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| Wednesday March 7 2018 |
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By Matt Chorley
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Good morning,
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On this week’s Red Box podcast, comedian Matt Forde mourns the demise of PMQs, a once-great moment of political accountability, inquisition and wit reduced to competing social media clips as mirthless as they are lacking in insight.
Little news is committed, the PM unchallenged by an opposition’s inability to ask a proper question or her own MPs urging her to congratulate their local school/ / garden centre / broadband speed / lay-by.
Will today’s bout at midday be any better? Admittedly Jeremy Corbyn has very little to go on. He might be able to scrape something together from the spy mystery, Brexit, Saudi Arabia, Trump water shortages and why the prime minister gave a speech from inside a chimney. But he might not.
For now, PMQs clings on obviously.
- 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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- The Times reveals that curbs on junk food adverts and two-for-one deals on biscuits and cakes are being drawn up in Downing Street as Theresa May prepares for a U-turn on obesity.
- The White House was rocked by the resignation of another top official last night as Gary Cohn, the president's economic adviser, quit in protest at the imposition of import tariffs.
- Scotland's top civil servant, Leslie Evans, has complained that her Westminster counterparts do not understand what goes on north of the border.
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‘A malign and disruptive force’
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These are sensitive times. The suspected poisoning of a former Kremlin double agent and his daughter is being treated as an assassination attempt linked to Russia. Whoever is going to field questions on this needs to be calm, and precise with their words.
So here comes the foreign secretary, who began his statement on Britain's relationship with Russia calmly insisting "I am not now pointing fingers" and by the end was talking of "acts of war" and threatening to boycott the football World Cup.
The prepared statement had lots of ifs and buts, which even this morning look out of date. "It is too early to speculate ... members will have their suspicions ... if those suspicions prove to be well founded."
The papers and news bulletins are still full of the case of the spy in the Salisbury shopping centre, but none has the answer to the key question: who did it? Or indeed, what "it" was.
Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, remain critically ill in hospital after being exposed to an unknown substance. Whitehall sources tell The Times that the police and MI5 are treating it as a state-sponsored assassination attempt.
Skripal was jailed for treason in his home country for passing secrets to MI6 but in 2010 gained refuge in the UK as part of a spy swap deal.
In a television interview at the time of Skripal's release President Putin was said to have stated: “Traitors will kick the bucket." Which is perhaps not the sort of thing to say if you don't want to have the finger of suspicion pointed in your direction later.
So what does the British government do if these suspicions are realised? "Russia is, I am afraid, in many respects now a malign and disruptive force," Johnson told the Commons.
Relations with Russia are some of the most difficult in the world, he said. If Skripal is found to have been the target of the Russian state there will have to be some "difficult conversations".
"Thinking ahead to the World Cup this summer, it is very difficult to imagine how UK representation at that event could go ahead in the normal way, and we will certainly have to consider that."
Wowsers, was he seriously suggesting that Gareth Southgate and co might not even get chance to board a plane to Volgograd? Someone hit the well-worn panic button in the Foreign Office and insisted that the Three Lions would still be travelling but the ministerial delegations might be curtailed.
Tracey Crouch is a lovely person but banning the sports minister from the VIP buffet to watch England's quarter-final defeat is not exactly hitting Russia where it hurts.
Time and again yesterday Johnson came under pressure to say what more could be done to stand up to Russian aggression in Crimea, Ukraine and Syria, and the cyberattacks on the UK’s critical infrastructure that he himself called "acts of war".
The Russian foreign ministry dismissed Johnson's remarks as "wild". You suspect they had written the press release before he had even spoken.
Johnson insisted Britain is already going out on a limb, doing more than other countries in expelling diplomats, imposing sanctions, boycotting summits and restricting industry. This might cost Britain but "it is worth it", he said.
But is it working? Several MPs noted that the threat of British retaliation does not seem to have prevented Skripal being targeted.
I understand that the incident in Salisbury was not even discussed during Cabinet yesterday, until news came through that an urgent question from Tom Tugendhat had been granted and Johnson was to be sent out to bat for Britain.
Amber Rudd, the home secretary, cancelled an appearance at the women and equalities committee this morning and will instead chair a meeting of Cobra at 10.45am.
