Inside Politics: Boris Johnson ready to offer vote on vaccine passports

The government is said to be making assurances that MPs will get a say in Covid certification schemes, writes Adam Forrest

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a media briefing on COVID-19 from Downing Street's media briefing room in London (AP)

Nothing like a bit of pomp to pump up the populace. In a grand show of patriotic power, the mummified remains of Egypt’s ancient rulers – accompanied by a dramatic light show and orchestral music – were driven on chariots through the streets of Cairo to a new national museum. Our glorious ruler Boris Johnson – the lover of antiquities who once aspired to be “world king” – will have to make do with a little less fanfare today. The PM will unveil his grand plans for vaccine passports and summer travel rules at the Downing Street’s new £2.6m media room (a place with all the pomp of a British Legion conference suite).

Inside the bubble

Policy correspondent Jon Stone on what to look out for today:

Boris Johnson and his cabinet meet this morning to sign off on the next phase in lockdown lifting for England, which sees shops reopen and pubs do business outdoors from next week. The PM will lead a press conference early this evening, revealing the next steps in his plan for vaccine certification.

Daily briefing

APPY TOGETHER: Boris Johnson is set to the details of the “Covid status certification scheme” later – with the government set to test it out at festivals and major sporting events. The pilots will last until mid-May and will see spectators with an NHS app showing they have had a jab. Stung by the cross-party backlash, No 10 is at pains to point use of certification would be “time-limited”. Some weekend reports suggest the PM has gone cold on using it in pubs. It seems the debate and prevarication could go on right through the summer. The tech may not actually be ready until the autumn, with government sources telling The Telegraph it could take “months, not weeks” to develop. Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has reportedly promised that MPs will get a vote on vaccine passports at some point. On Sunday Gove admitted ethical dilemmas remained, but made clear ministers were pushing ahead. “Unless the government takes a lead, we risk others establishing the rules of the road.”

DO THINK TWICE, IT’S ALRIGHT: Everyone in England will be allowed two rapid Covid tests a week from this Friday, under a major extension of the government’s testing programme. Not everyone thinks it’s necessary. “Mass testing is a scandalous waste of money,” said Prof Allyson Pollock at Newcastle University. Boris Johnson will explain the logic later, and will also outline new regulations on foreign travel – setting out a new traffic light system that rates countries as red, amber or green. Downing Street has already revealed some of the details. After 17 May, so long as international travel is safe to open up again, travellers from countries in the green category will not have to isolate (although pre and post-travel Covid tests will still be needed). For countries in the red and amber categories, arrivals will be expected to quarantine or go into self-isolation. How big a role with vaccine passports play? Gove said jab certification for international travel was an “inevitability”. But it’s still not clear when the inevitability becomes reality.

HOUSE OF ILL REPUTE: Labour says it’s time for a new law to clean up our murky lobbying rules. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves said it was “crucial” ministers legislate to expand the register to include the “in house” lobbyists like David Cameron (who is apparently too “embarrassed” to put his head above the parapet and explain his links with Greensill Finance). A Labour government would create a new integrity and ethics commission to tackle seedy cronyism at Westminster, she added. There are big question marks over the integrity of Tory peer Helena Morrissey – who blamed “fake videos” for outsized fears about Covid. Morrissey, a director at the Foreign Office, tweeted: “The data shows we are NOT in a pandemic. If people were dropping dead in the street we would notice and not go to M&S and have all those football matches.” Angela Rayner called for her to go. “The prime minister must finally wake up to the threat of disinformation and conspiracy theories in his party’s ranks,” said the deputy Labour leader.

THE UNMASKED MAN: Keir Starmer marked his first year as Labour leader at the weekend with a vow to “take off the mask” and show the nation why he’s a PM-in-waiting. It seems the nation will need a lot of convincing. Only a quarter of voters believe Starmer has presented a clear vision of what Labour stands for, according to a new Savanta poll for The Independent. Only 27 per cent believe Sir Keir has done a good job presenting a clear vision, while 35 per cent believe he has done it badly. Starmer will also struggle to keep his old bedfellows in the Remain movement happy. A separate survey found that more than half of Labour members – 59 per cent – still want Starmer to campaign to rejoin the EU, despite his strategy of winning back Leavers. Elsewhere, Labour’s official LGBT+ group criticised Starmer for making an “unacceptable” visit a north London church where a senior pastor has advocated against gay equality laws. The Labour leader said Jesus House in Brent Cross was a “wonderful example” of a church serving people during the pandemic.

THEY WOULD KNOCK 500 DOORS: Good news and bad news for Nicola Sturgeon. The SNP is on course to be part of a sizeable pro-independence majority of 79 seats in the Scottish parliament. Unfortunately for the SNP, Alex Salmond’s party is on course to win six of those seats after a poll boost puts the Alba Party on 6 per cent. George Galloway’s party could win a seat too, the poll suggests. It comes as The Proclaimers have declared their support for Salmond’s party, saying they would gladly campaign for Alba (Sturgeon will be gutted, no doubt). There are more serious headaches for Sturgeon. The opposition parties are kicking up a stink about the planning approval of a SNP donor’s £650m development following a meeting with the first minister (which, according to the Sunday Mail, she failed to declare). Meanwhile, police are investigating claims of a £600,000 SNP fraud. It’s alleged that money raised by activists to prepare for another referendum was diverted to other things. “Inquiries are ­ongoing,” said Police Scotland.

WE GOT TO GET OUT OF THIS PLACE: There has been a huge surge in the number of Irish passports issued in Britain since the Brexit vote, new official figures show. Data shared by Ireland’s foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney showed the number exceeded 422,000 between 2016 and 2020. Reacting to the “remarkable” figures, Fine Gael politician Neale Richmond said: “The harsh impacts of Brexit and the attack on the rights of so many UK citizens has clearly motivated many to realise their Irish citizenship rights.” As the UK-EU row over the AstraZeneca vaccine rumbles on, it’s emerged the British-Swedish company has major troubles in the US. The American authorities have blocked AstraZeneca from a production plant in Baltimore after a mix-up is believed to have contaminated 15 million doses of a vaccine produced by Johnson & Johnson. J&J has now been put in charge of the plant. AstraZeneca said it will try to find an alternative US site.

On the record

“So where should the lines be drawn to help protect freedoms, respect privacy, promote equality and get us back to normality?”

Michael Gove admits to uncertainty over the vaccine passport scheme.

From the Twitterati

“The government of Nicola Sturgeon must fall. The stench of corruption – financial and institutional – and the most rank almost risible incompetence is a daily betrayal of everything Scotland used to stand for.”

George Galloway wants to get rid of Sturgeon…

“Nicola Sturgeon’s worst nightmare? Fielding questions from Alex Salmond and George Galloway at FMQs. Poll suggest it’s possible.”

…and The Herald’s Ian Macwhirter says Galloway might just be back in the bigtime.

Essential reading

John Rentoul, The Independent: Mandelson: ‘It’s a myth that Labour can win from the left’

Mary Dejevsky, the Independent: Boris Johnson has had a better pandemic than Starmer – by a long way

John Harris, The Guardian: Britain’s year of Covid: power unchecked, scrutiny sidelined

Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker: Is Joe Biden really the second coming of FDR and LBJ?

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