Inside Politics: Boris Johnson sends official to US to explain Brexit feud

No 10 is hoping a Northern Ireland Office mandarin will give the UK’s side of the story to the Americans, writes Adam Forrest

(POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

We have Dune, Spider Man 3 and Godzilla vs Kong to get excited about when cinemas reopen. But Downing Street has dropped a trailer for the biggest blockbuster of them all – a documentary movie about the vaccine rollout (I hear there’s Oscars’ buzz building around A Beacon of Hope: The UK Vaccine Story). Boris Johnson may be hoping the rollout success overwhelms everything else this year, but the Brexit mess is becoming cinematically bad. The EU’s blockbuster legal action against UK moves to change the protocol is coming soon to a government near you.

Inside the bubble

Political editor Andrew Woodcock on what to look out for today:

Keir Starmer will launch Labour’s campaign for Scottish and Welsh elections with a promise of “proper pay rises” for key workers. Health unions are urging the public to take part in an 8pm slow hand-clap to protest a planned 1 per cent pay rise for NHS staff. And Alok Sharma will update the environment committee about the COP26 summit in Glasgow.

Daily briefing

MR CIVIL SERVANT GOES TO WASHINGTON: Boris Johnson is obviously worried about the White House’s view of our Brexit rows with the EU. He’s sending a top official from the Northern Ireland Office to the US on a permanent basis so the Biden administration can be kept up to date with the UK’s side of the story. It comes as tensions rise over Downing Street’s unilateral decision to extend grace period exemptions on checks for goods going from GB to NI. Joao Vale de Almeida, the EU’s ambassador to the UK, told ITV’s Peston last night that the bloc would now “move forward” with its legal action in the coming days. NI secretary Brandon Lewis told MPs the unilateral changes to the protocol had been “lawful” – but could not then explain the legal basis.The relatively minor row over vaccines rumbles on. The PM “corrected” European Council president Charles Michel after he claimed the UK had imposed an “outright ban” on the export of vaccines, and the EU’s deputy ambassador to the UK was called in for a dressing down at the Foreign Office.

COMING DISTRACTIONS: “Extraordinary. Unexpected. Fantastic,” No 10 tweeted about the Covid vaccine programme – the subject of a glitzy new government documentary. “A Beacon of Hope: The UK Vaccine Story. Coming soon.” It was immediately attacked as “propaganda” by opposition parties, with Labour demanding to know the cost of the project. Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said: “I’m sure that many people will wonder why the PM is more concerned about producing expensive government propaganda than paying nurses properly.” Don’t hold your breath for a heart-warming movie about the Test and Trace system – truly the Heaven’s Gate of government projects. The £37bn flop was blasted as “the most wasteful and inept public spending programme of all time” by the former head of the Treasury civil service, Lord Macpherson. “The extraordinary thing is nobody in the government seems surprised or shocked.” The PM defended programme at PMQs, saying it was the reason “we’re able to send kids back to school”.

LIES, DAMNED LIES AND PERCENTAGES: Labour is furious that Boris Johnson is able to get away with lying, unpunished, after he falsely claimed the party had voted against a pay rise for NHS workers. The PM twice accused Keir Starmer’s party of voting against the NHS Funding Bill and its proposal for a 2.1 percent pay rise (the issue did not in fact go to a vote). Shadow health secretaryJonathan Ashworth said that Johnson had “lied at PMQs”. Downing Street said the record had been “clarified”, and there was no need for the PM to apologise. The PM’s spokesperson Allegra Stratton referred to it as “a point of clarification”. Asked if Johnson had a problem with facts, Stratton said: “No, he doesn’t.” Meanwhile, transport secretary Grant Shapps is under pressure to come up with some answers on foreign summer holidays, after the minister said“lots of questions” remained. In a transport committee report to be published today, MPs are urging the government to offer some clarity – saying the aviation industry “thrives on certainty”. 

HUNT WITH THE HOUNDS: The great royal rumble rumbles on. For the rest of our lives, probably. Labour MP Holly Lynch wants parliament to consider action over media “hounding”of high-profile women following Meghan Markle’s big interview. She said “we have a responsibility to intervene” and has written to the 72 MPs who signed a letter of support for Meghan. They’ll hold a Zoom meeting on Friday to discuss what that intervention might be. Elsewhere, Jayne Ozanne has quit as a government adviser on LGBT+ issues – accusing ministers of creating a “hostile environment” for LGBT+ people. Ozanne said she hoped her resignation would act as an“appeal” to Boris Johnson to finally ban gay conversion therapy. Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch said the government couldn’t give a timeline for legislation on the “therapy”. Ozanne was scathing about Badenoch and fellow equality minister Liz Truss, telling ITV: “I don’t believe that they understand LGBT people … I’ve sat in meetings and I’ve been astonished about how ignorant they are.”

FUMING WHILE ZOOMING: More civil strife in the SNP. There’s trouble over MP Patrick Grady stepping down as chief whip amid an investigation into sexual harassment allegations. MP Joanna Cherry (an Alex Salmond loyalist) was said to have challenged Westminster leader Ian Blackford why exactly she was sacked whileGrady remains on the front bench at a virtual meeting last night. A furious Blackford said the question proved exactly why Cherry was “not a team player”,according to an account in The Times of the angry Zoom session. John Swinney, the SNP’s deputy first minister at Holyrood, has survived a no confidence motion thanks to backing from the Greens. But the Salmond saga rumbles on.Salmond has claimed WhatsApp messages from senior SNP figures would substantiate his claims of a “malicious and concerted” plot against him. But a source with knowledge of the content of the messages – handed over to the committee last week – told The Scotsman that those claims “turned out to be mince”. Worth taking that “mince” with a pinch of salt, until we see the messages for ourselves.

IT WAS ALL ME, FOLKS: Donald Trump has issued a statement trying to take credit for the success of the“China virus” vaccine. The ever-humble demagogue insisted that Americans remember that if it was not for him they would not be getting the “beautiful”vaccine shot “for five years”. He added: “I hope everyone remembers.” (We haven’t forgotten that Trump once claimed that Covid would “one day disappear” like “a miracle”). Meanwhile, in the real world, Congress has approved the landmark $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill, as Joe Biden claimed a major triumph. The House gave final congressional approval Wednesday to the sweeping package by a near party line 220-211 vote. The Republicans characterised it as crammed with sneaky liberal plans. “Help is here,” Biden tweeted moments after the vote.

On the record

“The government must come clean about how much taxpayers’ money was spent making this ‘documentary’ and for what purpose.”

Angela Rayner on No 10’s vaccine movie.

From the Twitterati

“I’ve long argued that the post-Brexit UK-EU relationship would be difficult, but even I’m surprised how far & fast it has sunk. A senior EU official tells me:“Johnson is a crook. He’s signed up to something he has no intention of implementing.””

Analyst Mujtaba Rahman is surprised by the bad blood...

“The pipe dream bridge between the North and Scotland is a smokescreen for the Brexit fallout amongst the unionists who engineered it on both sides of the Irish Sea.”

…while Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill is surprised by the bridge distraction.

Essential reading

Rachel Shabi, The Independent: Labour lacks moral purpose – it’s disconnected from communities

Nadine White, The Independent: The British media has a problem with racism

Anoosh Chakelian, New Statesman: The great Test and Trace rip-off shows the government’s hypocrisy

Damon Linker, The Week: The US is heading for a showdown on voting rights

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