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| Monday November 13 2017 |
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By Matt Chorley
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Brought to you by
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Good morning,
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There is a scandal brewing in the world of Scrabble, where a former British champion has been banned from competitions for breaking the game’s rules about how to choose new tiles out of the bag.
Skilled in sleight of hand to score points over rivals, perhaps he should be put in charge of Brexit.
Although that is not a valid five-letter word.
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Must reads
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- The Church of England has said children should be free to try out “the many cloaks of identity” including dressing up in girls’ or boys’ clothes without being labelled or bullied.
- Australia’s government has lost its parliamentary majority as more of its MPs admitted that they have dual citizenship — a status that should have prevented them from seeking election in the first place.
- A former Conservative Party candidate who gave up his job as a foreign currency broker to fight against Islamic State was detained by anti-terrorist police when he returned to Britain.
- Who links Trump’s son-in-law and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia? Meet Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE’s man in the American capital. Times2 asks: Is this the best networker in Washington?
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Dynamic duo or gruesome twosome?
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To fans, they are the dynamic duo who succeeded where few expected them to, delivering Brexit agains the odds.
To detractors, they are the gruesome twosome who pursued mixed motives to campaign against their old friend, David Cameron, but having got us into this mess keep making matters worse.
Michael Gove and Boris Johnson were joined at the hip during the EU referendum but the bromance turned sour when the former reneged on a deal to back the latter for the Tory leadership, and they both lost out.
Peter Brookes' famous cartoon for The Times, showing Gove stabbing Johnson in the back but also knifing himself, captured perfectly one of the most extraordinary moments in recent British political history.
Gove was banished to the back benches, sacked by Theresa May, while his partner in crime emerged from the wreckage as foreign secretary.
Almost 18 months on, their fortunes are diverging again. Gove appears to be on the up, wooing environmentalists with surprise announcements on soil, ivory, slaughterhouses, plastic bottles and bees.
Johnson, meanwhile, faces calls to resign for a catalogue of diplomatic distractions, most notably his gaffe in wrongly claiming Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was working during a visit to Iran, prompting threats from Tehran that the British mother's sentence would doubled to ten years.
A furious Richard Ratcliffe has stopped short of calling for Johnson to be sacked, only because more "instability" is unlikely to help his wife, who he says has found lumps in her breasts and is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Perhaps it was a deliberate if misguided act of solidarity with his on-off foe rather than stupidity that prompted Gove to make a similar mistake on The Andrew Marr Show yesterday.
Asked what Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing in Iran, he replied: "I don’t know." He went on to say that "her husband said that she was there on holiday, and her husband is the person who should know".
Tulip Siddiq, who is Zaghari-Ratcliffe's MP, tweeted last night: “Astonishing that two of the leading Brexiteers, Boris and Gove, can’t get the facts straight."
Gove and Johnson playing loose with the facts? Surely not. For a pair of former journalists who are suspected by their critics of treating politics like a game, their casual use of language has a real impact.
Which brings us back to Brexit. Allies say the duo have formed a “political alliance of necessity” to deliver their model of Brexit, after a leaked memo showed how they were pressurising the PM, complaining of a lack of decision-making.
An ally of the PM tells the Telegraph it is a "sordid" attempt to oust Philip Hammond. A cabinet minister tells The Guardian it is "Orwellian". The Daily Mail claims the memo was drawn up "over a bottle of Merlot".
Gove is portrayed as the brains of the operation, with Johnson again accused of lacking a grasp of the detail. Both men know that they carry huge personal responsibility for the decision to leave the EU.
They also know that the clock is ticking if either of them still harbour hopes of reaching higher office.
If May pushes ahead with a big reshuffle, to promote the "next generation", Johnson's leadership chances will fade. Friends of Gove still harbour hopes he could yet become chancellor.
Together they want to “take back control” of the government agenda. Demonstrating better control of what comes out of their mouths might not be a bad place to start.
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| Quote of the day |
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"Why would you want to sack him? He’s a good Foreign Secretary."
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David Davis on Boris Johnson (Sky News)
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FRIDAY'S POLL: We asked who would make the best prime minister: 71 per cent said Theresa May, 15 per cent said Jeremy Corbyn. See the results here
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Today's cartoon from The Times by Morten Morland
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Let battle commence
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Theresa May meets the CBI and European business groups today in an effort to reassure them about her plans for life outside the EU.