She will know that her predecessor, Theresa May, was criticised for being insufficiently robust over the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, even after an inquiry linked it to Putin. Ministers will be torn between not pre-judging the investigation and not being seen to capitulate in the face of a suspected assassination attempt on British soil.
"Should evidence emerge that implies state responsibility," Johnson said. "Then Her Majesty’s government will respond appropriately and robustly.” We wait to see what exactly that might mean.
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| Quote of the day |
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I say to governments around the world that no attempt to take innocent life on UK soil will go either unsanctioned or unpunished
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Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary
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Lib Dems vs Moscow
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The Lib Dems’ Tom Brake yesterday released a list of 11 things that Russia must do before the World Cup. Presumably number 12 is "Google Tom Brake".
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The Sketch
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Refuse to send Balding. That’ll show em
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Patrick Kidd
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Boris Johnson was late. The Speaker had granted an urgent question on our relationship with Russia after the recent events in Salisbury but at the appointed hour the foreign secretary was not in the chamber. In the House of Lords, ministers resign for such failings.
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Read the full sketch
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YESTERDAY'S QUESTION: I asked how serious the Russian threat was to Britain. Three-quarters think it's pretty serious indeed. Full results here
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Today's cartoon from The Times by Peter Brookes
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Rolling out the red carpet
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Saudi Arabia’s ambitious and controversial crown prince can expect protests when he arrives in London to meet the Queen, the Prince of Wales and Theresa May today.
The visit by Prince Mohammed bin Salman has reignited the debate over one of Britain's most controversial allies: supporters say he is a reformer who has modernised the economy and society, including allowing women to drive.
Campaigners against the war in Yemen, in which Saudi Arabia has killed thousands of civilians using British and American weapons, say they will converge on Westminster to demand an end to the UK’s support.
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Don't follow the money
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Remember how MPs were going to have to stay late every night and parliament was going to be busier than ever? In reality most nights pass without having a vote at all: MPs haven't had a full vote in the Commons for a week.
Tonight they are on a three-line whip though to stop Labour backdating plans to make public political donations in Northern Ireland (as they already are in the rest of the UK).
Ministers want to block a change in the law that would reveal the details of a £425,000 donation to the DUP that was used to fund Brexit adverts across the country during the EU referendum campaign. Tories are on a three-line whip to block the Labour amendment.
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Read the full story
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‘Double cherry-picking’
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The Guardian has got hold of the European Commission's "lines to take" on Theresa May's latest Brexit speech, which dismiss the PM's efforts as more about Tory party management and proposing a model which is unworkable and "double cherry-picking".
Mind your language
A cross-party group of British MEPs has warned Boris Johnson that he risks ruining Britain’s image abroad with repeated use of violent war imagery when talking about Brexit, The Independent reports.
European forever
Plaid Cymru has an opposition day debate today, and they hope to force a vote on UK citizens keeping European Union citizenship "in the event that the UK leaves the EU".
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Mapping the border
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Dublin and Belfast are working together to map out for the first time the number of border crossings on the island.
The front page of the Irish edition of The Times has details of a meeting held in September last year. There are thought to be about 275 road crossings on the 310-mile border but no one is quite sure. The need to sort the border issue ahead of Brexit has made it slightly more pressing.
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Read the full story
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Chart of the day
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Fascinating new YouGov polling on age: when are we young and when are we old. Most Britons think we stop being young when we turn 30, while we become middle-aged at 48 and old at 70.
Asked how old you "feel", the differences were striking. Just 14 per cent of people who voted Conservative in 2017 feel young, compared to 32 per cent of Labour voters and 25 per cent of Lib Dems. By contrast 21 per cent of Tories feel old, almost three times the 8 per cent of Labour voters.
Remain voters were twice as likely to feel young and half as likely to feel old as Leave voters. More details here
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Ones to watch today
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- Philip Hammond, the chancellor, finally gets chance to have his say on Brexit, warning that European consumers will pay dearly if Brussels tries to punish the City. The Daily Mail has the story.
- Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, holds a press conference on draft guidelines for a trade deal with the UK post-Brexit.
