Boris Johnson to speak to European leaders amid vaccine export row

PM is seeking to defuse row over export bans amid warnings Britain’s vaccine target could be delayed, writes Ashley Cowburn

(REUTERS)

In an attempt to inject a dose of the modern era into the monarchy, Buckingham Palace is said to be appointing a “diversity tsar” who will be tasked with examining how the firm can improve representation and better reflect the country at large. Critics might suggest they should start with elections, rather than having a right to the throne by virtue of being born in a particular family. Too radical? OK. Perhaps the government could be persuaded of reform elsewhere: a new analysis over the weekend showed that all 85 of the hereditary peers in the House of Lords are male while nearly half of them attended Eton.

Inside the bubble

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

Parliament is back on this afternoon, with a decent line-up. It’ll be worth watching Theresa May appear at the National Security Strategy Committee at 4pm: she previously criticised Boris Johnson’s appointment for national security advisor, and hasn’t shied away from calling the government out on other issues either. BBC director general Tim Davie is also up before the Public Accounts Committee, while Priti Patel will face question in the Commons from 2.30.

Daily briefing

VACCINE ROW: The good news? A record 874,000 received a Covid-19 jab in the UK on Saturday. The equivalent of the entire adult populations of Liverpool, Southampton and Oxford combined. The bad news? The European Union is set to debate an export ban of Covid vaccines to the UK later this week. According to analysis by The Guardian, such a move could delay the government’s target of offering all adults in the country a coronavirus jab by July by around two months. Seeking to diffuse the row, Boris Johnson is expected to contact his EU counterparts ahead of a virtual summit on Thursday where the bloc will consider the matter. Government sources told the Press Association that the prime minister spoke with Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, along with Dutch and Belgian prime ministers Mark Rutte and Alexander de Croo last week. Cabinet minister Ben Wallace warned yesterday the EU would suffer “severe reputational” damage if attempted to interfere with vaccine exports.

COSTA DEL ENGLAND: The prospect of summer holidays abroad for weary Brits was dealt a setback at the weekend as a scientific adviser warned they were “extremely unlikely” due to risk of tourists bringing back new variants to the UK which may have more resistance to existing vaccines. As some European countries experience a spike in Covid cases, Ben Wallace also stressed it would be “premature” to book an overseas holidays right now. Under the government’s roadmap to reopening the economy, ministers have pencilled in 17 May as the earliest possible date for overseas travel. But the defence secretary declined to rule out this date being extended. “We can’t be dealt and bling to what’s going on outside the United Kingdom,” he added. The uncertainty for sun-seekers is expected to continue until at least the middle of next month when a task force led by Michael Gove is set to report on the question of foreign travel and on the contentious issue of vaccine passports.

PING PONG: Ministers are braced for a day in the Commons where MPs will be given the opportunity to debate and vote on Lords amendments added to a series of crucial government bills. First up (around 3.30pm) the prime minister faces a revolt from backbench Tories over an attempt to prevent trade deal with countries accused of genocide, by allowing a panel of ex-judges in the Lords to make a determination as to whether a country has committed atrocities. This amendment (in various forms) has now passed between the Commons and Lords via the Trade Bill on multiple occasions — known as parliamentary “ping pong” — and ministers have shown no sign of accepting demands. It comes amid growing international concern over human rights abuses by China on the Uighur Muslim minority. MPs will also be given the opportunity to debate a Lords amendment to the Fire Safety Bill after the government was defeated in the upper chamber last week over an amendment which seeks to stop the costs for remedial work, like the removal of unsafe cladding from blocks of flats, being passed to leaseholders and tenants.

LABOUR GHOULS: Almost one year on from succeeding Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer’s honeymoon period is now long over. Unite boss Len McCluskey — a close ally of his predecessor — is the latest to join the criticism, suggesting Sir Keir is at risk of turning Labour into “the party of the establishment”. Warning he risks being “ditched into the dustbin of history” — rather than being elected as prime minister in 2024 — the union chief added: “I am urging Keir to look at his pledges, to reject siren voices of the ghouls of New Labour and to stick to the radical policies that will win back the Red Wall seats”. His comments followed those of Lord Mandelson, a key “ghoul”/architect of New Labour, who had called on Sir Keir to begin a review of the party’s policies, suggesting he “still has the 2019 manifesto around his neck”. In recent days, the Labour leader has sought to explain an emerging poll gap with the Conservatives as a “vaccine bounce” for the government. Sir Keir’s office declined the opportunity to respond to Mr McCluskey’s intervention.

VACCINE CONFIDENCE: A new poll from YouGov shows that perceived safety in the AstraZeneca/Oxford university Covid vaccine has dropped significantly in the last two weeks in Spain, Germany, France and Italy. The survey shows that the jab was already seen as unsafe in France — Emmanuel Macron previously described it “quasi-ineffective” — but concerns have increased even further, with 61 per cent saying the vaccine is unsafe (+18 on the last time the pollsters asked the question) with just 23 per cent believing it is safe. Following concerns about a link to blood clots, the European Medicines Agency stressed last week the vaccine “is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of thromboembolic events”, insisting: “This is a safe and effective vaccine, its benefits in protecting people from Covid-19 with the associated risks of death and hospitalisation outweighs the possible risks.”

On the record

“We can’t be deaf and blind to what’s going on outside the United Kingdom. If you look in Europe, increases in infections,”

Defence secretary Ben Wallace on overseas holidays

From the Twitterati

“Filling in Census and just shouted upstairs to one of my sons ‘What’s your religion?’Answer: “I’m IN A GAME!” Sounds like a religion to me, but sadly not one of the options.”

From the HuffPost’s Paul Waugh on the census….

“Isn’t it a bit weird on the census how the religion question has ‘no religion’ as a default option but the next question about national identity doesn’t have a corresponding ’none’ option? It doesn’t even come up as one of the prompts if you start typing in the ‘other’ box.”

… adds The Independent’s own Jon Stone

Essential reading

Colin Drury, The Independent: ‘A struggle to hold’ — Labour’s fears in Hartlepool by-election

Marsha de Cordova, The Independent: Racism is real — we will get nowhere until we all acknowledge this

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, The Independent: Climate change disproportionately affects women — but they can also provide the solution

Andrew Rawnsley, The Guardian: Waging war over vaccines can only end in tragedy for Britain and the EU