It's a big week for Brexit, as the EU Withdrawal Bill returns to the Commons tomorrow and Wednesday for the start of the committee stage, where MPs pick over the legislation line by line.
In a rare move, two select committee chairwomen from different parties have united to warn the government against blocking attempts to allow parliament to take back control.
Tory Nicky Morgan and Labour's Yvette Cooper write for Red Box: "Putting down amendments is the bread and butter work of MP ... Ministers should not be affronted by this bit of democracy in action."
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Brexit shorts
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The Times reports that Downing Street appears ready to concede that trade deal negotiations will not be complete before Brexit, with one of Theresa May's aides talking about a "transition" period, rather than the "implementation" period that the PM has promised. Read the full story
Michael Gove sought to further burnish his environmental credentials by announcing plans for a “green Brexit” with higher protection standards than those within the EU. Read the full story
Scotland should consider offering free tuition to European students even after the legal obligation to do so ends with Brexit, one of the country’s leading university principals has said. Read the full story
The Irish government does not intend to veto the Brexit negotiations “at this stage” but legal guarantees from Britain are needed if the talks are to proceed, Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach, has warned. Read the full story
Get a deal or the dog gets it: The Telegraph reports that British families will be barred from taking their pets to the continent if Brexit negotiations collapse.
Sir Keir Starmer, Labour’s Brexit spokesman, tells the Financial Times that Theresa May lacks the authority in her own party to deliver a transitional arrangement and avoid an economic cliff edge.
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Chart of the day
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Video nasties
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Mainstream media are helping to fuel propaganda by Islamic State, according to police chiefs who claim up to 50 per cent of Isis propaganda can be found on newspaper and broadcasting websites or academic web platforms.
Mark Rowley, the country’s top counterterrorism officer, says that most Isis statements and videos can only be seen on obscure encrypted channels until they are picked up by the media and broadcast to millions.
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Read the full story
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Green's non-denial
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Damian Green appeared to drop his claim that there was never any porn on his seized computers yesterday and instead reiterated that police had never told him about the discovery.
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Read the full story
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Dining out
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Christopher Pincher, the Tory MP who quit as a whip after facing allegations of sexual misconduct as a "'pound-shop Harvey Weinstein", dined with the solicitor-general, Robert Buckland, hours after his case was reported to police.
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Read the full story
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Don't ask, don't get
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Employees are resisting the urge to ask for wage increases despite years of weak pay growth because they believe their employers cannot afford rises.
Almost four in ten companies say they are under “no pressure” whatsoever from their employees, according to a labour market survey. You know what to do when you get to work this morning ...
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Read the full story
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Cameron's third home
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After vowing not to "do a Blair", David Cameron is building up his property portfolio after buying a third house, this time in Cornwall.
Maybe he just wants to get away from it all, after once admitting he couldn't get in touch with Barack Obama during a West Country holiday because he kept losing his phone signal.
Three houses and a luxury "shepherd's hut" might not seem a bad haul but at the last count Blair and his family owned at least 37 properties.
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Read the full story
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Maps of the day
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Another fascinating set of maps from the @ElectionMapsUK Twitter account. More here
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The smell of decline
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Johnny Mercer, the former soldier and now Tory MP, has given an interview to The Daily Telegraph in which he warns Theresa May's premiership is at a "critical point" and says he can't bear to watch his colleagues on TV defending Boris Johnson and Priti Patel.
"It smells of decline, and the people won't have it."
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Amber warning
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A rarity in Westminster tonight: Amber Rudd speaks on the future of the Tory party at event she was actually booked for, rather than standing in for the prime minister.
Expect her speech to the New Generation project led by the Centre for Policy Studies think tank to be seen as a not-so-thinly veiled leadership bid.
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On the road again
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Well there's a surprise: Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has hinted that Uber will get to keep its licence in the capital after the company apologised and vowed to correct mistakes.
