Inside Politics: Russia Report to reveal political interference in UK

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Kanye West’s publicist insists there are precious truths in the wild stuff the rapper says. “Let YE be YE. That’s when the gospel comes,” the PR manager said of the star’s decision to share private family business at his bizarre presidential rally. “Surely the world does not want to miss this blessing”. What precious truths and private family business will the Russia report reveal today? What wild stuff will emerge? MPs on the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) finally lay bare the extent of Moscow-linked interference in British democracy. You do not want to miss this blessing.

Inside the bubble

Chief political commentator John Rentoul on what to look out for today:

The main event is the publication of the Russia report at a “virtual press event” at 10.30 – clashing with a triple bill of Chris Whitty, Jenny Harries and Jonathan Van-Tam, the chief medical officer for England and his deputies, at the health select committee. In the Commons, Lib Dem MP Daisy Cooper has been granted an urgent question about the BBC (licence fee and job losses) and home secretary Priti Patel will make a statement on the Windrush review.

Daily briefing

MOSCOW RULES OKAY: So just how ambitious has Russia been? Well, Moscow attempted to manipulate the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, according to a pre-publication leak in The Telegraph this morning. The ISC report is expected to describe it as “first post-Soviet interference in a western democratic election”. Those hoping for similar dirt on the Brexit vote may be disappointed. There’s said to be no direct evidence of any interference in 2016, and Leave.EU funder Arron Banks has already been told by the committee’s secretariat he “is not the subject of criticism”. The 50-page report is set to include details of Russia’s use of social media and cyber-espionage to disrupt political life. Although the document will also cover political donations, it’s thought unlikely it will name names. Wouldn’t you like to know what’s redacted?

I’LL BE WATCHING YOU: China has now responded to the government’s suspension of the UK’s extradition treaty with Hong Kong. The Chinese ambassador in London Liu Xiaoming warned ominously that Britain “will bear the consequences”. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab had his own warning about the way the Beijing-enforced national security law will be enforced. “I would just say this: the UK is watching and the whole world is watching.” Labour leader Keir Starmer backed the extradition move, but said the government should “go further” and bring in sanctions against Chinese officials involved in human rights abuses. Meanwhile, TikTok said there was “zero proof” the Chinese government has access to users’ data after Iain Duncan Smith said the social media firm was “as much a threat to Britain” as Huawei.

LANCASHIRE HOT SPOT: Good news and bad news on the coronavirus. Infections in Blackburn with Darwen have nearly doubled to 123, with the Lancashire borough overtaking Leicester as the worst-hit area in the country. The region’s public health boss said a local lockdown would be “the very last resort”. Hopes of a vaccine by the end of the year have been boosted by the news that the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford is safe and triggers an immune response. The study showed 90 per cent of people developing antibodies after one dose. Elsewhere, those on the frontline of the crisis are among 900,000 public sector workers getting an above-inflation pay rise. Doctors will receive a 2.8 per cent bump. Rishi Sunak said recent months had “underlined what we always knew … public sector workers make a vital contribution”.

DROP IT LIKE ITS FRAUGHT: Chief nurse Ruth May told MPs she was “dropped” from a Downing Street press conference in June after criticising Dominic Cummings’ lockdown trip (as first reported by The Independent). “It is indeed true I was dropped from the briefing, but that happens to many of my colleagues as well,” she told the public accounts committee. Elsewhere in parliament, the committee on standards has recommended a wider range of punishments for rule-breaking MPs – including bans on foreign trips and anger management classes. The management of parliament’s mouse problem is on Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s mind. He’s introduced a cat called Patrick to catch the blighters. “So far he is earning his keep,” Sir Lindsay revealed.

ALL ABOUT THE RATINGS: Desperate to do something about his terrible poll numbers, Donald Trump hopes TV ratings can start a turnaround. The president will resume daily public briefings about his administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. “We had a lot of people watching, record numbers watching in the history of cable television,” he said. Trump has also threatened to send more federal officers to US cities to quell ongoing protests, claiming violence in Chicago is “worse than Afghanistan”. It follows a row with officials in Portland after the president sent federal officers in to deal with demonstrators. “They’re afraid of these people,” said Trump. “That’s the reason they don’t want us to help them.”

BUMPY RIDE: It was a long, gruelling journey, but EU leaders have finally arrived at an agreement on a £1.64 trillion budget and coronavirus recovery fund. The 27 leaders reportedly bumped elbows and made jokes as they approved the huge, unprecedented package of grants and loans. Perhaps it was delirium after several days of little sleep. A consensus was reached on a £677bn fund made up in loans and grants to the countries hit hardest by the virus. “An extraordinary situation demands extraordinary efforts,” said the German chancellor Angela Merkel, while French president Emmanuel Macron added: “There is no such thing as a perfect world, but we have made progress.”

On the record

“I have been exonerated … of all the crazy conspiracy theories. It is time to move on.”

Leave.EU funder Aaron Banks responds to news he won’t be named in the Russia report.

From the Twitterati

“Downing Street has serious questions to answer over dropping the chief nurse … It seems they are happy to silence the science when it suits them.”

Lib Dem MP Layla Moran gently suggests why Ruth May was dropped…

“We follow the science. Except when the science points out that we’re lying charlatans.”

…while actor and writer David Schneider says it more directly.

Essential reading

Tom Peck, The Independent: We’re sleepwalking into a new cold war with China

Berenice Langdon, The Independent: My patients are so worried by Covid they’re dying to save the NHS – literally

Hugo Rifkind, The Times: Our weird politics can’t all be blamed on Russia

Ezra Klein, Vox: Joe Biden is winning by refusing to play into Trump’s hands

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