Inside Politics: Tory rebels ‘optimistic’ they can reverse aid cuts

Boris Johnson is heading for an embarrassing defeat ahead of the G7 summit, writes Adam Forrest

(REUTERS)

Those angry boys and girls at Anonymous are back! The hacktivists have issued a threat to Elon Musk to “expect them” – accusing the “narcissistic rich dude” of liquidating dreams with his tweets about cryptocurrencies. Some angry Tory backbenchers fear the narcissist at No 10 is preparing to liquidate their dreams of the end of lockdown this month. A different set of angry Tory backbenchers have warned Boris Johnson to “expect them” in the Commons today, as they prepare to launch a rebel amendment to reverse the government’s aid cuts.

Inside the bubble

Deputy political editor Rob Merrick on what to look out for today:

The Commons sits again from 2.30pm and kicks off with Home Office questions. But we should know around lunchtime whether Sir Lindsay Hoyle will select the Tory rebel amendment aimed at reversing aid budget cuts. If the amendment is selected, then the vote could take place as late as 10pm this evening.

Daily briefing

REBELS WITH A CAUSE: The group of 30 Tory rebels believe they will get the 45 or so backbenchers they need to defeat the government and reverse foreign aid cuts later today. Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat says the mutineers are “cautiously optimistic. It’s up to Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to decide whether rebel leader Andrew Mitchell’s amendment to reinstate the 0.7 per cent minimum spend is within the scope of a research bill. One official told Politico that “it looks carefully drafted” and should be put to a vote. Charities said the £4bn-worth of cuts a year a year would undermine the UK’s credibility at this week’s G7 summit. “The eyes of the world are truly upon us. But in this moment Britain is found wanting, because we have removed a foundational piece of our own global leadership,” Mitchell wrote in The Guardian. Cabinet minister Matt Hancock insisted on Sunday that the cut was only “temporary”. Sir Bob Geldof wasn’t buying it. “I’m very much afraid that something that we’re told is temporary will become permanent.”

WAITING FOR THE DAY: It looks more likely than ever that the end of lockdown will be pushed back into July. Ministers are “absolutely open” to delaying the lifting of England’s last curbs on 21 June if necessary, health secretary Matt Hancock said told Marr on Sunday. The changes may be delayed until 5 July, ITV News first reported. “The scientists are more in favour of a two-week extension,” one official told The Telegraph. Cue outrage from the lockdown sceptics on the Tory backbenches. Sir Desmond Swayne claimed the government was “wasting the advantages afforded by the success of vaccinations … The more it moves the goalposts, the more people will be made redundant”. Former Labour MP Tony Blair caused a stink by calling for fully vaccinated people to be given extra freedoms – including the right to travel overseas more easily. Asked whether it could create a “discriminatory” society, Blair said: “When it comes to risk-management, it is all about discrimination.”

IRISHMAN IN CORNWALL: Joe Biden is expected to warn Boris Johnson not to duck out of his Brexit deal and commitments to peace in Ireland when they meet at in Cornwall later this week. However, the US president – who likes to remind everyone he’s “Irish” – is also set to make clear he wants the EU to stop being quite so “bureaucratic” about the protocol, according to The Times. Johnson wants to use is to the G7 to position himself as a leader on vaccines – hoping the group will agree a global target of vaccinating the world against Covid by the end of 2022. Campaigners are angry Johnson has not yet specified how many doses the UK will give to the Covax scheme – but the PM will commit this week to handing over 100 million doses, according to the Sunday Times. Meanwhile, Oxfam says the agreed 15 per cent global minimum corporate tax rate is “too low” to make a difference. “They are setting the bar so low that companies can just step over it.”

TIK TOK, DO STOP: Priti Patel has TikTok on the brain. The home secretary has called for the removal of social media posts that “glamourise’ the small boat crossings in the English Channel. It follows a video of men crossing in a dinghy that did huge numbers on TikTok (and made prominent in the tabloids last week). In a letter to social media firms, Patel said videos which promotes the crossings were “unacceptable”. But the home secretary has a bigger crisis it will be harder to blame away. Kent County Council (KCC) has warned it may have to turn away child migrants arriving at Dover because its children’s services are becoming overwhelmed. The council is preparing legal action against the Home Office – demanding a voluntary transfer scheme aimed at finding other authorities to take some of the arrivals is made compulsory. Tory council leader Roger Gough said they were seeing “a repeat of the same crisis of nine months ago”.

COFFIN DODGING: Nigel Farage’s old pals in the Reform UK have announced the party will not be fielding a candidate in the Batley and Spen by-election, with the aim of helping the Tories win. “We do not want to split the vote and reduce the chances of Labour being ousted,” said leader Richard Tice – who thinks we could be headed for a general election in 2022. “A Tory win would lead to an early election, possibly next year, and hopefully the final nail in Labour’s coffin.” The gossip merchants are still talking about whether we’ll soon see the final nail in the coffin of Gavin Williamson’s cabinet career. Former chancellor Sajid Javid is the front-runner to replace Williamson as education secretary if Johnson does decide to get rid of him in the autumn, according to the Mail on Sunday. But No 10 is said to fear that Williamson might threaten to reveal some of the dirt he obtained while running Johnson’s 2019 leadership campaign.

YELLOW VESTS IN UK? Britain risks a repeat of France’s “yellow vest” protests if the huge changes needed to prevent a climate disaster fail to tackle the other “injustices” people face, Ed Miliband has warned. In an interview with The Independent, the former Labour leader said it will be vital the public believes that desperately needed action will also “make their lives better”. Miliband, now the party’s business spokesperson, acknowledged: “Lifestyles are going to have to change.” It comes as new analysis shows the number of “dirty deals” between Britain’s biggest banks and the world’s largest fossil fuel companies surged in 2020 despite pledges from financial bosses to be more climate conscious. British lenders Barclays and HSBC made dozens of deals with major fossil fuel companies such as ExxonMobile, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron in 2020, according to data shared with The Independent.

On the record

“It doesn’t make any sense economically, financially, politically, diplomatically, morally or in the humanitarian consequences of it.”

Sir Bob Geldof on foreign aid cuts.

From the Twitterati

“Commanding performance by Tony Blair on the Marr programme just now. He should so obviously be in charge again to get the country moving after Covid-19.”

Andrew Adonis thinks his hero should *so* be in charge again…

“I’m not being facetious but literally every single thing Tony Blair says is wrong??? The man is just an incredibly incorrect person.”

…but Minnie Rahman thinks is so wrong, wrong, wrong.

Essential reading

Lisa Nandy, The Independent: We need more than empty promises from Boris Johnson at the G7

Hamish McRae, The Independent: The G7 tax deal may begin a long-overdue healing process

Andrew Rawnsley, The Guardian: Boris Johnson’s cuts to aid are so cruel his own MPs are leading the revolt

Tom McTague, The Atlantic: How Boris Johnson uses chaos to his advantage

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