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| Friday June 28 2019 |
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By Matt Chorley
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Good morning,
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"I understand from those who follow such things," began the Labour peer Lord Tunnicliffe in a debate in the Lords this week, "that I achieved notoriety in the stand-up routine of the Times journalist Matt Chorley when I used his catchphrase, 'This is not normal', in a debate in February."
This is true. I used the fact that he used "This is not normal" in the Lords as proof that things are not normal.
Lord Tunnicliffe is unrepentant. "We find ourselves in the longest parliamentary session by sitting days since the English Civil War while the government scrape the barrel for things to do. This truly is not normal."
To find out other things that are not normal, why not buy tickets to my This. Is. Not. Normal. tour? Everyone is welcome, including members of the House of Lords.
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The briefing
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- Boris Johnson is preparing an emergency budget for a no-deal Brexit, including aggressive tax cuts, an overhaul of stamp duty and an assault on regulation if he becomes prime minister, The Times reveals.
- The Daily Mail splashes on the revelation that the BBC covered up a Boris Johnson outburst in which he accused the French of being “turds” over Brexit.
- Theresa May meets President Putin at the G20 in Japan. She will demand that Russia hand over the two men accused of carrying out the Salisbury nerve agent poisonings. Putin told the Financial Times: “Treason is the gravest crime possible and traitors must be punished. I am not saying that the Salisbury incident is the way to do it . . . but traitors must be punished.”
- Tom Shinner, the top government official in charge of no-deal Brexit planning, has quit just as the chances of crashing out of the EU appear to have increased, The Guardian reveals. Which is not worrying at all.
- Gerard Batten has thrown his hat into the ring to become the next Ukip leader following the resignation of er . . . Gerard Batten.
- Some of President Trump’s tweets may soon come with a label that tells users they are looking at “abusive” content as Twitter tries to crack down on politicians breaking its guidelines.
- Today’s trivia question: What links Dennis Skinner, the Labour MP, to the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election? Answer at the bottom of today's email
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The world according to Ken
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He is, people say, the best prime minister we never had. Which, as Theresa May will tell you, is better than being the worst one that we did have.
Ken Clarke, former chancellor, health secretary, education secretary, home secretary, justice secretary, trade secretary and many more, spoke at a parliamentary press gallery lunch yesterday.
With the Commons all too short of the voice of experience — because most senior politicians decide to bugger off soon after leaving high office — the 78-year-old’s take on the current dire state of our national politics is worth sharing. From being a whip in Ted Heath’s government to now being Father of the House, this is Ken Clarke in his own words.
ON TODAY’S POLITICS
“Although in a way I'm entertained by the present situation, the entertainment is rather limited. For political addicts it's quite fascinating. But it is all rather serious and it's more of a tragic farce than anything else. I always get asked: have you ever seen anything like this before? No, I haven't. This is quite the maddest situation that has occurred in my political lifetime. And what is going to happen? I haven't a clue. Anybody who believes they know where we'll be politically in Britain in two weeks time is utterly deceiving himself or herself. When you think no more ridiculous turn of events could take place, another ridiculous turn of events does take place.”
ON THE RISE OF POPULISM
“The traditional centre-right bloc, centre-left politics is collapsing as it is in the western world for much bigger reasons . . . and why we get Trump, Brexit, yellow jackets, Salvini, they're all the same. It's a deep underlying discontent, uh, that, uh, people have lost confidence in their old regular politicians.”
ON CENTRIST POLITICS
“Anybody who accuses me of not being a Conservative is a lunatic. The difference between a One Nation Conservative and a Blairite Labour MP or a Liberal Democrat has always been quite nuanced. I'm not tribal. I've never fallen out with anybody personally over politics.”
ON POLITICAL DEADLOCK
“Parliament, which is deadlocked, actually represents public opinion, which is deadlocked. About a third of the population are angry Leavers who are being betrayed because of bloody politicians for their own conniving reasons. About a third of the population are angry Remainers who think this is all a farce, the public were all deceived, all a mistake, and should now be reversed and we should remain. And the other third are fed up with the lot of them. I'm bored stiff with all this. Why don't we get some sensible people who will move us on. Now that's roughly reflected accurately in the House of Commons.”
ON JEREMY CORBYN (AND JACOB REES-MOGG)
“Jeremy Corbyn I've known for 30 years, he doesn't modify his views. He has more formidable and more dangerous followers, but they are as firmly hostile to the European Union as the most of right wing and my colleagues. Jeremy and Jacob agree with each other for dramatically different reasons.”
