Inside Politics: Gavin Williamson offers ‘safety net’ over A-level results

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Keeping cool? Torrential rain, thunder and lightning are set to strike Britain over the next day or two – and should hopefully help ease this awful heat. The storm clouds are only beginning to gather over this year’s A-levels results. Boris Johnson’s ministers face an intense spell of high pressure after the Scottish government changed direction and promised to upgrade pupils’ marks. It looks like the tempest north of the border has panicked education secretary Gavin Williamson into a last-gasp change – allowing English pupils to use mock exam results if they’re unhappy with their grades.

Inside the bubble

Our political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for today:

The economy and schools will dominate. The ONS will officially confirm the UK is in recession when it publishes the GDP figures for April to June. The statistics for the month of June will be studied closely for clues about how quickly the economy will bounce back. And Labour leader Keir Starmer will meet teachers and parents in Wakefield as he calls for a fairer exam grading system ahead of tomorrow’s A-level results.

Daily briefing

GRADE EXPECTATIONS: Spooked by Scotland’s mess, Gavin Williamson has made a late change to this year’s A-levels. His “safety net” means English pupils will be able to improve Thursday’s grades if mock exam grades (or Autumn resits) are better. Not every is impressed. ASCL head teachers’ union boss Geoff Barton thinks it only adds to the chaos. “Introducing at the eleventh hour a system in which mock exam results trump calculated grades beggars belief.” It follows the huge U-turn made by the Scottish government – upgrading tens of thousands of pupils’ marks, which will now be based on teacher estimates alone. One cabinet minister told The Times that England would have to “inevitably” follow suit and drop the predictive algorithm based on schools’ past performance. Thatcher’s former education secretary Lord Baker called it a “right bloody muddle”.

SMOOTHING THE WATERS: Immigration minister Chris Philp claimed French officials have agreed on a “joint operational plan” to make the English Channel “unviable” to migrants. Any details on how it might work? Nope. Philp said he couldn’t discuss “operational” stuff. Other developments: Priti Patel’s team have fired back at Ben and Jerry’s after the ice cream company criticised their anti-migrant rhetoric. A Home Office source said the home secretary was happy to upset “the social media team for a brand of overpriced junk food”. A letter sent by a 25-strong group of Tory MPs to Patel complaining that migrants were “invading” the country was denounced for lacking “humanity and decency”. And our new Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, Dan O’Mahoney, will be holding further talks in France next week. God knows how you translate that job title.

SIGNIFICANT SHRINKAGE: Well, we knew it was coming: the UK has officially fallen into recession. The economy shrank 20.4 per cent between April and June, compared with the first three months of 2020, according to the ONS. Labour frontbenchers wasted no time in shaking their heads. “We’ve already got the worst excess death rate in Europe – now we’re on course for the worst recession too,” said shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds. Elsewhere, the NHS Confederation has offered the strongest warning yet about the looming crisis in the health service – saying we face a “potentially catastrophic winter” if coronavirus cases creep back up at the traditional time of great pressure. Director Dr Layla McCay said staff were already “exhausted and overstretched”.

STILTED OVER STILTON: There’s a stinky, Stilton-shaped wedge in the post-Brexit trade deal talks between the UK and Japan – after trade secretary Liz Truss insisted on making blue cheese part of the negotiations. The two countries had reached “consensus” in all major areas – but the consensus appears to have gone soft and crumbly over Truss’s reported demand that British blue-veined cheese makers get better terms than those agreed in Japan’s recent deal with the EU. Elsewhere, Labour is claiming that Boris Johnson’s decision to merge the aid department with the Foreign Office could cost around £50m – diverting money away from the fight against coronavirus. The party pointed to a report on the cost of creating and dismantling Whitehall departments.

ONLY FOOLS RUSH IN: Like the original Sputnik satellite, the Russians have stunned the world by announcing the world’s first approved-for-use vaccine for Covid-19 (named Sputnik V). Vladimir Putin said it worked and it was safe – revealing his own daughter had already been inoculated. Officials said they plan to start mass vaccination in October, despite the fact human trials are still going on. There is scepticism – even hostility. Professor Francois Balloux of University College London’s Genetics Institute said his decision to approve a vaccine so quickly was “reckless and foolish” – and “unethical” to boot. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it hadn’t received enough info to evaluate it.

CHOSEN ONE: Joe Biden has picked senator Kamala Harris as his running mate – the first black woman to run as vice president on a major political party’ ticket. Biden described her as “a fearless fighter for the little guy”. The former attorney general for the California has been at pains to call for police reform amid the Black Lives Matter protests, describing herself as a “progressive prosecutor” in a bid to win over liberals worried about her previous role in law enforcement. What does Donald Trump make of it? He’s pretending to be pleased, describing Harris as “my number one draft pick”. The president added: “She’s a person that’s told many, many stories that weren’t true”.

On the record

“I have listened and the message is clear. They don’t just want an apology, they want to see this fixed and that is exactly what I will now do.”

Scottish education secretary John Swinney promises results will be changed.

From the Twitterati

“Hey @PritiPatel we think the real crisis is our lack of humanity for people fleeing war … People cannot be illegal. And, it is enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention that crossing a border ‘illegally’ should not impact your asylum claim.”

Ben and Jerry’s ice cream offers some advice to the home secretary…

“Can I have a large scoop of statistically inaccurate virtue signalling with my grossly overpriced ice cream please.”

…leaving Tory chairman James Cleverly angry. Or hungry. Or both.

Essential reading

Chris Riotta, The Independent: By choosing Kamala Harris, Biden just torpedoed Trump's top election tactic

Temi Mwale, The Independent: Unless we overhaul the system, racist policing will be here to stay

Marina Hyde, The Guardian: Nigel Farage’s ‘crisis’ in the Channel is a second wave of nonsense

David Axelrod, CNN: Why Kamala Harris won Biden’s running mate contest

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