Inside Politics: Boris Johnson set to decide whether to walk from Brexit talks

With precious little sign of progress at the EU Council summit, it’s time for the prime minister to make up his mind on the future of trade deal negotiations, writes Adam Forrest

Boris Johnson (AP)

Good morning – I hope fellow Londoners have their tier 2, winter beer garden outfits sorted. The Twitterati is loving Sadiq Khan’s body warmer under the suit look, worn as the mayor set out a ban on indoor pub mixing in the capital. How will Boris Johnson cope with the new chill in the air? Talks with leaders in Manchester have turned seriously frosty. Relations with leaders in Brussels are pretty icy too. Johnson has to decide whether he’s getting just enough warmth from the EU to carry on talking about a trade deal – or walk away and force the bleak midwinter of a no-deal crash.

Inside the bubble

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

No 10 officials and leaders from Lancashire will resume talks at 8am this morning in an effort to agree on tier 3 status for the north west region, before discussions resume between Downing Street and bosses from Greater Manchester on the same issue. Over in Brussels, the EU Council summit will finish up on a sour note. Boris Johnson is set to decide whether to continue with Brexit trade deal talks, so we may hear from the PM towards the end of the day.

Daily briefing

EURO TRASHED: If Boris Johnson was looking for some sign of progress at the EU Council summit, he’s not going to get it. EU leaders have dropped a pledge to “intensify” negotiations after the summit ends – ratcheting up the no-deal rhetoric. Emmanuel Macron said the Brits should get ready for a no-deal Brexit unless Downing Street preserves fishing access for French boats in British waters. “If conditions aren’t met, it’s possible we don’t have an agreement,” said the president. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier proposed a rather feeble two-week extension. No 10’s response? Negotiator David Frost said he was “surprised by the suggestion that … all future moves must come from UK”. Frost was expected to advise Johnson to carry on talking. Has the mood soured badly enough for him to change his mind? EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen won’t be much help today: she’s self-isolating “as a precaution” after a member of her team tested positive for Covid.

NORTHERN UPROAR: Andy Burnham is mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore. The Labour mayor of Greater Manchester made a fiery statement about his refusal to agree to tier 3 status – accusing the government of using northern cities like “canaries in the coal mine” for an experimental strategy which won’t work. He claimed deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van Tam told him that “the only certain thing to work is a national lockdown”. The Treasury is said to be considering offering more financial support to resolve the impasse, since there’s also a failure to get an agreement with Lancashire. With talks due to resume this morning, Matt Hancock urged Burnham to “set aside this party politics”. The health secretary announced that London, Essex, York and parts of Derbyshire will move into tier 2 status from Saturday. Sadiq Khan is happy enough about it, but gloomily warned: “We’ve got a difficult winter ahead.”

LONG AND WINDING ROAD: Will the Welsh first minister get to enforce his travel ban on English and Scottish visitors from Covid hotspots? Police chiefs has warned Mark Drakeford that his plan is “unenforceable”. The Police Federation of England and Wales said “policing in Wales is already over-stretched due to the pandemic” and attempting to check incomers at roads along the border would add “yet another level of complexity”. Speaking of complexity, the SNP’s Margaret Ferrier will avoid police action over her long and winding journey from London to Scotland with coronavirus. The Met said the MP’s trip happened just before new regulations came into force on 29 September. So she will dodge a £4,000 fine for people who “recklessly” breach the rules. Lucky.

WASTE IN HASTE: Some criticism for Rishi Sunak. The Treasury’s rush to bring in emergency financial support may have led to billions of pounds being lost through fraud, MPs on the public accounts committee has said. The committee is angry at the “astonishing lack of economic planning for a pandemic” which forced “hastily drawn up” schemes. Speaking of fraudulent ventures, The Times reports on a Russian fake news campaign aimed at spreading fear about Oxford’s Covid vaccine. Apparently, Moscow is ready to spread memes and clips suggesting the British vaccine could turn people into monkeys (since it uses a chimp virus as a vector). It’s enough to turn you to drink. Unfortunately, the Speaker has banned alcohol in the Commons’ bars as a gesture of solidarity with constituents in tier 3 areas. No booze for our MPs? Things are going to get fraught.

NO 10 VERSUS NO 10: As if Andy Burnham and Emmanuel Macron wasn’t enough to deal with – Boris Johnson can add Marcus Rashford to his list of antagonists. Manchester United’s No 10 has renewed his spat with Downing Street after his call for the government to go further in tackling child hunger was flatly rejected. Rashford backed a petition calling for the expansion of school holiday food, the expansion free school meals to families on Universal Credit, and extra money for Healthy Start vouchers. But the PM’s spokesman said: “It’s not for schools to regularly provide food to pupils during the school holidays.” The England footballer responded on Twitter: “This is not going away anytime soon and neither am I.” Remember who won this battle the last time?

GETTING CUTE: American’s conspiracy theorist-in-chief refused to reject QAnon during a primetime grilling on NBC. Asked whether he believes the idea of a clandestine global elite involved in Satanism and child trafficking, Donald Trump said: “I know nothing about QAnon … I do know they are very much against paedophilia, they fight it very hard.” Trump sarcastically told the TV host “so cute” when she pressed him on it. Trump also deflected when asked whether he took a Covid test on the day of his last debate with Joe Biden: “Possibly I did, possibly I didn’t.” Biden did a fair amount of deflecting himself during his own town hall event on the ABC network. Asked whether he supported court packing – adding seats to the US Supreme Court – the Democrat said he was “not a fan” of the idea. But he added: “I’m open to considering … Depending on how they handle this” (referring to White House nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearings).

On the record

“People are fed up of being treated in this way, the north is fed up of being pushed around. We aren’t going to be pushed around anymore.”

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham refuses tier 3 status.

From the Twitterati

“The sight of politicians racing to kill their own cities while the public cheers them on ... is a fitting capstone to years of madness. The polls suggest people want to be locked away. They are mad.”

The Sunday Times’ Tim Shipman can’t understand Sadiq Khan’s keenness for tier 2 curbs...

“Tier 2 is lethal for hospitality, and I don't understand why Sadiq Khan has actively advocated for it - at least tier 3 you get some mediocre economic support.”

...and New Statesman’s Stephen Bush is also puzzled.

Essential reading

John Rentoul, The Independent: Boris Johnson briefly reunited his party – now it’s split again

Mark Steel, The Independent: The government has mastered a test and trace system – for appointing Tory insiders

Isabel Hardman, The Spectator: Angry Andy Burnham goes to war with No 10

John Harris, Politico: Trump is suffering from Trump derangement syndrome

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