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| Friday May 25 2018 |
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By Matt Chorley
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Good morning,
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Trump vs Kim. Britain vs Brussels. LabourLive vs the paying public.
Now there is only one battle that matters, the big debate gripping French MPs: is it a chocolatine or pain au chocolat.
I'll be back on Tuesday: I am taking the Bank Holiday off to spend the day deleting GDPR emails.
- Of course there is only one email anyone needs. 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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- President Trump suggested that China was to blame for souring North Korea’s relations with the US before his dramatic decision to cancel the peace summit with Kim Jong-un.
- The children of migrants can spy for the UK for the first time as MI6 relaxes entry rules to boost the number of applicants from black and ethnic minority backgrounds.
- Remember the story about changes to the flying of the Union Flag in Scotland which Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP dismissed as fake news? The Scottish government took the unusual decision of complaining to the press watchdog, which has ruled that the story was "accurately reported".
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Peak Mogg?
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Ten days ago, Theresa May finally lost her patience. Backbench MPs had been invited into the chief whip's office in No9 Downing Street for a presentation on Brexit by Gavin Barwell, the PM's chief of staff. Still just a backbencher, Jacob Rees-Mogg was among them.
When the time came for questions, he took his chance, suggesting that Britain push for no deal and simply keep the border with Ireland open, daring Brussels to close it. It is the sort of "It's quite simple, really" suggestion that a certain type of Brexiteer specialises in.
May was having none of it. She snapped back that resorting to WTO trade rules would harm the economy, warned of the security risk at the border and suggested that it could lead to a united Ireland.
Those present, including several Remainer Tories, described it as an "amazing moment". "It was quite clear that she had had enough of his nonsense, as we all have," said one. A group of mutineers who met May only yesterday noted that they did not get the same treatment.
Perhaps the PM has been reading the papers. This week I noted that Rees-Mogg's latest diatribe, on his ConservativeHome podcast, had not made the big splash it might have done. "You wonder whether the government wants to leave at all,” he said, adding that May’s strategy seemed designed to “gull voters”. Using those funny words which make him so funny. It got a couple of stories in the papers but not much.
This was not a one-off. Louis Goddard from the Times data team has crunched the numbers on Rees-Mogg's media appearances for the past three years and it suggests that we may have passed Peak Mogg.
Analysing all news stories in national UK newspapers, it suggests that February may have been the summit of his media profile, topping out at mentioned in 83 different stories.
February was, of course, when he was involved in a fracas at a university. And turned up outside No10 to hand in a petition. And had a row with David Davis about "vassal states".
And it was when he and his band of merry Brexiteers in the shadowy European Research Group sent their "ransom note" the PM, laying out his "red lines" for a Brexit deal. And she put it with all of the other demands, dossiers, warnings and whinges sent from every corner of the Conservatives and the continent.
Remember that in December he warned May that her red lines “were beginning to look a bit pink”, but then shrugged at the deal she came back from Brussels with.
Chairing the ERG acted as a launch pad for first Steve Baker and later Suella Braverman, who took the ministerial shilling instead of stirring backbench unrest. The phone has not yet rung for Rees-Mogg.
Rees-Mogg's colleagues can barely contain their glee. A Leave-supporting Tory minister says: "If it looks like he's shifted from principled to personal it could be very damaging for him." A cabinet minister calls him a "one-tick pony". A Remainer MP adds: "The parliamentary Tory has definitely passed peak Mogg. We're hoping the media follow our lead."
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Most Tories know the big battle looms on the horizon when the EU Withdrawal Bill returns to the Commons. (The exact date wasn't announced yesterday as expected but is now likely to be the week of June 11. "That would be an aspiration at this stage," a Downing Street source tells me.) Rees-Mogg still meets Brexit ministers frequently.
He also remains the bookies' favourite to be the next Tory leader. But then so was Boris Johnson once. And David Davis.
It was in February, at the time of Peak Mogg, that I predicted that this was all a flash in the pan, that Rees-Mogg was just enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. He, too, joked about it, telling friends that soon people would be pointing at him and saying, "Didn't he used to be Jacob Rees-Mogg?".
