Inside Politics: Keir Starmer to face Labour MPs over Rebecca Long Bailey sacking

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The heat seems to be getting to us. Chaotic scenes on the crowded beaches of the Jurassic coast – anti-social behaviour and drunken fights – have sparked fears the British public cannot be trusted to observe social distancing. Health secretary Matt Hancock has threatened to close Britain’s beaches if sunbathers don’t follow the rules this sweltering summer. By contrast, things have turned seriously frosty in Labourland, after ice-cool Keir Starmer sacked Rebecca Long Bailey for sharing The Independent’s interview with actress Maxine Peake. Has the left gone cold on Keir? I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to the daily Inside Politics briefing.

Inside the bubble

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock on what to look out for today:

After his dramatic dismissal of Rebecca Long Bailey, Keir Starmer is expected to meet a delegation of left-wing Labour MPs for a meeting which may determine whether his move ends up consolidating his control over the party or igniting a divisive civil war. Matt Hancock will issue a plea to anyone with coronavirus symptoms to get tested, as six new “walk through” testing sites are opened in England. And the Office for National Statistics will unveil figures showing the vulnerability of different occupations to Covid-19.

Daily briefing

ROUGH CUT? So why did Keir Starmer dismiss his shadow education secretary? Rebecca Long Bailey had described Maxine Peake as a “diamond” on Twitter, sharing The Independent’s interview with the actress in which she claimed – without foundation – that the tactics used by US police (“kneeling on George Floyd’s neck”) had learned their tactics from Israeli forces. Peake later accepted the claim was “inaccurate”, but it didn’t prevent the major political row. The Labour party leader described the claim as an “antisemitic conspiracy theory” and said restoring trust with the Jewish community was his “number one priority”. Long Bailey said she was sacked despite issuing a message making clear she didn’t endorse all views expressed by Peake – and before she got the chance to discuss it with Starmer. Momentum chief Jon Lansman was among the very many left-wingers describing her sacking as an “over-reaction”. Starmer faces questions from some of his own backbenchers today.

MORE PAPERS, PLEASE: Surprisingly, Starmer hasn’t actually called for Robert Jenrick to be sacked yet. He did say the communities secretary still had questions to answer over his role in approving Tory donor Richard Desmond’s east London property scheme. Labour has demanded Jenrick publishes additional documents on the whole affair (beyond those he released on Wednesday), and Starmer called on the country’s top civil servant Sir Mark Sedwill to investigate. “We want straight answers on this, and I think the public do – they can tell that something's wrong here,” said the Labour leader. No 10 said Boris Johnson still had full confidence in the minister. However, according to The Telegraph, plans to give the communities secretary more power over planning decisions through new “development corporations” have been put on hold because of the Jenrick-Desmond mess.

BEACHY COMES TO A HEAD: Matt Hancock wants to be like the mayor from Jaws and keep the beaches open, but warned it may not be possible if people don’t follow social distancing rules. “We do have that power,” said the health secretary, later adding: “Keep to the rules or we risk going backwards.” It came after Dorset Police and council leaders were forced to declare a major incident because of the “irresponsible” behaviour of sunseekers in Bournemouth. England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty warned that coronavirus cases “will rise again” if guidance isn’t followed. John Apter, head of the Police Federation, said Johnson’s decision to ease lockdown on a Saturday has created a “countdown to carnival” atmosphere. Jacob Rees-Mogg not-so-helpfully joked that people should drink from one of those stupidly tall glasses. “People should go back to drinking a yard of ale … they will maintain social distancing.”

COME FLY WITH ME: You will delighted to hear the £900,000 repainting of the plane used by the prime minister on trips abroad has been completed. It has a union flag on it now. If Johnson needs a new name for the RAF Voyager jet, there were plenty of suggestions on social media, including “Air Farce One” and “Clown Force One”. The PM is expected to announce the green light for “air bridge” arrangements with “dozens” of countries today – including Italy, France, Spain and Greece. Henry Smith, the Tory chair of the all-party Future of Aviation group, said that the reported decision to exclude Portugal was “curious” – suggesting the government should drop the quarantine policy for all EU countries. Meanwhile, chief negotiator David Frost has rejected a proposal seen as the best chance of avoiding a no-deal exit from the single market. Frost said the UK could not agree to giving the EU the right to impose tariffs in return for freedom from the bloc’s rules.

DON’T BELIEVE A WORD: Donald Trump and Joe Biden traded jabs at their latest president campaign rallies, with the president claiming his Democratic rival had trouble speaking. “He can’t put two sentences together.” Biden put some sentences together just fine when he demanded Trump drop a lawsuit aimed at repealing a health care law that could strip coverage from 23 million people, arguing it was a “cruel” and “callous” way of trying to bring down Barack Obama’s signature achievement. Elsewhere, the Centres for Disease Control said at least 20 million Americans may have already contracted the coronavirus – 10 times higher than the reported figure of infections.

BACK ON THE RISE: Europe has seen an uptick in weekly cases of the coronavirus over the past two weeks after restrictions were eased in many parts of the continent. The World Health Organisation (WHO) expressed concern about the first rise in months – warning of “very significant” resurgences in 11 countries (including Sweden, Ukraine, Albania, Moldova and North Macedonia). The WHO’s Europe director Dr Hans Henri Kluge said “accelerated transmission has led to very significant resurgence that if left unchecked will push health systems to the brink once again”. Nearly 20,000 new infections and over 700 coronavirus deaths are being recorded each day across the continent.

On the record

“I’ve made it my first priority to tackle antisemitism and rebuilding trust with the Jewish community is a number one priority for me.”

Keir Starmer explains why he sacked Rebecca Long Bailey

From the Twitterati

“Apparently we’re now more willing to sack our own frontbenchers than call for the sacking of government frontbenchers.”

Former Corbyn staff Matt Zarb-Cousin isn’t impressed RLB got sacked…

“Labour leader does right thing shock. Next, the Jenrick Affair.”

…but David Aaronovitch is impressed, and suggests one of those government frontbenchers could be next.

Essential reading

Sean O’Grady, The Independent: Boris Johnson cannot afford to spend political capital on Robert Jenrick

Bridget Phillipson, The Independent: The looming unemployment crisis will be devastating

Katy Balls, The Spectator: Long-Bailey’s sacking risks reopening Labour’s civil war

Tom McTague, The Atlantic: The decline of the American world

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