Inside Politics: West says Donbass shelling was ‘false flag’ operation

UK and US believe Russia attack likely within next few days as PM describes Donbass shelling as a ‘spurious provocation’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Carl Recine/PA) (PA Wire)

Batten down the hatches! People are being warned to stay home today as Storm Eunice smashes the UK with winds of up to 100mph in the worst affected areas. A rare Met Office red warning for wind in place for coastal areas in South West England and southern Wales has been extended to cover swathes of South East England, with London “very likely” to see gales of at least 60mph. Meanwhile, the war clouds hanging over Ukraine continue to darken following the shelling of a preschool in the disputed region of Donbass, which the west says was a “false flag” operation by the Kremlin as it seeks justification for war. Elsewhere, Jacob Rees-Mogg claims there is little evidence Brexit has affected trade, the Met Police has apologised for a tweet criticising London mayor Sadiq Khan and Priti Patel is under fire for a new Border Force hire.

Inside the bubble

Parliament is in recess.

Coming up:

– Security minister Damian Hinds on ITV GMB at 8.40am

– Shadow justice secretary Steve Reed on LBC at 8.50am

Daily Briefing

FALSE FLAG OPERATION: Both the US and UK say Russia will manufacture justification for attacking Ukraine, with Boris Johnson yesterday accusing the Kremlin of a “false flag” operation after a preschool was shelled in the disputed Donbass region. Western intelligence chiefs fear a larger-scale attack is still imminent. The prime minister described the events as a “spurious provocation”. In a speech while visiting Kiev, Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, announced a “trilateral partnership” with Ukraine and Poland, saying it would look to “intensify work on defence and security, sanctions, energy security and countering disinformation”. Truss travels to Munich today for a security conference and will be joined there by Johnson over the weekend. The PM is scheduled to speak with US president Joe Biden and other world leaders on a call later today. We’ll have all the latest updates on our liveblog.

BREXIT BENEFITS?: Jacob Rees-Mogg, the member for the 18th century, is back in the news after claiming that Brexit has been a success, adding there is very little evidence to show the vote to leave the EU is damaging trade – despite ONS figures in black and white displaying the exact opposite. UK exports to EU countries shrunk by a record £20bn in just 20 months, the ONS said. “I think Brexit has been extremely beneficial for the country,” Rees-Mogg, who was appointed to a new role as Brexit opportunities minister last week, said. “I think the evidence that Brexit has caused trade drops is few and far between.”

‘UNACCEPTABLE’: The fall out over the resignation of Met Police chief Dame Cressida Dick continues. The country’s biggest force has said it was “unacceptable” for one of its official accounts to tweet criticism of Labour’s London mayor Sadiq Khan, who called for Dick to quit after she failed to convince him she could turn things around at Scotland Yard following a number of extremely damaging and high-profile scandals in recent months. On Thursday, the verified Met Police Taskforce Twitter account retweeted a tweet which read: “If the Mayor of London doesn’t understand that the process for sacking officers is independent of chief constables...well that’s a bit of a problem.” The Met Police account quote-tweeted the original and added the words “Exactly this”. The tweet has since been deleted and was described as “unacceptable” by a spokesman for the force.

LONDONGRAD: British property worth £1.5bn has been bought by Russians accused of corruption or with Kremlin links, according to new figures fuelling criticism of so-called “Londongrad”. Anti-corruption campaigners unveiled research showing that 28 per cent of that property is on the doorstep of the government and parliament in Westminster, with Kensington and Chelsea another hotspot. There are 2,189 companies registered in the UK and its offshore tax havens allegedly linked to Russian money-laundering and corruption cases – involving funds worth £82bn – Transparency International said. Foreign secretary Truss has rushed through legislation which she says will target Russian oligarchs in London, if Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine goes ahead.

‘PENNY PINCHING’: Opposition MPs have accused Johnson’s government of “penny pinching” after a failure to deliver the 7,000 air purifiers it promised to help make schools Covid-safe, ahead of pupils returning from their half term break. During the Christmas holidays ministers said the machines would be sent to schools to help improve ventilation in classrooms, but hundreds are still missing in action. Government scientists have said since May 2020 that improvements to ventilation in indoor settings like schools are essential to stopping the spread of the disease. Robin Walker, the schools minister, said “the majority of rooms that require air cleaning units now have them, with over 6,000 already delivered and more deliveries taking place every day.”

BORDER FORCE ROW: Priti Patel, the home secretary, is coming under fire after hiring an Australian asylum tsar to review the UK Border Force agency. The appointment of Alexander Downer, the former Australian high commissioner to the UK – one of the architects of Australia’s offshoring policy – was hailed by the Home Office for his “wealth of relevant experience”, adding he would act as an “independent reviewer”. The Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents Border Force staff, called Downer’s appointment “deeply concerning”. “He was a prime architect of Australia’s inhumane immigration policy and his support for push backs recently make him a wholly inappropriate choice to lead this review,” a spokesperson told The Independent.

On the record

“A kindergarten was shelled in what we are taking to be – well, we know – was a false flag operation designed to discredit the Ukrainians, designed to create a pretext, a spurious provocation for Russian action.”

PM accuses Kremlin of false flag operation.

From the Twitterati

“More than five years have passed since president-elect Trump told interviewer Michael Gove that a UK-US trade deal would happen ‘very quickly’”.

Financial Times politics correspondent Jim Pickard notes that a UK-US trade deal still hasn’t happened.

Essential reading

• Adam Forrest, The Independent: Jacob Rees-Mogg has a habit of waving away dark Brexit events
• Malcolm Turnball, The Independent: Fossil fuels aren’t the answer to the global energy crisis – but this might be
• James Forsyth, The Times: How the west can defeat the Xi-Putin axis
• Emma Brockes, The Guardian: My five-letter reaction to the New York Times taking over Wordle? I quit

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