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| Wednesday March 21 2018 |
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By Matt Chorley
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Good morning,
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Thank you to the many readers who got in touch about my broken hand, and revealed that you too had taken a tumble and had the broken bones to prove it.
It's just a pity none of you told me that the ice was "treacherous", "deadly" and "a real bugger" before I fell on my backside. Still, at least I'll know for when the snow returns, just in time for the Easter weekend.
And happy birthday to Gary Oldman, who turns 60 today. A good reminder that Gary Numan is 13 days older than Gary Oldman.
- Red Box is a must-read in No 10, and across Westminster. Know someone who is missing out? Get them signed up today thetimes.co.uk/redbox
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Must reads
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- Cambridge Analytica, the British company accused of using dirty tricks to manipulate elections, entrapped a Caribbean politician with the offer of a £1 million bribe to secure victory for its clients.
- Plastic in the ocean is projected to triple by 2025, threatening marine life and possibly human health.
- Le hamburger has dethroned France’s traditional fast food, the baguette ham sandwich, for the first time since the country began adopting an American-style diet in the late 1960s.
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The first rule of Spad School...
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...is you leak about Spad School
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Malcolm Tucker, the fearsome, fictitious, foul-mouthed but worryingly effective spin doctor from The Thick of It, had a law. Tucker's Law. He claimed to have had it embroidered on a tea-towel at home: "If some c*** can f*** something up that c*** will pick the worst f****** time to f****** f*** up because that c***'s a c***."
All too often, it is the job of a special adviser, or spad, to stop that happening. Despite the impression given by Tucker & co in Armando Iannucci's brutal send-up of New Labour spin, and later the arrival of the tieless Cameroons, spads are a vital part of the Westminster eco-system.
In a vast government department of hundreds or thousands of people, a cabinet minister might have only two or three political appointees – some covering policy, some covering media – to be their eyes and ears for every meeting, policy paper and news story. Trying to stop that c*** from f****** up.
One of the consequences of the political turmoil of recent years has been the incredible churn of spads, in No 10 and across government, which has sometimes led some to form the impression that this is a government that doesn't always totally know what it is doing. A lack of mission, and faith in the PM, has created a sense of drift. Good news stories sold badly, bad news stories allowed to run and run.
The regular meetings of advisers – known for years as Spad School – became more sparsely attended. “They just get us in a room and tell us what we’ve already read in the papers,” one spad told me recently. “We’re not told secret shit. Cos they know we’d just tell you.”
That is changing. Spad School just got real. As part of the latest effort to reboot Theresa May's government, No 10 is to offer lessons in spinning (and other parts of running the country).
It gives you some idea of the speed at which Downing Street works that more support was first promised back in December but the process of providing it has taken "longer than anticipated". However, it has been driven through by Nikki da Costa, the highly-rated director of legislation brought in last autumn to keep the domestic agenda on track who has made it her personal mission to professionalise the spad operation.
"This has never happened before," said one experienced spinner. Another says that "it's certainly late in the day, and we could have done with it much earlier, but it's good they are working hard to make No 10 more professional and inclusive".
An email announcing the training sent to spads this week includes the fateful words: "These documents should not be circulated further." I don't know how to tell you this, but they have been circulated further. To Red Box. There is a jaunty No 10 spad organogram and a new spad directory with photos so that people can work out who everyone is.
Remember, this is almost two years into the May government, and eight years since the Conservatives first entered power. It tells you something about the huge turnover in staff, both when May became prime minister and then again after the general election disaster, that they are still in the business of circulating induction packs.
New training sessions are also being drawn up. The first, planned for the end of April, is called "Working with No 10", and will be hosted by long-serving special advisers Denzil Davidson and Sheridan Westlake (who was credited last week with teaching the PM to fist-bump).
This is not before time, as relations between the centre and the rest of government could always do with improving. A senior minister said: “No 10 swing between the arrogant aloofness of the court of Louis XIV and the doom of Hitler’s bunker.”
Then in May there will be a course called "Working with the Treasury and understanding the budget", run by three of Philip Hammond's spads, Duncan McCourt, Douglas McNeill and Tim Pitt.
Further sessions planned include: Making and implementing policy; Working with other departments; Building parliamentary support; Getting your legislation into parliament, and Working with the press.
The latter is what will pique the interest of journalists in Westminster. If they are looking for someone to run the session, my Times colleague Sam Coates is available and offers some tips below.
You're probably not aware of this, but Downing Street currently has a seven-point plan. A fun game to play in Westminster is getting a spad, or minister to try to name them all: Brexit, houses, jobs, schools er... coffee cups, hats and fist-bumps?
The Building a Britain Fit for the Future document was lampooned by ministers and spads when it was published last month and little has changed since. “It’s all perfectly worthy, who could oppose any of it?” says one government source. “But there is no money, and even if there was, no one has a decent idea of what to do with it.”
