Inside Politics: Boris Johnson faces mounting anger over Brexit turmoil

Leaders in Northern Ireland are seething at No 10 – with no end to disruption in sight, writes Adam Forrest

(REUTERS)

We may have to start worrying about the son. Donald Trump Jr has compared Joe Biden to the baddie from Disney’s The Lion King. “Remember in the Lion King when Scar cheated to win the title as king?” he asked Trump supporters. Which means Don Jr sees himself as Simba. Boris Johnson appears to have cartoons on the brain too. The PM conjured up images from The Mysterious Cities of Gold when talking about Brexit – promising British fishing fleets that “El Dorado” lies ahead. He does realise it never existed, doesn’t he?

Inside the bubble

Our policy correspondent Jon Stone on what to look out for today:

Health secretary Matt Hancock will be answering an urgent question on the vaccine roll-out in the Commons. Then education secretary Gavin Williamson – doing the morning broadcast round – will be setting out the government’s “Skills for Jobs” white paper. The government says it wants to put an end to the “illusion” a university degree is the only way to find a good job.

Daily briefing

A NEW DAY HAS WOKEN, HAS IT NOT? Boris Johnson congratulated Joe Biden on his inauguration, referring to his arrival at the White House as a “step forward” for the US after “a bumpy period”. We should find out later if the PM has earned one of Biden’s first calls to foreign leaders. Keir Starmer said the US was beginning a new chapter – “one of hope, decency, compassion and strength” – while Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy called Biden a “woke guy”. Asked if he thought Biden was “woke”, Johnson panicked at the idea of offending Biden and said: “There’s nothing wrong with being woke.” Diplomatic relations with Brussels isn’t going too well right now. A row has broken out with the EU over the UK’s refusal to give ambassador Joao Vale de Almeida the full diplomatic status granted to national ambassadors. “It seems petty,” one EU source told the BBC. “What does it say about the UK, about how much the British signature is worth?”

SOME DAY WE WILL FIND THE CITIES OF GOLD: Boris Johnson has asked Britain’s “fishing people” to be patient – for great treasures lie ahead in our post-Brexit “El Dorado” – referring to the land of riches which turned out not to exist. Leaders in Northern Ireland aren’t in the mood for mythology. The DUP’s Ian Paisley fumed at Brandon Lewis in the committee corridor – telling the NI secretary that January had been “an unmitigated disaster for trade”, with firms “haemorrhaging” £100,000 a week and having to lay off staff. Ireland’s foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney also scoffed at Lewis’s recent remarks about disruption being down to Covid. “Let’s not pretend Brexit doesn’t force that kind of change,” he told ITV’s Peston. Meanwhile farms warned that reductions in EU food imports may force the UK to accept sub-standard supplies from other parts of the world to keep us fed. The National Farmers Union said Brexit problems “are going to get bigger.”

STUCK IN A MOMENT: We can’t seem to get past Covid’s terrible winter peak. Johnson warned there will be “tough weeks to come”, as a further 1,820 people died from the virus – another all-time high of daily deaths. And there is grim news from the Imperial College London (ICL) this morning, I’m afraid. Researchers say there was “no strong evidence” of infection levels falling at the beginning of January – noting that the government’s recently-falling daily case figures may reflect a dip in cases just after Christmas. The ICL experts suggest infection levels may actually have gone up this month. Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said parts of the NHS were like a “war zone”, adding: “This is very, very bad at the moment.” The Telegraph reports that early March has been “earmarked” for initial easing out of lockdown into the toughest tiers. But little further easing is expected before Easter.

BORDER DISORDER: Priti Patel faces some awkward questions on the response to the pandemic. And not just from journalists. A recording of a Zoom chat with Tory supporters revealed the home secretary believed the UK should have closed its borders in March 2020. “On ‘should we have closed our borders earlier’ the answer is yes,” she said, in a clip obtained by the Guido Fawkes website. Keir Starmer challenged Johnson on those remarks at PMQs. “Why did the prime minster over rule the home secretary?” Johnson accused the Labour leader of “looking backwards” – pulling out his Captain Hindsight quip (a failsafe whenever he’s in trouble). Patel may now have to explain to No 10 why she departed from the government line. The home secretary couldn’t say whether the 400,000 missing police records were now permanently lost. And the PM had to admit the government doesn’t know how many police cases might be “frustrated” by the debacle.

WELLIES AND SANDBAGS: Flooding is here. As if this winter wasn’t apocalyptic enough. Boris Johnson has urged people to follow evacuation advice, after more than 2,000 homes in Manchester were evacuated in the havoc caused by Storm Christoph. The PM said the government would ensure it was “totally prepared” for floods all parts of the country – warning things “maybe worse next week”. There’s also a mounting crisis to sort out in Kent. The Home Office was accused of “callousness” after blaming asylum seekers for the spread of Covid in a military camp. Residents have been banned from leaving Napier Barracks since Saturday after several tested positive (at a place where people are sleeping in dormitories of up to 28). Immigration minister Chris Philp implied residents were to blame – saying some “refused tests and have been either refusing to self-isolate or follow social distancing rules”. Campaigners said Philp’s response was “appalling”.

RETURN TO NORMALCY: Joe Biden has been a busy boy. The new president signed 15 executive orders after stepping inside a de-fumigated Oval Office. America is back in the Paris climate agreement and a member of WHO again. The Muslim travel ban is over. Construction of the US-Mexico border wall is halted. And permits for the Keystone XL pipeline have been revoked. It’s almost as if Donald Trump never existed. Except for all the hatred and division and stuff. “Stop the shouting and lower the temperatures … unity is the path forward,” Biden said at his inauguration – vowing to end America’s “uncivil war”. Trump, meanwhile, told his own supporters: “I will always fight for you. I will be watching. I will be listening … We will be back in some form.” Which wasn’t quite Arnold Schwarzenegger, but was enough to sound ominous.

On the record

“There’s a de facto border, an administrative red tape blockade, between trade in Northern Ireland and GB – and your government promised that there would be unfettered movement.”

Ian Paisley Jr fumes at Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis

From the Twitterati

“Boris Johnson has called the post-Brexit fishing opportunities an ‘Eldorado’ – the fabled city of gold which didn’t exist & caused many to spend their lives fruitlessly for it. Perfect Brexit metaphor.”

Toby Earle on PM’s city of gold claim…

“Does he mean Eldorado, the mythical city or Eldorado, the cheesy failed TV soap about Brits exercising their free movement rights in Spain?”

…while John Cotter finds a metaphor in the 80s soap about British expats.

Essential reading

Holly Baxter, The Independent: The Biden inauguration had all the ingredients to make Trump furious

Andrew Grice, The Independent: Despite praising Biden, Johnson can’t help his Trump-like tendencies

Martin Fletcher, New Statesman: The Foxification of the British media must be resisted

Rafael Behr, The Guardian: Brexit was a typically English revolution – one that left elites unharmed

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