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Read the full story
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Also in the news
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- TROOP TROUBLE: We can’t recruit enough soldiers, head of armed forces admits Read the full story
- EDWARD HEATH: Wiltshire police ignored specialist advice in accusing ex-PM of abuse Read the full story
- COMPUTER CRASHES: Driverless cars ‘could be hacked to cause pile-ups’ Read the full story
- HOUSING CRISIS: Right to buy is doomed unless we get more power, say councils Read the full story
- OVERNIGHT COSTS: Care charities going bust after being told to pay higher wages Read the full story
- WAITING TIME: Number of A&E patients waiting four hours rises fivefold Read the full story
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What the papers say
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The Times
"A confused debate about gender, shared and accelerated on social media, is putting young women in particular at risk. In the attempt to be understanding and avoid offence, there is a danger that genuine harm is now being done." Read the full article
The Daily Telegraph
"Her Government is already reeling from two Cabinet resignations and now faces a ferocious legislative battle that will do nothing to steady the ship of state." Read the full article
The Sun
"Senior Cabinet Ministers should be expected to answer questions about Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe properly. But though the imprisoned Brit is entitled to be disappointed, we must remember that the real villain of the piece here is the Iranian government." Read the full article
Daily Mail
"[James Dyson] is a man with vast experience of doing business in the real world. Shouldn't we listen to him, rather than the hysterical scaremongers in the Westminster bubble?"
Daily Mirror
"Accountability and shame are lost from politics when a jailed mother weeps on the phone after Boris Johnson has endangered her life - yet the Foreign Secretary is allowed to cling to high office."
The Guardian
"It is clear that the battle for a proper democratic debate about Britain’s future outside the EU will have to be waged on many fronts." Read the full article
Daily Express
"To misquote a famous Saatchi election slogan: “Tory plotting isn’t working.” The party does not have a better leader in waiting and the public’s high opinion of Mrs May shows the folly of even thinking of dumping her." Read the full article
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Agenda
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Today
- Theresa May, David Davis, the Brexit secretary, Greg Clark, the business secretary, and Steve Barclay, the city minister, meet European business leaders in Downing Street.
- David Davis and Hilary Benn, chairman of the Brexit select committee, meet to discuss the government’s Brexit impact assessments.
- Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, attends meeting on services for the families affected by alcohol abuse organised by the APPG on alcohol harms.
- Michel Barnier, the chief Brexit negotiator for the European Commission, meets representatives of the 3million group, which is lobbying for the rights of EU citizens living in the UK.
- A 1 per cent increase in National Insurance contributions could raise £5 billion for social care, according to a report by the Independent Age organisation.
- Councils are only able to replace a third of homes sold off under right to buy, according to a report by the Local Government Association.
- 10.00am Nicky Morgan, chairwoman of the Treasury select committee, Rachel Reeves, the former shadow work and pensions secretary and Frank Field, chairman of the work and pensions select committee, speak on the autumn budget at the Resolution Foundation.
- 1.00pm Inquest opens into Carl Sargeant, the Welsh former government minister.
- 5.45pm Theresa May, David Lidington, the justice secretary, and Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, attend the lord mayor’s banquet. The prime minister is expected to speak.
- 6.30pm Amber Rudd, the home secretary, speaks at the launch of the New generation project led by the Centre for Policy Studies think tank.
House of Commons
- 2.30pm Work and pensions questions
- Proceedings on legislation relating to Northern Ireland legislation
- Adjournment debate on Bedfordshire police funding (Andrew Selous)
Westminster Hall
- 4.30 pm debate on e-petitions relating to a referendum on Scottish independence (Martyn Day)
Select Committees
- 3.00pm Public accounts: Philip Rutnam, permanent secretary at the Home Office, on the emergency services network.
- 3.30pm Public accounts: Adrian Scott, national offender management service, Richard Heaton, the Ministry of Justice, and Michael Spurr, CEO of HM prison and probation service, on offender-monitoring tags.
- 4.00pm Communities and local government: council and care body representatives on housing for older people.
- 4.45pm Transport: Transport and passenger association representatives on community transport.
House of Lords
- 2.30pm Oral questions on financial settlement on joint EU assets after Brexit; penalty points for driving using a hand-held mobile phone; cost of assessment for dyslexic students, and overseas aid expenditure.
- European Union (Approvals) Bill - committee of the whole house
- Data Protection Bill - committee of the whole house (Lord Ashton of Hyde)
- Short debate on the risks posed by household debt in the UK (the Lord Bishop of St Albans)
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@MattChorley