ON THE TORY LEADERSHIP CONTEST
“When the Conservative Party can't think of anything sensible to do in a crisis it always has a leadership election.”
ON PARTY MEMBERS CHOOSING THE LEADER
“Both parties were doomed when we followed the 1990s fashion of making our parties democratic. And that's why it looks like winding up with Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson, who are two of the people most unrepresentative of public opinion at large that you could probably imagine.”
ON TORY MEMBERS
“Rather suspiciously, about a third of them are new. About 40 per cent joined after the referendum. Judging from the opinion polls which have been carried out amongst them, they have some extraordinary bizarre opinions, which I'm sure are quite unrepresentative of 90 per cent of the population as a whole.”
ON BORIS JOHNSON
“I couldn't care less about Boris's relationships with his girlfriends. I don't think I'm alone in not particularly wanting to know how Boris came to spill red wine on the sofa . . . but apparently this is the key test for the next prime minister of this country.”
ON HUNT vs JOHNSON
“They're competing with photo opportunities. I resign myself when I buy my newspaper in the morning to see which of them has covered up most pages with being licked by a dog and hugging children, wearing funny clothes on some walkabout and so on. No doubt the destiny of our nation is all being settled by this process.”
ON LEAVING WITH NO DEAL
“I don't think either candidate believes leaving with no deal makes the slightest sense at all. Jeremy hedges it. Boris does his usual thing of changing the way he expresses it day by day. He'll make his mind up on what he'll actually do, regardless of what he said, if actually finds himself as prime minister.”
ON BLOCKING NO DEAL
“I hope [MPs] eventually find some procedural device. The ultimate outrage that [the government] should be able to suspend parliament if it keeps being a nuisance and rule dictatorially for a month or two before you end the prorogation and bring it back — how anybody ever got round to uttering that in the 21st century I cannot imagine.”
ON NOT STANDING AGAIN
"I'm currently minded to step down and I've told my people in Nottingham that I'm not standing again. If I've been thrown out of the Conservative Party by then, one of the other parties may tempt me to have a run for them.”
ON EX-MINISTERS WHO QUIT
“I began in parliament [in 1970] with quite a lot of members of parliament who started before the war. I could meet those who had been very much in favour of appeasement; people told me Churchill had never really been a Tory. And there were plenty of ex-ministers about. It's usual now for ministers to clear off once their careers have reached an end. I think they feel uncomfortable hanging around. Obviously I think the place is somewhat weakened by the fact that half the House of Commons now is elected in 2010 or subsequently.”
ON THERESA MAY
“I hope Theresa finds an effective role still in public life when she goes. It'd be nice if she hung around.”
ON DAVID CAMERON
“Cameron stayed on for a week or two. He decided very quickly that this was uncomfortable and unpleasant and he didn't want to hang around here and he cleared off and he is making a lot of money.”
ON PHILIP HAMMOND
“He doesn't go out of his way to be too charismatic.”
ON A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE
“I could face a dilemma. Would I vote in favour of a vote of confidence when someone calls it in the new government? I will judge it by whether that is a sound Conservative response to the crisis. If I decide that the policy being put forward isn't a Conservative policy and is actually the Brexit Party rebranded I'm afraid I see no point in my stage in my career in voting to say I have confidence in Her Majesty's government.”
ON THE FUTURE
"In the end, I'm an optimist. The real world will return, parliament will recover its respect, parliament might even recover the ability to govern ourselves without being laughed at by the rest of the world."
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I asked if austerity was over and almost three-quarters of you said no. Full result here
Have your say
Sorry for not putting in a question yesterday. Today: How could Jeremy Hunt beat Boris Johnson?
TODAY: Email redbox@thetimes.co.uk and we'll use some of the best on Monday.