- The Labour MP Melanie Onn calls for women to be able to report wolf-whistling, catcalling and unwanted attention on public transport to the police as hate crimes during a Westminster Hall debate. She explained why to the Grimsby Telegraph.
One to book today
- The cream of the country's political impressionists including Rory Bremner, Debra Stephenson, Jan Ravens, Ronni Ancona, Alistair McGowan and Jon Culshaw are joining The Imitation Game, a new panel show for ITV. Get tickets here
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Bolton and on and on
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Henry Bolton, the ex-Ukip leader, has taken time out from rekindling his relationship with the model racist/racist model Jo Marney to launch a new political party, One Nation, with the snappy slogan: "The best solution is the best solution."
My favourite bit of the logo is the way the '1' is slightly left of centre.
If that doesn't work out he could always fall back on his old boast of being able to kill a badger with his bare hands. Defra has just announced a two-week consultation into extending the cull.
The Sun reports that Ukip (remember them?) is just days from bankruptcy and is begging branches to raise £100,000 by the end of the month or go bust.
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Bergdorf's 'orf
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Munroe Bergdorf, a transgender model, has resigned as an equalities adviser after The Times revealed offensive comments she made on Twitter.
On Saturday The Times revealed tweets she wrote about lesbians and gay men. In one, she made fun of a friend, stating: “How’s your barren womb? We all know your little secret . . . hairy lesbian!” She criticised a singer on TV, saying: “You have to admit she did look like a butch LEZZA tho.” Other tweets referred to a “saggy ol dyke”.
She was previously sacked by L'Oreal for claiming all white people are racist. She has blamed "the conservative right wing press”, obviously.
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Around the world
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ITALY: Matteo Renzi's defeated ruling party was shaken by internal revolt yesterday as leading figures pushed for a coalition deal with the populist Five Star Movement to keep the far right out of power. Read the full story
NORTH KOREA: President Trump said last night that a “peaceful, beautiful” path forward was possible for talks with North Korea after Kim Jong-un signalled that he would consider relinquishing his nuclear arsenal. Read the full story
FRANCE: Prison terms of one month or less are to end under President Macron's sentencing reform intended to ease prison overcrowding. Read the full story
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What do you think?
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Pasty wars
The question of American pasties threatening the Cornish version continues to exercise several Red Box readers.
Paul Cloutman writes: "In north California's Gold Country, the town of Grass Valley has two Cornish pasty shops offering a range of fillings including the original, introduced to the area by the 'Cousin Jacks' - the Cornish hard rock miners who took over when panning and hydraulic systems for getting at the gold were exhausted. Incidentally, my Cornish mother, Penzance-born, would use carrot for those of us who didn't like the traditional swede/turnip."
Mark Elton says there is a chain of pasty restaurants in Arizona, and my Twitter mentions are full of people debating the merits of swede and crimping.
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Also in the news
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- PAY ROW: Vice-chancellor blocks Oxford bid to resolve lecturers’ strike (The Times)
- GONG GOING: Bradley Wiggins knighthood is inappropriate, says MP (The Times)
- TROLLEY WAIT: Child waits in A&E for six days amid bed crisis (The Times)
- HACKING RISK: Government calls for tougher security on smart devices to stop criminals hacking into homes (The Daily Telegraph)
- NEW BREED: Harriet Harman hails the rise of 'Tory feminist' MPs (The Times)
- POWER PLAN: Labour backs £1.5bn tidal energy plan on the Mersey (Financial Times)
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| TMS |
| From the diary |
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By Patrick Kidd
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Rudd family values revealed
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At a reception in the Commons on Monday to mark 100 years of women getting the vote, Amber Rudd spoke of the enthusiastic reception that she received at home when she became an MP in 2010. “My son was 17 and my sister said to him: ‘You must be so proud that your mum is an MP’,” the home secretary recalled. “And he said: ‘Yes, it’s fantastic — she is never at home’.” Rudd then spoke of the need for gender equality, saying that parties should consider “embedding” women in top jobs, although if a male politician said that now he would probably get reported for sexual harassment.
