Inside Politics: Corbyn loyalist mulls late entry in Labour leadership race

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Are the space aliens bored of Brexit? Scared of Trump? Keen to get a vote in the Labour leadership contest? It seems extraterrestials might be trying to communicate something or other after astronomers detected a mysterious radio signal coming from a nearby galaxy. Boris Johnson – on the verge of getting his Brexit bill through the Commons today – is ignoring all efforts by the life forms on the opposition benches to communicate the bill’s flaws. Westminster watchers, meanwhile, are trying to decode messages given off by the new EU Commission chief after her first contact with the PM at No 10. And Barry Gardiner is sending out signals he could make a dramatic late arrival in the Labour leadership contest. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing.

Inside the bubble

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock on what to look out for in SW1 today:

At long last, the legislation to take the UK out of the EU should complete its passage through the Commons on Thursday, ending years of wrangling and upsets. With all opposition amendments defeated over the past two days, the government’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill now faces only the formality of a third reading before going to the Lords. The ballot for private members’ bills takes place today, giving backbenchers a rare opportunity to pass a law on an issue dear to their hearts. And foreign secretary Dominic Raab, in Washington for Iran talks with secretary of state Mike Pompeo, and will later fly on to Montreal to meet his Canadian counterpart.

Daily briefing

CLASS REUNION: Nothing quite like the old school tie to break the ice at a big meeting, is there? Or so Boris Johnson thought. He told Ursula von der Leyen they had been at the same school together in Brussels, before the EU Commission’s new president politely pointed out she and Johnson were not there “at the same time”. The prime minister chuntered on anyway about bringing “a very rough game called British bulldogs” to Belgium. It looks like these two are going to be chasing each other up and down the playground for most of 2020. A No 10 spokesman said the talks had been “positive”, but the PM had insisted on a “broad free trade agreement” and no extension beyond the end of the year. Von der Leyen had earlier said it would be “impossible” to reach a comprehensive deal by the end of the year without serious compromises. If Johnson’s rivalry with old Eton chum David Cameron is anything to go by, this could be the start of a very interesting relationship.

RAAB GABS: So Donald Trump appears to have backed away from any more military action against Iran. I’m sure Dominic Raab let out a sigh of relief along with the rest of us. The foreign secretary gave strong backing to American policy after his meeting with the secretary of state, saying the US had the “right to self-defence”. Asked about the Iran nuclear deal, Raab sounded downbeat: “We’ve reached a point where non-compliance has been so acute in the most recent steps taken by Iran”. Is there a shift in wind on the UK’s official position? Earlier in the Commons, Johnson broadly backed the Trump administration’s actions. When Jeremy Corbyn questioned the legality of the Qasem Soleimani’s assassination and suggested the PM’s poodle-like toeing of the US line might have something to do with a possible trade deal with Trump, Johnson laughed off it off as a “little green men” conspiracy theory.

GARDINER’S QUESTION TIME: Shockaroonie! Barry Gardiner, the posh Scot who has become one of Corbyn’s most reliably loyal advocates on TV, has said he is “considering” a very, very late entry into the Labour leadership race. He has chosen this week to go on a trade trip to Abu Dhabi, for some odd reason – but revealed last night, from the Persian Gulf, that he will make his mind up “in the next 24 hours”. Reports on Newsnight and The Huffington Post that Gardiner was being pushed into running by Len McCluskey because the Unite boss is unhappy about Rebecca Long-Bailey’s chances were dismissed as “fake news” – by Len McCluskey. Meanwhile, Unison has endorsed Keir Starmer’s bid to succeed Corbyn. The union said the shadow Brexit secretary could get Labour “back to winning ways”.

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUSITY: In other news from Labourland, sweary leadership hopeful Emily Thornberry has promised she would get tough over antisemitism. “No more suspensions, training sessions, or forgiveness, I would just kick these scumbags out of our party,” she wrote in the Jewish News. Lisa Nandy, meanwhile, has kicked out at Katie Hopkins. The hatemongering attention seeker posted a Twitter video calling Nandy a “decent woman” – prompting the leadership candidate to tell her to “crawl back under your rock”. Elsewhere the Guido Fawkes blog had to apologise to Long-Bailey for falsely claiming her husband Steve Bailey was the millionaire heir of a chemical company (they mixed him up with a different Steve Bailey – doh!). And deputy leadership candidate Rosena Allin-Khan said she wants to start a “Ministry of Fabulousity” for “fabulous MPs with fabulous policies”.

GET IT IN THE NECK: It is now 2020, in case you hadn’t adjusted yet. But one Tory MP was spotted wearing a cravat in the Commons on Wednesday. A cravat! The neckband of the England’s eccentric elite! How extremely outrageous! But David Morris later explained there was a very good reason for doing so: he had been through some surgery and donned the cravat to cover a “grisly” scar. “There’s a wound, it’s not pretty,” Morris said. “It looks like someone stitched my head back on.” The MP (who once played in band with Rick Astley) said he had enjoyed “many compliments” from colleagues for his nifty blue and white polka dot neck-cloth. And there’s more to come – he now has a whole drawer full of cravats to choose from. Maybe he could give one to Dominic Cummings? That guy really needs to raise his sartorial game.

On the record

“That man had the blood of British troops on his hands.”

Boris Johnson on the assassinated Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.

From the Twitterati

“Have long thought that Barry Gardiner would do reasonably well ... But it is still surreal to watch the #LaveryForLeader crowd pivot hard to a Blair minister who voted for the Iraq War?!”

The New Statesman’s Patrick Maguire finds the lefty love for Gardiner amusing...

“You can tell how scared the establishment is of Barry Gardiner by how quickly the Harry and Meghan news came after his candidacy was revealed.”

...while The Bureau’s James Ball finds the whole thing amusing.

Essential reading

Caroline Lucas, The Independent: Democracy dies in darkness. I’m fighting to preserve it as Boris Johnson turns off the lights

Justine Greening, The Independent: Boris Johnson’s social mobility plan would create the change we’ve been waiting for – now he just has to deliver

Isabel Hardman, The Spectator: What’s behind Barry Gardiner’s botched ‘leadership campaign’ launch

Fred Kaplan, Slate: The Iran crisis isn’t even close to being over

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