Inside Politics: Tory rebellion brews over coronavirus restrictions

Backbench Conservatives want parliament to get a bigger say in shaping the rules from now on, writes Adam Forrest

(Getty Images)

The all-time greats usually end up with a statute. An 11ft-high monument to Alan Partridge has been erected in Norwich – complete with Argyle sweater and bespoke blazer badge combination. “He is synonymous with the city,” said one of the sculptors. Will we ever see a statue of Rishi Sunak in his home town of Southampton? The chancellor may be Britain’s most popular politician – but not everyone is convinced his jobs subsidy will save us from mass unemployment. Meanwhile Boris Johnson, someone who would dearly love to gaze upon a statue of himself, faces a mounting backlash from Tory MPs over his coronavirus rules.

Inside the bubble

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

The Liberal Democrats’ virtual conference begins. The party faithful normally loves a get-together, and some activists are sure to be missing the real thing. They’ll be kicking off today with a debate on Ed Davey’s flagship proposed policy: a universal basic income. Government borrowing figures come out this morning, and a weekly Covid-19 infection survey from the ONS will be released around 12 noon. Elsewhere, the Independent Sage group will be holding another briefing this afternoon.

Daily briefing

EXILES ON MAIN STREET: Did the chancellor go far enough? Hospitality and retail workers have shared their concerns Rishi Sunak’s wage subsidy scheme won’t be enough to save widespread job losses. The Night Time Industries Association said: “To completely exile the entire night-time sector is simply unacceptable.” Sunak insisted he couldn’t save every job. Workers must be in “viable” jobs to benefit from the top-up scheme – which will allow them to work part-time and receive 77 per cent of their normal salaries (the government and the employer cover two-thirds of lost wages). The TUC and CBI largely welcomed Sunak’s £5bn, six-month package. But the Institute for Fiscal Studies said it was “significantly less generous” than furlough and “it’s clear many jobs will be lost”. No. 10, meanwhile, was forced to deny a rift between Boris Johnson and Sunak after the PM didn’t bother turning up for his chancellor’s big announcement in the Commons.

HELL AMEND HIM: Looks like Johnson has a bit of work to do over the weekend, charming and cajoling his own MPs. At least 40 Tories have joined a backbench rebellion aimed at giving parliament a bigger say on approving coronavirus rules. MPs vote next week on extending emergency powers – and ex-Tory leader Ian Duncan Smith is among those backing Sir Graham Brady’s amendment to give MPs the power to scrutinise, debate and vote on any future such measures. The PM may be happier to hear that more than one million people downloaded the NHS Test and Trace app on the first day of its release. However, some complained they could only get the trial version, which locked them out unless they had a five-digit NHS code. The latest Test and Trace figures show waiting times are getting even longer. Only 28 per cent received results within 24 hours. Just as worrying are official survey results showing only 18 per cent of people with coronavirus symptoms are actually self-isolating.

DEATH OF THE PARTY: Students in Scotland have been told not to go to any pubs or parties after an outbreak of Covid cases at campuses. Universities have agreed to play killjoy and make it “absolutely clear” there must be no more revelry. It comes as Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has written to Johnson to ask for urgent talks on bringing in more restrictions. Matt Hancock, meanwhile, has refused to rule out the idea of banning students from returning home this Christmas to stop them spreading the virus among relatives. “I’ve learned not to rule things out,” said the health secretary on the possibility. Elsewhere Denmark, Iceland and Slovenia have been added to the government’s “no-go” quarantine travel list. Changes come in at 4am on Saturday.

TEA AND EMPATHY, PLEASE: There’s been a sudden outbreak of squabbling in both big parties. Tory MP Crispin Blunt has called for the equalities minister Liz Truss to be sacked because she lacks “necessary empathy” for the role. It follows her refusal to make it easier for transgender people to have their gender legally recognised. Labour MP Nadia Whittome has been sacked by Keir Starmer after voting against a new law which makes it harder for military veterans to be prosecuted. She and two other parliamentary private secretaries lost their roles in the dispute. Elsewhere, several Tory MPs have now refused to take part in unconscious bias training. The simple request seems to have assumed fantastically evil proportions in their minds: Ben Bradley called it “Orwellian” while David Warburton said he would “go no further down this rabbit hole”.

WINDBAGGERY: Boris Johnson boasted about his plan to turn the UK into the “Saudi Arabia” of wind power at a virtual UN conference. The PM said Britain had “extraordinary potential for wind … We’ve got huge, huge gusts of wind going around the north of our country. Quite extraordinary potential we have for wind.” Italian president Sergio Mattarella made clear he had enough of the windy rhetoric coming from No 10. Referring to Johnson’s rather obnoxious claim the UK was more “freedom loving” than Italy and Germany, Mattarella said: “We Italians also love freedom, but we also care about seriousness.” And the civil service union has condemned all the hot air about getting back to the office. The government “wasted time and good will” in telling Whitehall staff they were being “lazy”, according to the FDA’s Dave Penman.

WELL OUT OF ORDER: Republican leader Mitch McConnell has promised there would be an “orderly” hand over of power if Donald Trump loses the election. The US president’s “we’ll have to see what happens” remark has caused an understandable stink, but the Senate majority leader said: “There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792.” Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany continued her boss’s mealy-mouthed suggestion the election might not go too smoothly because of postal voting by saying the president would accept the results “of a free and fair election”. Senator Mitt Romney, the party’s former presidential candidate, said all the nods and winks to Trump’s base were damaging. “Any suggestion that a president might not respect this constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable.”

On the record

“I can’t save every business, I can’t save every job. No chancellor could.”

Rishi Sunak offers realism alongside his wage subsidy scheme.

From the Twitterati

“Why on earth did Rishi Sunak not have a German-style wage subsidy scheme “oven-ready” weeks ago?”

The Times’ Simon Nixon thinks Sunak should have nicked it a while ago…

“Now that Sunak is copying the German Covid-19 scheme for economic support for those unable to work because of the emergency, could he please copy their test & trace scheme too?”

…and Andrew Adonis thinks there’s more to learn.

Essential reading

John Rentoul, The Independent: Ending furlough may break the cross-party economic consensus

Oliver Haynes, The Independent: Young people don’t exist for the Tories – unless they need someone to blame

David Clegg, The Guardian: Scottish independence has been reduced to a simple question: Johnson or Sturgeon?

Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times: Trump wants you think you can’t get rid of him

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