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Read more from the TMS diary
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What the papers say
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The Times
"The evidence from Salisbury could lead anywhere, but should it lead to Russia it must be the government that demands accountability. Taming rogue states is not a job that can be outsourced to their victims." Read the full article
The Guardian
"Mental health services have been desperately underfunded for too long, and the promised increase in spending is insufficient given the historic shortfall and the surge in demand." Read the full article
Financial Times
"[Martin Selmayr's] power is likely to grow in his new post. The commission and the wider EU should examine whether concentrating such power in one person through bureaucratic backroom dealing is healthy." Read the full article
The Daily Telegraph
"If it turns out that the émigré spy Sergei Skripal was poisoned along with his daughter on British soil, TV fiction will pale in comparison with reality." Read the full article
The Sun
"Vladimir Putin respects strength. But we cannot stoop to his level. Instead we must hit back with economic, political and diplomatic aggression of our own."
Daily Mail
"Russia is a gangster state and Putin a tyrannical bully, whose thugs are suspected of committing murder on British soil. Do we really want to endorse his grotesque World Cup propaganda coup?"
Daily Mirror
"If the authorities fail to bring a suspect to court in this case, it will be frightening evidence of the Kremlin's reach."
Daily Express
"At long last the Chancellor of the Exchequer has come out with a harsh warning about the self-inflicted damage the EU will cause to itself if it attempts to punish Britain for Brexit. The UK and European economies are so closely intertwined, he says, that to harm one would be to harm the other. At last a blast of good sense."
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Agenda
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Today
- Philip Hammond, the chancellor, delivers a speech on Brexit and financial services.
- Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, meets Theresa May and other cabinet ministers during a visit to the UK.
- Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, makes a speech on the government’s strategy for women and girls.
- The UK was not properly prepared for Hurricanes Irma and Maria, according to a report from the foreign affairs select committee.
- The public accounts committee publishes report on alternative higher education providers.
- 12.15pm Donald Tusk, the European Council president, presents the EU’s draft guidelines on the future UK-EU relationship.
- 11.50am Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, speaks at the Chief Nursing Officer for England summit.
- 4.30pm Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament's chief Brexit negotiator, and Antonio Tajani, president of the European parliament, hold a press conference for the draft resolution framework of the future EU-UK relationship.
- 6.00pm Alistair Burt, the international development minister, speaks on abortion in the developing world and the UK at a meeting of the all-party parliamentary group on population, development and reproductive health.
- 6.30pm Alison McGovern, Progress chairwoman, and Jacqui Smith, the former home secretary, host a reception for International Women’s Day.
House of Commons
- 11.30am Scotland questions
- Noon Prime minister’s question time
- Ten-minute rule bill on local health scrutiny (Gareth Snell)
- Opposition day debate on European Union citizenship (Liz Saville Roberts)
- Opposition day debate in the name of the Democratic Unionist Party
- Adjournment debate on the future of jobs of HMRC staff at the Waterfront offices in Dudley (Ian Austin)
Westminster Hall
- 9.30am Misogyny as a hate crime (Melanie Onn)
- 11.00am Support for fairly traded goods (Geraint Davies)
- 2.30pm Local museums (Stephen Kerr)
- 4.00pm Risk of the use of accutane (Bob Stewart)
- 4.30pm Regulation of tipping practices in the hospitality sector (Darren Jones)
Select committees
- 10.00am International trade: Greg Hands, the trade minister, on UK-US trade relations.
- 10.00am Education: Amanda Spielman, chief inspector of Ofsted, on the organisation’s accountability
- 10.00am Justice: David Gauke, the lord chancellor and secretary of state for justice, on the work of the Ministry of Justice.
- 10.30am EU home affairs sub-committee: Rob Wainwright, executive director at Europol, and Lord O’Shaughnessy, parliamentary undersecretary of state for health.
- 2.10pm Harriet Harman, the Labour MP, and Maria Miller, chairwoman of the women and equalities select committee, on voting by proxy in the House of Commons.
- 2.30pm Public accounts: Antonia Romeo, permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade, Crawford Falconer, the second permanent secretary, and Clare Moriarty, permanent secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
House of Lords
- 11.00am EU withdrawal Bill (Lord Callanan)
- 3.00pm Impact of long-term housing for rent of holiday lets; the study of music in schools; trained nurses in the NHS, plus emergency hospital admissions.
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@MattChorley
