Inside Politics: UK will be ‘world leader’ in wind, claims Boris Johnson

The prime minister will try to energise weary Tory members today with a promise to make Britain the Saudi Arabia of wind power, writes Adam Forrest

Boris Johnson prepares for his Tory conference speech (PA)

Boris Johnson wants us to “go to the cinema” and save Britain’s movie theatres. Trouble is, there aren’t any films to see. It looks like James Bond may have mortally wounded the business after No Time To Die was pushed back to the spring. The PM has a licence to thrill today when he makes his big Conservative conference speech. The Tory faithful want to hear the man of action they voted for. But the coronavirus has left Johnson shaken, rather than stirred, and the faithful may have to put up with dark warnings about more things pushed back to the spring.

Inside the bubble

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

Boris Johnson delivers his big address to the virtual Conservative conference at 11.30am. Around the same time in the Commons, health secretary Matt Hancock takes questions IRL – another round of the masochism strategy of defending his handling of test and trace. Elsewhere, Lords Sumption and Lisvane, former Supreme Court judge and clerk of the Commons, give their views on the government’s plans for the constitution to the select committee.

Daily briefing

FULL OF HOT AIR? We don’t know the full contents of Boris Johnson’s speech, but we do know he will promise to make Britain the “Saudi Arabia of wind” and announce £160m investment in offshore wind energy. The PM wants wind to produce enough electricity to power every home in the country by 2030. “Your kettle, your washing machine, your cooker … the whole lot of them will get their juice cleanly and without guilt from the breezes that blow around these islands,” he will say. Greenpeace UK hailed it as “a great lightbulb moment” – but said we must wait and see if it will actually be “carried through”. What will Rishi Sunak make of it? The chancellor had nothing new to announce in his own conference speech – but some Tories took his talk of “sacred responsibility” in balancing the books to mean tax rises are surely on the way. Sunak also denied having his eye on the keys to No 10. “This job is hard enough for me to do,” he said.

CALL ME, MAYBE: Matt Hancock stopped short of a full apology for the IT blunder which means 48,000 contacts of positive Covid cases may not have been traced yet. Contact tracers’ phone lines are thought to have crashed yesterday as staff desperately tried to clear the backlog of calls. The health secretary said the technical glitch – caused by Microsoft Excel data files exceeding maximum size – “should never have happened”. Hancock told MPs only 51 per cent of infected people caught up in the fiasco have been contacted a second time to trace their contacts. Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashcroft fumed: “This isn’t just a shambles. It’s so much worse than that … it’s putting lives at risk.” Fellow Labour MP Stella Creasy threw her hands up in despair and opened in her mouth in mock horror when Hancock said her criticisms were not “sensible” and she shouldn’t be picking on the small number of “cogs in the wheel” where things had gone wrong.

LAST ORDERS, ORDERS: Rebel Tories believe they have a decent chance of defeating the government over the 10pm pub curfew. Dozens of Conservative MPs are prepared to vote against the early last orders and are set to meet at lunchtime today to “plot their next steps”, according to The Telegraph. Apparently they are encouraged by Labour’s refusal to say it will support the government until it produces the scientific evidence underpinning the curfew. The rebels also liked the latest remarks on the 10pm closing made by Sunak: “Everyone is very frustrated and exhausted and tired about all of this.” There’s speculation Tory whips might even pull a vote on the curfew expected this week to give them time to quash the rebellion or compromise. Mischief-making MP Steve “Brexit hardman” Baker said: “There is a growing consensus that neither the 10pm curfew nor including children in the rule of six are well evidenced.”

SOUNDING THE CAR ALARM: The latest on Brexit comes from the auto industry, as Nissan and Toyota both demand the government provides a bailout to cover the tariffs they face if there’s no trade deal agreed with the EU. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said 10 per cent tariffs could add £3.2bn a year to industry costs. High-level talks continued on Monday as Angela Merkel met with EU negotiator Michel Barnier in Berlin. The German chancellor said she remained “optimistic” so long as both sides kept talking. Heiko Maas, the Germany foreign minister, was more forceful – saying a no-deal outcome would be “totally irresponsible”. Meanwhile peers have overwhelmingly backed a cross-party call to continue existing arrangements for unaccompanied child refugees to be reunited with close relatives in the UK after Brexit. The amendment proposed by Alf Dubs, the peer who fled the Nazis as a child on the Kindertransport, was passed by a majority of 94.

STANLEY THE MANLY: Oh Stanley. Mask over the nose – it isn’t that hard. The prime minister’s dad was caught breaking the rules again when he was photographed wearing his mask under his nose at a London Underground station. Johnson Snr. admitted he “slipped up” but claimed he was unaware that face coverings rules also applied when standing on the platform. He said it was “only my third day back in London”, adding: “I’m learning every day.” It sounds like the Tories’ IT team has a lot to learn about virtual conferencing. Top industry figures were left disappointed when they had to wait over 50 minutes to take part in a Q&A with Johnson and Sunak. “It’s been a complete shambles to be honest,” said one disgruntled figure. Even more shambolic was a Zoom call in Cumbria, in which Labour councillor Alan Smith was heard calling the local mayor a “daft cow”. He forgot to mute his mic, the dafty.

TOXIC AVENGER: Like the demented cyborg at the end of The Terminator, Donald Trump is back. The president checked himself out of hospital and returned to the White House – despite his own doctor saying earlier on Monday that he “may not entirely be out of the woods yet”. Despite still being contagious, Trump removed his mask on the balcony of the White House and went back inside (without the mask). “Feeling really good!” he tweeted earlier. “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life … I feel better than I did 20 years ago!!” What does this mean for the election campaign? Who the hell knows. His rival Joe Biden said he was “glad” the president seemed to be “coming along pretty well” – but added: “Anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying masks don’t matter … is responsible for what happens to them.” White House reporters are angry that Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany – who has also now tested positive – repeatedly spoke to them without a mask on.

On the record

“We have a sacred responsibility to future generations to leave the public finances strong.”

Rishi Sunak hints at taxes rises.

From the Twitterati

“Matt Hancock tells me that I’m not being “sensible” asking why he failed to put any penalty clauses for poor performance in the contracts with private companies to run test and trace. After today’s news I think he needs a new dictionary to learn what that word means.”

Stella Creasy explains why she threw her hands up in the air...

“A £10m Test and Trace system, being run on a £129 Microsoft Excel licence really does emphasise how much the private sector profiteers from our healthcare. Embarrassing response from Hancock in the chamber.”

…and Labour colleague Rosena Allin-Khan thinks hands in the air moment was justified.

Essential reading

Alf Dubs, The Independent: It’s vital we protect EU children in care from an uncertain future brought by Brexit

Sarah Wollaston, The Independent: Thousands of Covid tests missing in space – is this what the PM meant by moonshot?

George Eaton, New Statesman: Why the cult of Rishi Sunak should now end

Jennifer Senior, The New York Times: Why Fox News remains in Trump’s coronavirus bubble

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