I suggested that he was Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Jane McDonald, Charlie Dimmock and Handy Andy and Jeremy from Airport and Maureen from Driving School and Nasty Nick from Big Brother. Never off our tellys, then gone. Novelty stars that burn too brightly.
Perhaps Rees-Mogg has burnt out already. And we never did get to see him releasing his balls into Guinevere on The National Lottery Live.
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Better off out
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Andrea Jenkyns, best known as the Tory who beat Ed Balls in 2015, has quit as a ministerial aide to fight for the "right sort of Brexit". She wants to rejoin the Brexit select committee and will be freer to rebel in key votes. Read the full story
‘No threats’ threat
The EU warned Britain that it would not negotiate Brexit “under threat” after the government suggested that it would demand more than £1 billion of taxpayers’ money back if it is forced out of the Galileo satellite programme. Read the full story
Ready for action
The Bank of England is prepared to cut interest rates and restart quantitative easing to support the economy and protect jobs in the event of a “disorderly” Brexit, Mark Carney has said. Read the full story
No laughing matter
Anneliese Dodds, a Labour MP, caused the Question Time audience to erupt into laughter by saying that her party had been "consistent" on Brexit. The Mirror has the video here.
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| Quote of the day |
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“We need to do away with the fantasy that there is a UK-wide solution. Progress at this stage seems elusive.”
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EU official tears into Britain's negotiators
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YESTERDAY'S QUESTION: I asked if the £350 million Brexit bus pledge on the NHS should be honoured: Six in 10 said yes. Full result here
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Today's cartoon from The Times by Peter Brookes
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Kremlin calling?
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A diplomatic row has erupted after some guy who mucks around winding people up for a living ended up talking on the phone with a couple of Russian phone pranksters.
The Foreign Office has accused the Kremlin of staging the hoax call that duped Boris Johnson into talking to a man he thought was the Armenian prime minister.
A senior source said that Johnson "rumbled them pretty quickly and ended the call" . . . after just er . . . 18 minutes. Listen to the call here
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Whose work works?
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Prisoners could fill workforce shortages after Brexit even if some commit further crimes, David Gauke, the justice secretary, said as he announced plans to improve offenders’ job prospects. Migrant workers had been relied on to fill jobs, he said, but the public wanted to see that “as many UK citizens are employed as possible”. Read the full story
By contrast, Nicola Sturgeon's report into the economics of independence suggests that skilled migrants should be offered tax breaks to entice them to Scotland. Read the full story
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Taped and gagged
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One job that nobody would want is that of DeeAnn Fitzpatrick, who was taped to a chair and gagged after complaining about bullying and misogyny.
But this was not at a small firm run by an overbearing bully. This happened at Marine Scotland, an agency of the Scottish government. Nicola Sturgeon has said that she was “absolutely horrified” by the revelations. A review is under way.
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Read the full story
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By George, he's got it
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Having missed out on being Arsenal manager, Italian prime minister and host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, finally some good news for George Osborne, who has landed another job.
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Read the full story
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Having a breakdown
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One for the geeks: Election Data and Kevin Cunningham have been number crunching to give a breakdown of Leavers and Remainers supporting each political party in every constituency. For example, Theresa May has the second largest number of Tory Remainers of any seat in Britain, according to their estimates. They have started posting seat-by-seat breakdowns on Twitter. Well worth keeping an eye on.
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Romania-mania
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Romanians are now the second most-common group of non-British nationals in the UK after a surge in arrivals in recent years. The group overtook Irish nationals for the first time last year. Polish nationals remained at the top of the list, numbering an estimated one million, according to the Office of National Statistics.
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Read the full story
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How to listen to the Red Box podcast recording of the debate:
- Listen online on your computer here
- Open the episode on iTunes here
- Search for "The Times Red Box" on your podcast app
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The Sketch
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Brief statements on panty procurement
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Patrick Kidd
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You can have too much political theory in parliament. Sometimes MPs just want to talk about where they buy their smalls. When the subject of yesterday’s urgent question was announced, it made me think of the wonderful Patricia Routledge monologue in which, asked for her view on Marx, she replied: “I think their pants have dropped off but you can’t fault their broccoli.”