What does all this mean? While you are hard pushed to find someone outside No 10 who thinks May will ever lead the Tories into an election, the view inside is a little different. No new alternative leader has emerged, Brexit is back on track (for now) and there are early signs that the polls might just be turning slightly in the Tories' favour.
If you think you're just holding the fort and planning to quit next year to give a new leader time to bed in, you probably don't embark on a training programme for your spads to prepare them for the long haul.
Remember: the first rule of Spad School is: you do not talk about Spad School. The second rule of Spad School is: you DO NOT talk about Spad School. The third rule of Spad School is only talk about Spad School to Red Box. All leaks welcome redbox@thetimes.co.uk.
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Sam Coates' Media Bootcamp
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Who better to lead a lesson in how to deal with the media than Sam Coates, The Times deputy political editor. Here he gives ten tips to political spinners which apply to all parties:
1. Do not lie. Ever. It's the one thing never forget. You know who you are. Yes, you.
2. You have more of value than you realise. Every email on your phone is a story, one way or another. The forward button is your friend.
3. What was eaten by politicians does not count as "colour". Try again. We want to understand why things happened. Help us.
4. If something you don't like appears in a newspaper or online, talk it through. Suggests ideas for new stories. Think laterally. Don't just phone and shout – think of something constructive to say before you pick up the phone. Cutting off contact rarely serves your political boss.
5. Number 10 or the leader's office are not always your friend. Whatever it is, they won't want you to do it. So maybe just don't ask?
6. Don't spend ages worrying what the "story" is or trying to craft the words that will appear in the newspaper. That's our job. Just tell us what's happened and we will do the rest.
7. Never fall out with a journalist over a headline, however cross they make you.
8. The more you deal with hacks, the easier it becomes. Misunderstandings happen through ignorance – and mistakes aren't in anyone's interest.
9. The British political system is obsessed with secrecy. Theresa May more than most. This is unhealthy. Help us to help the establishment with this counter-productive addiction.
10. We are not the enemy. Nor are we your friend. But we can and should – occasionally – jointly appreciate the absurdities of the village.
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YESTERDAY'S QUESTION: I asked what you thought of the Brexit transition deal agreed this week. Unusually you were evenly split. Full results here
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Today's cartoon from The Times by Peter Brookes
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Nothing has changed
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Remember how hordes of non-voters rushed to the polls to vote for the first time, determined to put Jeremy Corbyn into No 10? Well, it didn't happen.
New research from NatCen Social Research’s British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey suggests that Labour was not actually particularly successful in persuading its supporters to make it to the polls in 2017.
John Curtice, the great election sage, writes for Red Box that far from a surge of Corbynmania, Labour supporters were "less likely than their Conservative counterparts to turn out and vote — in much the same way as they have been at every other recent general election".
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Dear Vlad,
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Don't you hate it when the children fight? All is not well in Brussels after Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, congratulated Vladimir Putin, wishing him "every success" and urging closer ties with Russia.
Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s Brexit negotiator, said this was “no time for congratulations”. The Times understands that Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, took a personal stand by refusing to send a letter to Putin at all.
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До свидания!
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There were hugs, kisses and waves goodbye on the steps of the Russian embassy yesterday as diplomats named as “undeclared intelligence officers” and their families left Britain.
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Read the full story
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Plenty more fish in the sea
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Michael Gove and Theresa May appeared last night to have headed off a Tory rebellion over a Brexit transition deal that was said to have sold UK fishermen short. Read the full story
City of dreams
European Union leaders will reject Britain’s plea for a special trade deal for the City of London by backing “equivalence mechanisms” to force financial services to operate under regulations imposed by Brussels. Read the full story
Delaying final vote
Parliament may have to wait until December to vote on Britain’s EU withdrawal agreement to give the Office for Budget Responsibility time to pass judgment on the final Brexit deal. Read the full story
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Tweet of the day
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A boat protest is planned on the Thames today to oppose the fishing deal in the transition but Jacob Rees-Mogg will not be joining in with the fish-throwing.
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The Sketch
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A grilling and battering from MPs
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Patrick Kidd
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Michael Gove looked a bit green around the gills. The environment secretary had been sent into the Commons to defend the latest position on Brexit, even though he tended to agree with those who carp about it being bad for the fishing industry. “The EU’s intransigence was disappointing,” he said. “I make no bones about it.” Deboned and gutted, Mr Gove lay there on the slab, waiting to be battered.
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Read the full sketch
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Pay day ... at last
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More than a million NHS staff will today be offered a 6.5 per cent pay rise over three years at a cost to taxpayers of £4.2 billion (the money is coming from the Treasury, not the existing health budget).
Interestingly a plan to force staff to give up a day's holiday in exchange for the rise – revealed by The Guardian two weeks ago – has been dropped after Labour called it "mean-spirited". Expect an announcement before lunchtime, and calls for other parts of the public sector to get pay rises to follow soon after.
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Read the full story
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Ones to watch today
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- It's PMQs at midday. If Jeremy Corbyn goes on the NHS again, expect Theresa May to push hard on the promise of a pay rise.
