Inside Politics: Boris Johnson ‘beaten up by the scientists’, Tory MPs complain

Backbenchers want No 10 to stop being so cautious and start lifting lockdown soon, writes Adam Forrest

Boris Johnson examines a vaccine during a trip to a vaccination centre in Batley, West Yorkshire (Getty Images)

Don’t mess with Chris Whitty. Having seen off his teenage heckler, England’s chief medical officer has replaced Jonathan Van-Tam as cult hero of choice – with fans producing “next slide please” T-shirts and hip hop-themed mugs. Tory MPs fear Whitty and the senior scientists have obtained cult-like status at No 10. Iain Duncan Smith says Boris Johnson is getting “beaten up” by the gang of data-wielding thugs. IDS and his fellow backbenchers are pushing the PM to free his mind and consider lifting lockdown sooner rather than later.

Inside the bubble

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

Mandatory hotel quarantine will dominate discussion this morning, as ministers finally named the date for new restrictions on travellers from ‘red list’ countries from 15 February. Meanwhile, Labour’s shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds will call on the government to bring in a “smart” furlough scheme.

Daily briefing

WE COULD BE LIFTING: The 70-strong group of Tory MPs in the Covid Recovery Group are getting impatient. Mark Harper, chair of the group, wants schools reopened next month and urged No 10 to “get rid of restrictions completely” by the end of May. Downing Street is reluctant to commit to a timetable, though one government source told The Mail ministers hoped to lift most restrictions by the end of May. It’s not enough for Iain Duncan Smith, who moaned: “The trouble is they are now being beaten up by the scientists.” The 1922 committee chief Sir Graham Brady told The Independent the success of the vaccine programme should let the PM begin to “reopen normal life” in the coming weeks. Right on cue, The Times reports this morning that No 10 is now considering limited social gatherings outside next month. Too much too soon? Keir Starmer warned not to lift restrictions too early, while Tory MP Jeremy Hunt says Covid cases should be way down at 1,000 a day (we’re still at 20,000) before lockdown is lifted.

NO PAIN, NO GAIN: The EU won’t ditch border arrangements set out for Northern Ireland protocol over “threats” from London, Ireland’s foreign minister has warned. Simon Coveney told those who fought for a hard Brexit: “You’ve got to own the consequences of your own decisions.” DUP first minister Arlene Foster is not the least bit embarrassed by her unwillingness to own anything. There’s been a “coming together of unionism” in recent days, she said – with everyone now clear how much they hate the protocol. Will anything change in the next couple of months? Industry chiefs think not. One claimed UK ministers won’t open serious talks with Brussels to solve the Brexit crisis until the EU feels “some of the pain”. The head of Scottish Food and Drink James Withers said: “The mood music I pick up from officials is that there’s a reluctance to engage with the EU until April. That they need to feel some of the pain that we are feeling before it will come to the table.” Withers said it was the kind of brinksmanship which “failed spectacularly” at the end of last year.

BRISK BLOCK-BOOKING: So what was the hold-up with the hotel quarantine stuff? After a big announcement was pushed back on Thursday, Labour claimed the government was “risking lives” by being too slow to implement a plan. Damningly, the head of the Best Western hotel chain in said hoteliers had not had “any discussions at all” with government. Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds accused ministers having “lurching from one crisis to another” without a “clear strategy” on Covid border security. Obviously stung by the claims, the government announced late last night that hotel quarantine will come into effect on 15 February, and said hotel rooms were now being block-booked. Labour said it was “beyond comprehension” that we have to wait another 10 days. Meanwhile, Whitehall officials have begun work on a “vaccine passport” so tourists can (eventually) prove they’ve have been inoculated. The Foreign Office, Department for Transport and Department of Health are all said to be working on the certification system.

EUROPEAN SONG, CONTESTED: The Home Office is being urged to exempt European musicians from requiring a “certificate of sponsorship” to come to the UK, which would help sort out some of the post-Brexit touring woes for British artists going the other way. Contesting the government’s claim that it would be too difficult, campaign group UK Europe Artswork told MPs the solution could easily “sit on top” of post-Brexit rules. SNP MP Pete Wishart – former member of Scottish soft-rock legends Runrig – praised the “valuable idea”, but feared it would run up against ministers’ “obsession” with being tough on immigration. Elsewhere, Downing Street has refused to rule out a new carbon tax which could force up the price of stapleslike meat and cheese. Reports suggest Boris Johnson has asked Whitehall ministries to produce a “price” for carbon emission as part of a drive to achieve his net-zero pledge. A memo obtained by The Times suggests it could mean a direct tax on the most carbon-intensive services, such as food production.

VOTING IN THE TIME OF COVID: Despite speculation they would be delayed, the local elections in England and Wales will go ahead in May after all, government officials have told the BBC. Voters will need to socially distance and wear masks, obviously. And £70m will be spent making polling stations Covid-secure. Meanwhile, the government is changing the law so attorney general Suella Braverman can take six months’ maternity leave. The government’s chief law officer is expecting her second child, but under current laws, she would have to step down to take time off. Daft? Yes, the government agrees it is daft – so a new law will formalise rules for non-daft ministerial maternity leave. Labour backs the move, with Keir Starmer saying it “should have been brought in a long time ago”. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves, said the measures were a “small but significant step forward” – but said the government needed to go further and make better provision for paternity, adoption and shared parental leave.

ACTOR’S LIFE, NOT FOR ME: No more Home Alone appearances for Donald Trump. The ex-president said he will resign from the Screen Actors Guild American Federation of Television and Radio Artists after the group threatened to revoke his membership. Trump fumed “who cares” to the group’s threat, after the board voted “overwhelmingly” that he violated union guidelines by inciting a violent insurrection against the US Capitol. Meanwhile, over Berlin and Brussels, things are turning nasty. German vice-chancellor Olaf Scholz attacked EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen by name in a cabinet meeting on Monday, raging at her “really s***” vaccine strategy, according to Bild. The leading Social Democrat figure said Germany could not “let this s*** repeat itself”.

On the record

“Don’t repeat the mistake of last time which was to come out of lockdown too quickly, too suddenly and to lift too many restrictions because that simply led to another lockdown.”

Keir Starmer on Tory calls for lockdown easing.

From the Twitterati

“Brexit politicians complaining to Brexit politicians about the broken promises made by Brexit politicians.... It would be beautiful if people’s lives weren't being ruined.”

Femi Oluwole on the DUP’s anger at the Tory government…

“What Tory + DUP cultists have done so far is shameful. But it is beyond unconscionable that they now deliberately aggravate an already dangerous situation.”

…and law professor Michael Dougan says it’s going to get worse.

Essential reading

John Rentoul, The Independent: Does Rishi Sunak think scientists are moving the lockdown goalposts?

Mark Steel, The Independent: Boris Johnson could have honoured Captain Tom by funding the NHS properly

Gaby Hinsliff, The Guardian: Plans for a new coal mine illustrated Tory dilemma: green policies or jobs?

Adam Goodman, The Hill: Joe Biden must be willing to compromise to get anything done

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