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| UK Covid live: Keir Starmer says England heading for ‘summer of chaos and confusion’ | UK Covid live: Keir Starmer says England heading for ‘summer of chaos and confusion’ |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Latest updates: Labour leader condemns Johnson’s ‘reckless’ unlocking in England without precautions at PMQs | Latest updates: Labour leader condemns Johnson’s ‘reckless’ unlocking in England without precautions at PMQs |
| Here is some more on Sir Graham Brady’s re-election as chair of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee. | |
| From Tom Newton Dunn from Times Radio | |
| From the Evening Standard’s Joe Murphy | |
| Sir Graham Brady has been re-elected as chair of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers, after a challenge from Heather Wheeler, who had garnered support from 2019 intake MPs.Supporters of Brady, who has held the role for 11 years, had briefed that Wheeler was the “Number 10 candidate” whom Downing Street hoped would replace Brady, an outspoken critic of lockdown measures who has developed a significant public platform.Wheeler, a former whip and minister who wanted to become the first woman to head the group, had argued Brady does not effectively communicate the breadth of Tory MPs’ frustrations – particularly from the 2019 intake. Her supporters had accused him of being “too presidential.”Brady, who is understood to have won by a significant margin, said: | |
| The 1922 committee is a powerful body that is the channel for backbenchers to express views to the government, including handling votes of no confidence which Brady oversaw for Theresa May. | |
| Grenfell victims have accused the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea of “seeking to avoid justice” by trying to delay court claims for millions of pounds in compensation and damages until next year. | |
| Lawyers for 87 of the survivors of the fire and people who lived in neighbouring blocks told a high court hearing today to establish how to handle over 1,000 personal injury claims against the council and other corporate entities that the council’s desire to stay proceedings until next spring was extending their suffering. | |
| RBKC told the judge that it wanted proceedings to be stayed until April or May next year to allow for a process of “alternative dispute resolution” to handle nearly the welter of other claims from the bereaved, relatives and survivors as well as 142 firefighters and police officers. It said the handling of these claims would likely trigger a supreme court case to reconsider limits on who can receive compensation set in the wake of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. In addition the public inquiry into the disaster is unlikely to conclude until at least January 2023. | |
| But Susan Rodway QC, representing 87 residents of the tower and surrounding housing, told Ms Justice Barbara Fontaine, her clients were “desparate” for their cases to be resolved and said: “this has all the flavour or two defendants seeking to avoid justice”. She urged the council and the Kensington and Chelsea Management Tenants Management Organisation to “go ahead and admit your liability” for the disaster in June 2017 which claimed 72 lives. | |
| However, lawyers representing the majority of claimants - who also seek compensation from the cladding manufacturers, builders and architects - backed calls for a delay while attempts to settle claims out of court were continued. The judge said she would stay the case to allow that to happen. | |
| Tory grandee Sir Graham Brady has been re-elected as the powerful chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs after defeating a challenge from a former minister regarded as No 10’s favoured candidate, PA Media reports. PA says: | |
| For an opposition leader, the easiest way to score a hit at PMQs is to scan the newspapers in the morning, identify an issue on which the government is taking a pasting (preferably from papers from the left and from the right, and preferably on an issue on which the government has no straightforward answer), and then hammer away. This was essentially what Sir Keir Starmer did today and it worked. | |
| The key question was the one Starmer asked about the prospect of millions of people being pinged over the summer. How many people would be affected? Boris Johnson would not answer, prompted Starmer to retort: “The question was simply how many people are going to be asked to self-isolate if there are 100,000 infections a day and he won’t answer it.” | |
| But Starmer started with another question, one which journalists have been asking all week. How many deaths, hospitalisations and cases of long Covid are expected following the announcement that almost all restrictions in England will be lifted from 19 July? Again, Johnson refused to give an answer. | |
| Overall Starmer’s approach worked well. His questions were fair and reasonable, and Johnson’s answers were evasive. But it was a qualified win because, as Johnson pointed out accurately, there was an inherent contradiction in Starmer’s line of attack. Johnson told the Labour leader: | |