- Boris Johnson gives evidence to the foreign affairs committee this afternoon, with Russia high on the agenda. Let's hope he does better than his last appearance when his comments on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe led to Iran threatening to extend her jail term.
- Nick Clegg, Michael Heseltine and Andrew Adonis hold a press conference in Dublin at lunchtime on Brexit. I wonder which side they're on?
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End of the squeeze?
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The squeeze on households may be easing after official figures showed that inflation fell to a seven-month low in February.
The consumer price index, which is the headline measure of inflation in Britain, fell to 2.7 per cent, down from 3 per cent in December and January, to reach the lowest rate since July last year.
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Read the full story
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Picture of the day
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Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, won a special Sport Relief edition of the Great British Bake-Off, beating singer Ella Eyre, comedian Tim Minchin, and Made in Chelsea’s Jamie Laing.
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The cap still fits
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Jeremy Hunt wants to talk caps – thankfully not Jeremy Corbyn's. The health secretary says a cap on how much individuals and their families pay for residential home fees and other social care costs will be part of reform proposals.
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Read the full story
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Standing up for the 1 per cent
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How many times must we read the last rites for Ukip? A new ICM poll for The Guardian puts the party on just 1 per cent, the lowest since it started listing Ukip separately six years ago.
It comes as the party struggles to find the money to even run a leadership contest, never mind the damages for a defamation case.
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Not welcome
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To the surprise of no one, Jennie Formby was confirmed as the new Labour general secretary yesterday, to the dismay of self-styled "moderates" in the party.
John Woodcock, a Labour MP, claimed moderates were “no longer welcome”. You can add it to the growing list of things that could be the "final straw" (see also Russia, Ken Livingstone, deselections, Momentum, NEC rule changes...) that might make some of the disaffected decide to do something other than moan. Don't hold your breath.
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Read the full story
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Around the world
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FRANCE: Nicolas Sarkozy suffered the humiliation of being detained by police yesterday over allegations that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi funded his rise to power. Read the full story
LIBYA: The son of Colonel Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, has announced that he will run for president in Libyan elections this year. Read the full story
US: President Trump boasted that a $110 billion arms deal between Saudi Arabia and America testified to the strongest ever relations between the two countries, even as senators were debating how to limit military support for the kingdom. Read the full story
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Also in the news
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- UNDERPAID: Benefits blunder will cost taxpayer £700m (The Times)
- DAYLIGHT ROBBERY: Shoplifting doubles as thefts under £200 go unpunished (The Times)
- GRENFELL TOWER: Inquiry rejects anonymity for witnesses (The Times)
- CAUGHT OUT: Watchdog rebukes Theresa May over police funding claims (The Guardian)
- DRUG PLEA: Boy, six, meets Theresa May to help change cannabis laws to treat his rare epilepsy (The Sun)
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| TMS |
| From the diary |
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By Patrick Kidd
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Not up for the cup
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A cross-party football team of MPs won the Parliamentary Cup 4-2 against the Westminster press but only after the hacks loaned them three players. The politicians showed up with just seven, one of whom was Labour’s Stephen Kinnock. The Aberavon MP has called for the football World Cup to be postponed because of the Russia crisis but told one of his opponents yesterday that he could see another good reason. “It would really wind up the English.”
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Read more from the TMS diary
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Agenda
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Today
- National Audit Office report on its investigation into errors in the payment of employment and support allowance.
- Patient safety must be prioritised in next round of Brexit negotiations, according to a report by the health and social care committee.
- There are serious legal, constitutional and political obstacles in the way of achieving continued close policing and security co-operation after Brexit, according to a report by the home affairs committee.
- 9.15am Greg Clark, the business secretary, and Esther McVey, the work and pensions secretary, give evidence to the business, energy and industrial strategy committee and the work and pensions select committee on the collapse of Carillion.
- 9.30am Employment statistics published by Office for National Statistics
- 2.00pm Boris Johnson gives evidence to the foreign affairs committee.
- 2.45pm David Natzler, the Commons clerk, gives evidence to the procedure committee on proxy voting.
- 3.00pm Former Facebook employee gives evidence to the digital, culture, media and sport committee.
House of Commons
- 11.30am Northern Ireland questions
- Noon Prime minister's questions
- 12.45pm A ten-minute rule motion on Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Welfare of Women)
- 1.00pm Northern Ireland (Regional Rates and Energy) Bill - all stages
- Northern Ireland Assembly Members (Pay) Bill - all stages
- A short debate on the sport of shooting at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games
Westminster Hall
- 9.30am Effect of Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016
- 11.00am Provision of children's playgrounds
- 2.30pm Future of the Commonwealth
- 4.00pm Houses in multiple occupation and combined planning applications
- 4.30pm UK's future relationship with the EU on international development
House of Lords- 11.00am European Union (Withdrawal) Bill - committee stage (day nine)
- 3.00pm Oral questions
- 3.30pm European Union (Withdrawal) Bill - committee stage resumes
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@MattChorley
