Inside Politics: Boris Johnson tries to quell Tory lockdown rebellion

The PM will attempt to calm Conservatives backbenchers today, after Michael Gove suggested England’s shutdown could last beyond 2 December, writes Adam Forrest

Boris Johnson outside No 10 (AP)

The country was united; the judges unanimous. Flat-footed former Labour minister Jacqui Smith had to go, becoming the first contestant booted off Strictly Come Dancing. Despite Boris Johnson’s best efforts to sabotage Strictly’s schedule with his lockdown announcement, the show must go on. Not much else will go on in the grim weeks ahead. Johnson appears to have unified almost the entire nation against him. While many feel he’s left it far too late (again), others are livid over the economic wreckage to come. Johnson is lucky he doesn’t face a public vote every weekend.

Inside the bubble

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

Boris Johnson will outline his case in the Commons for the second lockdown for England, in the biggest U-turn of his U-turn-riddled time in No 10. Tory leader Douglas Ross will give a speech to Policy Exchange, and may call for more furlough support for Scotland. Elsewhere, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) starts its annual conference – so expect more reminders that a Brexit trade deal is essential.

Daily briefing

THE END IS NOT NIGH: Boris Johnson will try to get Tory MPs onside by offering a grim warning that Covid deaths could be twice as high this winter as during the first wave. Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove warned that this Thursday’s lockdown could be extended beyond 2 December, freaking out some Tory backbenchers. Gove says it is his “fervent hope” lockdown would end in four weeks, but suggested it might not. Unnamed ministers told The Times they think it could go on until 2021. Up to 40 backbenchers are reportedly ready to rebel at Wednesday’s lockdown vote. Sir Iain Duncan Smith accused the PM of “giving in to the scientific advisers”. Backbencher Charles Walker told the BBC: “Come spring, we won’t have a first world economy anymore.” But any rebellion will be symbolic, since Labour will back the government. Keir Starmer called for lockdown to stay in place until the R rate is below 1 – pleading with ministers to “use the time” to fix test and trace.

FURLOUGH’S NOT FAIR: Rishi Sunak also has his work cut out explaining how a hastily-announced furlough extension – which now runs until December – will actually operate. Nicola Sturgeon suggested that extra furlough support should be available to Scottish businesses, even if she decides to wait a while before pushing Scotland into a full lockdown later on. Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford, meanwhile, said extending furlough half-way through Wales’ “firebreak” lockdown was “not fair at all” – considering he had his own requests rejected. Local leaders in the north made a similar argument, asking why they were made to fight so hard for money. Liverpool’s metro mayor Steve Rotheram claimed that the extra furlough payments offered now shows that the government “believes the north is worth less than the south”. The row comes as Transport for London (TfL) finally secured a £1.8bn government bailout to keep Tube services running until March 2021.

WHAT THE HELL IS APPENING: Fresh questions about the “world-beating” NHS Covid-19 app, after it emerged it has failed to send alerts at the right time for a month. It turns out some bright spark failed to turn on the right setting to record whether people were close enough to each other. Fresh questions too about government ties to business after it emerged the head of Britain’s vaccine task force, Kate Bingham, shared “sensitive” government documents about vaccine plans to a $200-a-head US conference. Elsewhere, a major row is brewing over schools. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and the National Education Union have called for schools to shut during lockdown – but Keir Starmer wants them kept open. Asked about the antisemitism report on Sunday, the Labour leader also opened the door for Jeremy Corbyn’s return – if his predecessor would only apologise. “I think it’s pretty clear across the Labour movement that most people think [Corbyn] is completely in the wrong place on this,” he told Andrew Marr.

IN A CHEMICAL WORLD: The farming lobby are celebrating a very big win in post-Brexit food safety standards. The government caved in and promised to put its new trade and agriculture commission watchdog on a statutory footing – which should prevent chemical-washed chicken being allowed as part of any future US trade deal. Every new trade deal will now be scrutinised by parliament. The NFU said it was “exactly what we’ve been calling for”. Brexit trade talks? They continue in Brussels today. The deadline set by the EU for the UK to pull the controversial Internal Market Bill (or face legal action) came and went without fuss over the weekend. Could the issue raise its head today? France’s Europe minister Clément Beaune told Andrew Marr the EU could still “go further” – mentioning the “possibility” of a lawsuit. But it sounds like the row has been quietly parked while the two sides get down to the nitty-gritty of fishing quotas.

CHARLATAN’S RETURN: Nigel Farage never wastes an opportunity to rouse the rabble. He is set to relaunch his Brexit Party as an anti-lockdown party called Reform UK, after a change of name was submitted to the Electoral Commission last week. “Lockdowns don’t work,” says Farage in this morning’s Telegraph – arguing for “focused protection” for the most vulnerable while the rest of us magically develop herd immunity. The Tories may well worry about Farage’s weird appeal in some working-class areas. It has emerged that a group of Conservative MPs claiming to be “blue collar” workers is in fact packed with politicians who went to private school. Analysis by The Independent found that around a third of the ‘Blue Collar Conservatism’ caucus went to fee-paying schools, compared with just 7 per cent of the general population.

PLANE, BUSES AND AUTOMOBILES: Donald Trump continues to beat Joe Biden at racking up the air miles, if nothing else. The Republican visited five swing states, while the Democrat played it safe and spoke at one rally in Pennsylvania. The president claimed that voters had a choice between a “deadly Biden lockdown” or “a safe vaccine that ends the pandemic”. Biden condemned the president for encouraging his supporters’ misbehaviour, after some of them blocked the Biden campaign bus with their cars on a Texas highway. “The president’s not going to steal this election,” said the challenger. The most significant moment of the weekend came when Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, told The Washington Post that Biden was the candidate who was “taking [Covid] seriously from a public health perspective”. Trump threatened to fire Fauci, of course.

On the record

“There will be no effective exit on 2 December unless the government uses this time to fix test, trace and isolate.”

Keir Starmer wants No 10 to get serious during lockdown.

From the Twitterati

“Kate Bingham, heads Britain’s vaccine task force. No experience in that area. She’s a venture capitalist. Married to a Tory minister. Dido Harding leads Test & Trace. No experience in that area. Married to a Tory MP.”

Actor Stephen Mangan hints at something untoward…

“Corrupt cronyism.”

…prompting Alastair Campbell to state it very clearly.

Essential reading

John Rentoul, The Independent: Good luck comes in threes for Starmer – Corbyn, Johnson and Biden

Ed Miliband, The Independent: The climate conference is a year today – let’s make the 12 months count

Nesrine Malik, The Guardian: UK is becoming a GoFundMe nation – with the public doing the government’s job

Anita Kumar, Politico: Trump still has a narrow path to four more years

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