| It is common to argue that, because it is prime minister’s questions, it is not for the opposition leader to have to say what he would do, and this was a point that Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, made forcefully today. And generally, when the PM resorts to the ‘What would you do?’ backstop, it sounds like a distraction. But most members of the public are less concerned about Commons standing orders than Hoyle, and today it felt as this was an appropriate issue for Johnson to raise. | |
| On lockdown easing generally, Starmer had a perfectly good answer. He said: | |
| But as for what Labour would do about the problems faced by the millions of people likely to be pinged as case numbers go up in the summer, Starmer does not seem to have an answer at all. Johnson would have done better today if he had challenged Starmer more forcefully on this point. And a bit more candour about what the modelling says about hospitalisations and deaths would have helped too, particularly since these figures will come out relatively soon. | |
| One final piece of advice for Johnson; it’s time to bin his PMQs peroration. Today he concluded his final response to Starmer with: “We vaccinate, they vacillate. We inoculate, while they’re invertebrate.” Johnson seemed particularly proud of the final half-rhyme, a new edition to this silly spiel. But it’s a terrible slogan because it involves arcane language and it has clearly been formulated not to make a point but to show off Johnson’s verbal dexterity. One suspects that if someone like Lynton Crosby were in No 10 vetting the PM’s scripts - someone forceful, with the authority to stop him talking nonsense - this joke would have been banned weeks ago. | |
| Tan Dhesi (Lab) recalls not being allowed to visit his grandmother while she was dying. He says people have had to follow the Covid guidance while “spineless, hypocritical” ministers defended Dominic Cummings when he broke lockdown rules. This was a “disgrace”, he says. He asks if the PM will finally apologise for not having the courage to sack Cummings. | Tan Dhesi (Lab) recalls not being allowed to visit his grandmother while she was dying. He says people have had to follow the Covid guidance while “spineless, hypocritical” ministers defended Dominic Cummings when he broke lockdown rules. This was a “disgrace”, he says. He asks if the PM will finally apologise for not having the courage to sack Cummings. |
| It is a long, angry passionate question. And it prompts a rare display of contrition from Johnson, who of course is famous for not apologising for anything. | It is a long, angry passionate question. And it prompts a rare display of contrition from Johnson, who of course is famous for not apologising for anything. |
| Johnson says no one who has not been through what Dhesi describes can imagine what it’s like. He says he takes Dhesi’s criticisms seriously. And he says he apologises for the suffering people of this country have gone through. He says he is “deeply, deeply sorry” about how people were not able to spent time with their loved ones as they were dying. | Johnson says no one who has not been through what Dhesi describes can imagine what it’s like. He says he takes Dhesi’s criticisms seriously. And he says he apologises for the suffering people of this country have gone through. He says he is “deeply, deeply sorry” about how people were not able to spent time with their loved ones as they were dying. |
| Matt Western (Lab) asks why the Tory MP Rob Roberts is being allowed to return to the Commons, and not subject to a recall vote. Will the PM allow a vote tomorrow to close the loophole that meant Roberts avoided recall. | Matt Western (Lab) asks why the Tory MP Rob Roberts is being allowed to return to the Commons, and not subject to a recall vote. Will the PM allow a vote tomorrow to close the loophole that meant Roberts avoided recall. |
| Johnson says Roberts’ punishment has come to an end. He says Roberts is no longer a Tory MP. | Johnson says Roberts’ punishment has come to an end. He says Roberts is no longer a Tory MP. |
| Caroline Nokes (Con) asks about a diesel spill into the river Test. | Caroline Nokes (Con) asks about a diesel spill into the river Test. |
| Johnson says the Environment Agency is working on this. | Johnson says the Environment Agency is working on this. |
| Johnson says the government gives hospices £350m a year. And they have had an extra £257m to make up for what they have lost by not being able to fundraise, he says. | Johnson says the government gives hospices £350m a year. And they have had an extra £257m to make up for what they have lost by not being able to fundraise, he says. |
| Matthew Pennycook (Lab) says the building safety bill published this week will do little to protect leaseholders who face big bills to remove Grenfell-style cladding. | Matthew Pennycook (Lab) says the building safety bill published this week will do little to protect leaseholders who face big bills to remove Grenfell-style cladding. |
| Johnson does not accept that. He says the government has spent £5bn on this. He says people who have suffered as a result of Grenfell will continue to get government support. | Johnson does not accept that. He says the government has spent £5bn on this. He says people who have suffered as a result of Grenfell will continue to get government support. |
