon.

What to watch out for

• Chancellor Rishi Sunak on ITV’s Good Morning Britain at 8.30am
• Shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Reynolds on Times Radio at 8.40am

Daily Briefing

IT’S COMING HOME: There were jubilant scenes on the streets of London and across the country last night as Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions roared into their first final since 1966. His side’s performance wasn’t as swashbuckling as the 4-0 victory over Ukraine last time out, but it was enough: semi-finals are for winning. England now face Italy in the final on Sunday. It was quite something to watch streets lined with people from all walks of life celebrating together, after what has been an incredibly difficult year for everyone. Football can be a great unifier and what a lift it would be if, after years of bitter Brexit divisions, England can go on to win. Good luck.

SEEN: Johnson and Keir Starmer have been accused of trying to latch onto the team’s success for their own ends, and both were keen to display their England credentials before and after the game. The PM tweeted a picture of himself in a ‘Boris 10’ shirt en route to watching the match. “Tonight @England played their hearts out. What a fantastic performance from Gareth Southgate’s squad. Now to the final. Let’s bring it home,” he tweeted afterwards. Starmer posteda simple “ItsComingHome”at full-time. To be fair to Starmer, at least he is a genuine football fan. Johnson, on the other hand, is more of a rugby man. Praising Southgate in his post-match analysis, former Manchester United defender Gary Neville had a message for politicians of all stripes: “The standards of leaders in this country in the last couple years has been poor. And looking at that man there that’s everything a leader should be: respectful, humble, telling the truth”.

MOUNTING EVIDENCE: Day after day, the data continues to trickle in. And it points only in one direction: rising cases, hospitalisations and deaths. It’s not been a week since the PM announced that most Covid rules are being scrapped 19 July, but the calls for him to change course grow louder by the day. A global coalition of over 100 scientists and doctors today warns the bonfire of restrictions is a “dangerous and unethical experiment”. The letter – published in the medical journalThe Lancet– claims ministers’ strategy amid surging cases of the Delta variant “provides fertile ground for the emergence of vaccine-resistant” variants. Johnson’s axing of face masks is a decision that has baffled many, and one picked up on in today’s letter: “We know that masks are effective in stopping the spread, so it is nonsensical and dangerous for the government to abandon compulsory mask-wearing in indoor public settings, such as public transport, on July 19th.” The warning comes as more young people avoid getting inoculated. First jabs have almost halved in two weeks as demand dries up, according to today’sTimes. The paper says government scientists accept the country is “close to maximum take-up”.

SPINELESS: A Labour MP tore strips off the PM in the Commons over his – and other ministers – for defending breaches of Covid rules. A visibly emotional Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesiattacked government “hypocrisy”as he spoke out about his own pain in not being allowed to comfort his loved ones at funerals. Singling out Dominic Cummings’s regulation-busting trip to Barnard Castle, the MP for Slough said “imagine our collective disgust when in order to curry favour with the prime minister’s chief adviser, we see sycophantic, spineless, hypocritical government ministers lining up to defend the indefensible – saying ‘it’s time to move on’.” He demanded an apology from the PM, who replied he was “deeply, deeply sorry” for lives lost during the pandemic.

GREEN LIGHT FOR AMBER LIST: Ministers are today expected to outline plans for fully vaccinated Britons to travel to amber list countries without having to quarantine on coming back home. Right on cue, former PM and Labour leader Tony Blair has weighed in with what seems like another sensible idea. He says that global travel requires a global solution and calls on the PM and other leaders to allow the World Health Organisation to create a global standard for Covid travel rules to revive the sector. “The world cannot begin to recover from Covid without people being able to move around again. This can only be done through a common global solution,” Blair says. Elsewhere, theTelegraph reports that the green list status of Spain’s Balearic islands is in jeopardy due to a rise in cases being blamed on Spanish students visiting from the mainland.

NO VOTE: Boris Johnson has falsely claimed that MPs were offered a vote on his huge overseas aid cuts – yet “mysteriously” chose not to take it up. An “estimates” vote was held last week – but this was on all government spending and could not be used to reverse cuts that will mean “thousands of children will die”, Tory rebels are protesting. Voting down the estimates – effectively the Foreign Office’s budget – would have left the key department with no funds at all, it was suggested. Nevertheless, the prime minister told the Commons: “The House was given a chance to vote on this matter on the estimates vote, but it mysteriously chose not to.”

WHAT A WASTE: Successive governments have been accused of wasting a decade by failing to reform social care, with a system that remains “chronically underfunded” and vacancies up almost 80 per cent. The damning verdict from the Care and Support Alliance, representing 76 charities, comes 10 years on from the Dilnot Commission published its review of social care, which recommended a series of reforms.

BRADY BUNCH: Sir Graham Brady was all smiles yesterday after his re-election as chair of the Conservative 1922 Committee. The backbench trouble-maker saw off a challenge by Downing Street to oust him from the influential role, which he has held since 2010. After beating No 10’s favoured candidate, ex-minister Helen Wheeler, the Tory grandee thanked the “vote of confidence” from colleagues who are not on the government payroll. Why does his re-election matter? Conservative rules state that when 15 per cent of MPs write to the chair a leadership challenge is triggered. And because they are guaranteed anonymity in doing so, only Sir Graham, the Altrincham and Sale West MP, knows how many angry MPs have put pen to paper. The committee has had a hand in consigning a few prime ministers to the scrap heap of history. While there is no danger to Johnson’s position, the re-election of Sir Graham, a vocal lockdown critic, shows he commands strong support on the backbenches. And the government faces a number of potentially difficult votes down the line, on issues such as planning.

On the record

“I’m so proud of the players. It’s an incredible occasion to be a part of – we knew it wouldn’t be straightforward. The most pleasing thing is that we’ve given our fans and our nation a fantastic night, and the journey continues on for another four days. There’s one more massive hurdle to try to conquer.”

England manager Gareth Southgate after his side’s 2-1 win over Denmark

From the Twitterati

“Quite a moment from Labour’s Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi in the chamber just now. You can’t practice that, it was pure anger and hurt. He called on the PM to apologise for his ‘hypocritical’ ministers and advisors while the public stuck to Covid rules.”

Sky News political correspondent Kate McCann on Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi’s emotional Commons intervention.

“Johnson really doesn’t like women asking him questions, does he? Absolutely blathering now to @carolinenokes... serious questions, and his tone and demeanour indicate he has not given the issue a moment’s thought, and doesn’t see why he should have to.”

Ex-Labour spinner Alastair Campbell on the PM’s response to a Commons question on gender equality, from Tory MP and former immigration minister Caroline Nokes.

Essential reading

• Salma Shah, The Independent: No decision can prevent every Covid death – we simply cannot postpone our lives indefinitely
• Andrew Grice, The Independent: Johnson and Starmer are jumping on the England bandwagon – but they need to take lessons from the team
• Rafael Behr, The Guardian: Boris Johnson cries ‘freedom’ to fill the void where his leadership should be
• Brendan O’Neill, The Spectator: Cancelling to Kill A Mockingbird is a step too far