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Read the full sketch
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Ones to watch today
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- Ireland votes in referendum on ending a constitutional ban on abortion. Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach, said that a “yes” vote would help to remove the country’s “legacy of shame” over its treatment of women. Read the full story
- Jeremy Corbyn continues his tour of Northern Ireland, where, after clarifying that he wasn't calling for a united Ireland, he has now been accused of snubbing a meeting with victims of IRA violence. Read the full story
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Chart of the day
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Enforced removal
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Hugh Ind, the immigration official blamed by some for costing Amber Rudd her job in the Windrush scandal, is leaving the Home Office after 27 years in an apparent demotion.
In a sign that someone has been scrabbling around to find him something to do, he will move to the Cabinet Office to oversee the public sector apprenticeships strategy. Patsy Wilkinson, the second permanent secretary in charge of immigration, borders and citizenship, is also on the move.
I hope they have got all of their papers in order.
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Read the full story
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Jumping the queue
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Lifelong cricket fan Theresa May has been elected a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club, which owns Lord’s cricket ground, the Telegraph reveals. Her application was apparently signed by David Cameron and Sir John Major.
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No complaints
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Rail firms have discovered a novel way of stopping irate passengers from complaining about them on Twitter: block them. The consumer group Which? said that operators were barring users after being hit by a wave of complaints over new timetables.
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Read the full story
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EVENT: Understanding modern Britain
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Tuesday June 12 2018
Join Stig Abell, editor of the Times Literary Supplement, in conversation with Lucy Fisher, senior political correspondent at The Times, about his new book, How Britain Really Works, an in-depth look at the challenges facing the UK.
Getting to grips with Britain is harder than ever — a nation that chose Brexit, rejects immigration but is dependent on it, is getting older but less healthy, is more demanding of public services but less willing to pay for them and is tired of intervention abroad but wants to remain a global authority.
Book tickets here
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Around the world
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RUSSIA: President Putin warned that the scrapping of the Iran nuclear deal would have “lamentable consequences” and welcomed European efforts to salvage the agreement. Read the full story
USA: Perhaps Mike Pompeo wanted to talk to his Russian counterpart about developments on the Korean peninsula, or maybe Iran. What looked certain was that the secretary of state planned to call Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, whose name was the ninth item on a to-do list captured by a photographer. Read the full story
SPAIN: The former treasurer of Spain’s ruling party has been jailed for 33 years for tax evasion in the most damaging corruption case yet to hit Mariano Rajoy’s government. Read the full story
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Also in the news
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- AT RISK: Air in London classrooms more polluted than outside (The Times)
- SUB OPTIMAL: Britain ‘reliant on nuclear deterrent if it doesn’t invest’ (The Times)
- FREE PRESS: Prince of Wales puts in a good word for the local papers (The Times)
- TECHNICAL PROBLEMS: T levels are being rushed, Damien Hinds told by top official (The Times)
- INCOMPETENCE MASTERCLASS: Home Office criticised for failures in reforms to criminal records vetting (The Guardian)
- WILLIAM HAGUE: Tory peer is pocketing cash from law firm slammed over links to Vladimir Putin (Daily Mirror)
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| TMS |
| From the diary |
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By Patrick Kidd
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Bercow's a sell-out
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As the war on Mr Speaker continues, the Commons gift shop experienced a sudden run on the Bercow this week, with one unnamed MP buying 24 bottles of Speaker Bercow’s Whisky, a ten-year-old Speyside single malt, which cleared the shop out of stock. Could this be the man himself buying farewell gifts, or is one of his enemies hoping to celebrate his departure by downing a few (more) shorts?
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Read more from the TMS diary
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Agenda
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Today
- Philip Hammond, the chancellor, represents the UK at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Brussels.
- Jackie Doyle-Price, the health minister, announces recipients of extra funding for the Beyond Places of Safety scheme.
- Jeremy Corbyn continues his visit in Northern Ireland.
- Modernisation of DBS criminal record checks is "a masterclass in incompetence", according to the public accounts committee.
- 165,000 homes could be built without oversight under new planning rules, according to the Local Government Association.
- 7pm Michael Gove, the environment secretary, speaks at the Hay Festival on the future of farming and food.
The Houses of Parliament are in recess until Monday June 4.
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@MattChorley