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The cartoon
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Today's cartoon from The Times by Peter Brookes
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Need to know
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LABOUR REVOLT: Jeremy Corbyn faces a growing revolt by Labour MPs and peers over the party’s readmittance of Chris Williamson, one of his most prominent supporters. More than 110 of them, including Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, have demanded that Williamson lose the whip immediately for saying that the party had been “too apologetic” about allegations of antisemitism. (The Times)
TUITION FEES: Taxpayers will end up paying 47p of every pound borrowed by students this academic year, analysis suggests. (The Times)
TESTING TIMES: A GCSE examiner has revealed wildly different marks being awarded in this year’s English language paper, saying that children are “being betrayed”. (The Times)
BENEFIT BLUNDERS: Ministers have been told urgently to review errors in the benefits system as overpayments reached their highest level since 2005. (The Daily Telegraph)
WALKING WONDERS: Theresa May has drawn angry criticism for saying that it took the sight of melting glaciers while on holiday to realise the importance of reducing greenhouse emissions, despite being regularly advised about the need to take drastic action by “the best climate scientists in the world”. (The Independent)
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Poll of the day
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Leadershipwatch
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Boris Johnson (1/7*) has offered the job of chancellor to former leadership rival Sajid Javid, according to allies. In unrelated news, Javid is expected to endorse Johnson formally within the next fortnight. Johnson said yesterday that he would select only cabinet ministers who were “reconciled” to the possibility of a no-deal Brexit on October 31.
Jeremy Hunt (5/1) has written to his rival (tweeting it out because Johnson is refusing to do a TV debate on Sky, so “we must use your preferred method of debate, exchanging letters"). Hunt urges Johnson to “be straight with people” about what no-deal will really mean.
Jean-Claude Juncker could stay on as president of the European Commission if there is a no-deal Brexit on October 31, a senior source has said.
Tax cuts for the rich, promised by Johnson and Hunt, have been attacked by the United Nations rapporteur on extreme poverty, who compared them to Donald Trump’s fiscal policies and warned that they would “tremendously increase inequality” in Britain, The Guardian reports.
*Latest odds from Ladbrokes
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The Sketch
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Hunt plays straight man in seaside double-act
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Quentin Letts
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Outside Bournemouth’s Pavilion Theatre they were advertising The Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club. Inside the luxuriant old playhouse some 600 Conservative activists took their red velvet seats for the latest hustings in their party’s leadership election.
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Read the full sketch
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Picture of the day
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Clearly feeling demob happy, Theresa May's official account tweeted this photo on board May Force One, the PM's flight to Japan.
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Now read this
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John Gunther Dean with the flag that had flown over the US embassy in Phnom Penh in April 1975
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John Gunther Dean obituary
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John Gunther Dean had a long, colourful and sometimes controversial career in the US foreign service. He served as ambassador in five countries, survived two assassination attempts and a helicopter crash, negotiated a fragile peace in Laos, held secret talks with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and much else besides. However, his ignominious retreat from Cambodia was the low point that never ceased to haunt him.
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Read the full story
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| TMS |
| From the diary |
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By Patrick Kidd
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Brecon beckons
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The new prime minister will have been in office for only a week, barely time to change the curtains, before his first electoral test. The Brecon & Radnorshire by-election, a Tory marginal, has been called for August 1 and the omens are not good. Mr Memory, the twittersphere’s greatest politics nerd, observes that this will be 80 years to the day since the previous by-election in that constituency, when the seat changed hands. The Second World War began a month later.
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Read more from the TMS diary
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The agenda
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Today
- Theresa May is due to meet President Putin of Russia in a bilateral talk on the margins of the G20 leaders' summit today.
- Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt participate in hustings with Conservative party members in Exeter.
- Japan hosts a joint meeting of G20 finance and health ministers, with Philip Hammond representing the UK.
- David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister, hosts the British-Irish Council summit, and separately the joint ministerial committee meeting with representatives
- The standard of living quarters for many military personnel is "simply not good enough", according to a report by the public accounts committee.
- There are "avoidable shortcomings" in the government's approach to tackling serious and organised crime, according to a report by the National Audit Office.
- Environmental groups call on Michael Gove, the environment secretary, to introduce emergency measures to halt the decline of North Sea cod.
- 7pm Lib Dems hold East of England leadership hustings with Jo Swinson and Sir Ed Davey.
- 7pm The South West Hertfordshire Conservative Association holds a special general meeting to vote on a motion of no confidence in the local MP, David Gauke.
House of Commons & House of Lords
- The Commons and Lords return on July 1.
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Today's trivia answer
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Today’s trivia question: What links Dennis Skinner, the Labour MP, to the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election?
Answer: It was by moving the writ for the Brecon and Radnor seat, which any MP could do back in those days, that he was able to talk out Enoch Powell's private member's bill aimed at banning stem cell research in 1985.
Send your trivia to redbox@thetimes.co.uk
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@MattChorley