| Bim Afolami (Con) asks what the government is doing to improve road safety. It is an issue of growing concern, he says. | Bim Afolami (Con) asks what the government is doing to improve road safety. It is an issue of growing concern, he says. |
| Johnson says road deaths have been coming down for a long time. But the government is investing in road safety, he says. | Johnson says road deaths have been coming down for a long time. But the government is investing in road safety, he says. |
| Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Lab) asks why the government is backing the sale of NHS services. | Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Lab) asks why the government is backing the sale of NHS services. |
| Johnson says he cannot remember a question so wrong. The government is putting the NHS first, he says. | Johnson says he cannot remember a question so wrong. The government is putting the NHS first, he says. |
| Angela Crawley (SNP) asks if the PM supports her private member’s bill to give paid leave to any woman who suffers a miscarriage before 24 weeks. | Angela Crawley (SNP) asks if the PM supports her private member’s bill to give paid leave to any woman who suffers a miscarriage before 24 weeks. |
| Johnson says he feels very sorry for any woman who goes through this. He says the government offers bereavement leave to women who lose a baby after 24 weeks. | Johnson says he feels very sorry for any woman who goes through this. He says the government offers bereavement leave to women who lose a baby after 24 weeks. |
| David Jones ( Con) asks the PM to confirm that, unless the EU adapts a more proportionate approach to the Northern Ireland protocol, the government will do whatever is necessary to fix it. He says the three-month extension of the grace period for chilled meats was just a “stick plaster”. | David Jones ( Con) asks the PM to confirm that, unless the EU adapts a more proportionate approach to the Northern Ireland protocol, the government will do whatever is necessary to fix it. He says the three-month extension of the grace period for chilled meats was just a “stick plaster”. |
| Johnson agrees. He says the protocol is being misapplied by the EU, which is following a purist approach. | Johnson agrees. He says the protocol is being misapplied by the EU, which is following a purist approach. |
| Tim Loughton (Con) asks if the PM will back calls for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China. | Tim Loughton (Con) asks if the PM will back calls for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China. |
| Johnson says the UK has led the way in condemning human rights abuses in China. He will consider the idea, but he is instinctively against boycotts, he says. | Johnson says the UK has led the way in condemning human rights abuses in China. He will consider the idea, but he is instinctively against boycotts, he says. |
| Neale Hanvey (Alba) asks why the government has spent money on discredited diagnostic tests to the tune of £3bn. | Neale Hanvey (Alba) asks why the government has spent money on discredited diagnostic tests to the tune of £3bn. |
| Johnson does not accept that. | Johnson does not accept that. |
| Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, starts by wishing England luck in the football. | Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, starts by wishing England luck in the football. |
| He says the electoral integrity bill is anything but. Why is the government making it harder for people to vote. | He says the electoral integrity bill is anything but. Why is the government making it harder for people to vote. |
| Johnson says they need to tackle voting fraud, as happened at Tower Hamlets. | Johnson says they need to tackle voting fraud, as happened at Tower Hamlets. |
| Blackford says there have only been a small number of cases of voter fraud. The bill is tackling a problem that does not exist. | Blackford says there have only been a small number of cases of voter fraud. The bill is tackling a problem that does not exist. |
| Johnson says people will be able to get photo ID if they need it. He says he does not want to see elections tainted by suspicion of voter fraud. | Johnson says people will be able to get photo ID if they need it. He says he does not want to see elections tainted by suspicion of voter fraud. |
| Starmer says it is obvious what is happening. Johnson is getting flak from his MPs. That is why he has announced this policy. We have been here before. | Starmer says it is obvious what is happening. Johnson is getting flak from his MPs. That is why he has announced this policy. We have been here before. |
| Johnson says if he had followed Labour’s advice, they would never have opened up schools. He repeats his usual claim about how Labour would have kept the UK in the European Medicines Agency, which would have made the vaccine rollout impossible (not true). He says the government vaccinates while the opposition vacillates. And he adds a new slogan. “We inoculate, they invertebrate.” | Johnson says if he had followed Labour’s advice, they would never have opened up schools. He repeats his usual claim about how Labour would have kept the UK in the European Medicines Agency, which would have made the vaccine rollout impossible (not true). He says the government vaccinates while the opposition vacillates. And he adds a new slogan. “We inoculate, they invertebrate.” |