Inside Politics: Boris Johnson hails ‘fantastic’ vaccine breakthrough

The prime minister wants us to stay focused on lockdown, but struggled to contain his enthusiasm over Pfizer’s announcement, writes Adam Forrest

Boris Johnson at Downing Street (Getty)

Let the trumpets sound and the angels sing! Donald Trump will soon be gone and the Covid vaccine will soon be here! Joe Biden’s victory appears to have broken some terrible curse and parted the clouds to heaven. Much of the planet is already in a better mood at the news of Pfizer’s breakthrough (apart from the Trump clan, who are skulking around and crying conspiracy). Boris Johnson hailed the “toot of the cavalry’s bugle” – as he tried in vain to keep everyone’s feet on the ground. The prime minister said there is still work to be done, but couldn’t hide his own excitement at the big news.

Inside the bubble

Chief political commentator John Rentoul on what to look out for today:

Cabinet meets this morning. Later, Boris Johnson is scheduled to speak at a Zoom meeting of drugs company bosses, which is fortuitous timing. Culture secretary Oliver Dowden expected to name the “independent” advisers to the government’s review of public sector broadcasting. And on the committee corridor, Dido Harding, chair of NHS Test and Trace, appears before the health and social care committee.

Daily briefing

YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN: Boris Johnson, having unduly raised expectations throughout the pandemic, finds himself having to dampen them. The PM warned that the development of a 90 per cent effective Covid vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech was not “necessarily a home run, a slam dunk, a shot to the back of the net”. Johnson said the government had ordered 40 million doses – enough to vaccinate 20 million people, saying the UK was “towards the front of the pack”. It’s hoped the first 10 million doses can arrive before Christmas, and mass vaccination centres could run seven days a week. Deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam said people would get two jabs and wait six weeks from the first one for immunity to kick in. Van-Tam made some odd comparisons to calm everyone down. He said we were still at the penalty shoot-out stage, and were also waiting for a train two miles down the track. Maybe stick to the science, Jonathan, and leave the metaphors to Boris?

WAITING ON A CALL: The House of Lords has decided it doesn’t like legislation that sets out to break international law. Peers voted overwhelmingly to remove the section of Johnson’s Internal Market Bill that would breach the existing Brexit withdrawal agreement by 433 votes to 165. But the government made clear it would simply “re-table” the section when the bill returns to the Commons. Could Joe Biden’s victory still change the equation? Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Coveney claimed his election would give No 10 “pause for thought”. Keir Starmer urged the PM to “drop” the offending clauses and said he hoped Biden’s win would bring “a degree of clarity”. What about that first phone call from Biden to Johnson? The PM’s still waiting. “Look, we’re probably not top of the list for the first phone call,” said one government source. “But you can read too much into it. If we find ourselves being called after Papua New Guinea then we should probably start to worry.”

RISHI IN THE CITY: Rishi Sunak has tried to reassure the City of London that “significant progress” has been made on a Brexit trade deal. The chancellor said it was “clear that a deal can be done” as he set out a separate plan for “equivalence” with the EU so the financial sector can continue operating as close to normal as possible. Sunak has been busy. Addressing Tory MPs in the NRG group last night, the chancellor appeared to back their calls for financial support for northern businesses and funding for infrastructure across the region. “We were elected on that manifesto and we will make good on that promise,” he said. Will the Treasury have enough money? Former Tory leader Sir John Major has warned that Brexit will be “even more brutal than expected” because of the government’s negotiating “failures”. The ex-PM fears we are heading for either a no deal or a “flimsy and bare-bones” agreement that would create big new barriers to trade. So much for the mood of optimism.

CATCH AND RELEASE: Are we any further forward on creating some sense of normality for travellers? Yes, claims Grant Shapps. The transport secretary told deeply-frustrated airline industry bosses he was making “good progress” on a testing regime to cut quarantine time. He said a “test and release” would allow for a “much reduced” self-isolation period, but didn’t indicate just how reduced it might be. Meanwhile, Dominic Cummings is thought to have failed in his attempt to cut self-isolation time for anyone in contact with the Covid infected. The chief medical officer Chris Whitty rejected the idea of getting it down to seven days and won the argument, according to The Guardian. In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon said it was “highly unlikely” that there would be any easing of Covid restrictions. The first minister she “would not expect areas to go down a level” when updating the country on her five-tier regional system today.

NOT SORRY: A British peer has sparked outrage after referring to vice president-elect Kamala Harris as “the Indian”. Lord Kilclooney, former deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, made the comment on Twitter – and remained unapologetic about it. Conservative MP Robert Halfon said, “Appalling”, to which Lord Kilclooney responded: “A disloyal Tory!”. Elsewhere, Kate Bingham, head of the vaccine taskforce, is expected to leave her post at the end of the year amid the furore over her decision to hire a team of PR consultants at the cost of £670,000. Government sources suggested Bingham’s contract ran until the end of the year and she had always intended to leave at that point. Hmmm. Meanwhile, the husband of test and trace chief Dido Harding, has been told to self-isolate by the NHS app. Tory MP John Penrose moaned: “It never rains but it pours ... my NHS app has just gone off.”

LET’S DO THIS AGAIN SOMETIME: Good news and bad news on the Donald Trump front. The disgruntled demagogue has reportedly held discussions about the possibility of running for president again in 2024. Which suggests he is now beginning to accept the reality he lost – but also raises the possibility he’ll be in our lives until 2028. Depressingly, 10 state attorney generals in Republican-controlled states have thrown their weight behind Trump’s legal challenge to the election result in Pennsylvania. Which, if nothing else, shows how much he still dominates the party. Joe Biden – who has begun appearing in front of logos stating “Office of the President-Elect” – has appealed to Americans to wear a mask as the best way to “turn this pandemic around”. He urged caution over the Pfizer vaccine news, saying “the end of the battle against Covid-19 is still months away”. Donald Trump Jr claimed the timing of the vaccine news was “nefarious”, and obviously designed to screw his dad over.

On the record

“Because of our bombast, our blustering, our threats and our inflexibility, our trade will be less profitable, our Treasury poorer, our jobs fewer, and our future less prosperous.”

Sir John Major reminds us a hard Brexit is coming, even if there’s a deal.

From the Twitterati

“Nothing to be ashamed about. Indians are amongst the most reliable people. I have two as tenants so I have the experience.”

Lord John Kilclooney makes the case that his comments were not racist...

“Cannot believe he’s playing the “how can I be a racist? Some of my best tenants are Indians” card, or that such a card exists.”

…leaving Dawn Foster amazed and appalled.

Essential reading

Ian Hamilton, The Independent: The Pfizer vaccine is not the silver bullet to fighting coronavirus

Sean O’Grady, The Independent: Would the Pfizer vaccine have saved Trump from election defeat?

Rachel Sylvester, The Times: Sunak needs to be tougher with No 10

Tom McTague, The Atlantic: Biden won’t be able to fix America’s relationship with the world

Sign up here to receive this daily briefing in your email inbox every morning