London Playbook: One more heave — Share the
Rish-es — Unreversed ferret
BY ALEX
WICKHAM
May 26,
2022 8:04 am
POLITICO
London Playbook
By ALEX
WICKHAM
DRIVING THE DAY
ONE MORE
HEAVE: Boris Johnson defied calls to resign and said he was “humbled” by top
civil servant Sue Gray’s report into Downing Street COVID partying, which laid
bare the full extent of law-breaking gatherings, from wine spilled on walls, to
a brawl between aides and some revelers getting so drunk they vomited. The
government today attempts, as coordinated Cabinet tweeters would put it, to
“move on” from the scandal as Chancellor Rishi Sunak announces a £10 billion support
package to help Britons through the cost of living crisis. As the dust settles
from the Partygate saga this morning, it feels like a precursor to the perfect
storm the Conservatives face at the next election — trying to win the public’s
forgiveness over mistakes made during the pandemic, while doing enough to keep
households afloat as choppy economic waters approach.
Today’s
papers are mixed for No. 10: The Guardian splashes on the most lurid details:
“Drinking, fights, vomiting: all in a day’s work, says PM.” The Metro quotes
Johnson’s former Principal Private Secretary Martin Reynolds’ ill-advised email
claiming: “We got away with it.” The i quotes Gray’s finding on a “failure of
leadership.” The Mirror says that “While we were sacrificing and mourning, they
were drinking until they were sick, laughing at security guards, laughing at
cleaners, laughing at us all.” The FT says Johnson is “unbowed.” The Star calls
him a “jackass PM.”
The
Tory-leaning papers are slightly better: The Telegraph splashes on Sunak’s cost
of living announcement, although leads its Partygate reporting on claims of a
cover-up over the alleged Abba party that Gray did not investigate following
the police’s decision not to issue fines. The Mail carries the slightly comical
picture of Johnson and Sunak at the law-breaking birthday bash and asks: “Is
that it?” The Sun says “The Party(gate) is over” and urges Johnson to deal with
rising prices and bills. The Times leads on Johnson’s claim that he has been
“vindicated.” Inside the paper, Daniel Finkelstein says the report was
“shocking” and could hardly have been any worse, although Iain Martin argues
Gray “missed” the target and was “rather bland,” and Clare Foges reckons it was
a “damp squib.”
Most
eye-catching … is the Northern Echo, which quotes Labour MP Andy McDonald, who
yesterday asked the PM “how on earth does he sleep at night with so much blood
on his filthy, privileged hands?” Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke
called the comment “grotesque.”
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How it
looked on the News at 10: A very stern Huw Edwards led with the PM’s “repeated
failures of leadership” and the shocking claims about Downing Street custodians
and cleaning staff “not treated with respect.” GB News‘ Tom Harwood was told
the PM would wake up early to speak to Downing Street cleaners on duty this
morning. Jim Melvin, chairman of the British Cleaning Council, was quick out
the blocks: “It is absolutely appalling and upsetting to hear that [cleaning
staff] were being treated with such contempt by people who sit within
Government or the civil service and who frankly should know better.”
How are
Tory MPs reacting? The initial hours following the Gray report did not bring a
move against the PM, although several Tory MPs did speak out. Julian Sturdy
issued a statement saying he could no longer give Johnson the “benefit of the
doubt” and that he should resign. Stephen Hammond told Sky’s Beth Rigby “a lot”
of Tory MPs were concerned that Johnson would be unable to move on from the
scandal and that the party may lose the next election. The i’s Paul Waugh spoke
to one Tory MP who pithily compared a Johnson government to “an advent calendar
of sh*t.”
In the blue
corner: Alternatively, Johnson super-stan and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries
told Talk TV’s Tom Newton Dunn: “What the nation doesn’t need is a navel gazing
party and a leadership crisis in the middle of some of the most important and
difficult challenges we’ve ever faced as a nation.” And trying a difficult,
bolder approach, backbencher Richard Bacon told BBC Look East: “You haven’t
gone and investigated it, but there are 1.5 million people working in NHS …
[you] could find some people who were letting their hair down who were working
24/7 in the NHS as well.”
Sticking for
now: In their brilliant wrap of a hectic day at Westminster, POLITICO’s Esther
Webber and Annabelle Dickson note how the sting was taken out of Gray’s
findings as she already revealed the top lines in the initial “update” she
published when the Metropolitan Police launched their investigation. As one
Tory MP told them: “The critical mass of Conservatives, whether by calculation
or because there isn’t a better idea, are sticking with him.” They report that
his foot-soldiers — especially MPs in the so-called red wall of former Labour
heartlands — have been encouraged by the local election results, where they see
reasons for optimism about the Conservative performance.
Others
aren’t so sure: Pollster James Johnson told Esther and Annabelle that those
Conservatives defending the PM were at risk of “misinterpreting” the local
elections, arguing that while there was no “Blair-style rout,” if those
patterns were replicated at a national level it would be enough to rob them of
a majority. He added that although voters are “increasingly sick of” Partygate,
the “brand damage has already been done” to the prime minister, with no clear
sign of what might help him recover. “There’s no question it is the end of
days,” said one former Cabinet minister, predicting if Johnson stayed he would
bring the party down with him — suggesting the outcome of the police
investigation and police report might have left the Tories a
worst-of-all-worlds scenario.
Is it too
late now to say sorry? Playbook’s Andrew McDonald has a forensic piece
detailing how the No. 10 line on Partygate changed, changed and changed again
as the saga unfolded. Andrew’s conclusion is that sorry seemed to be the
hardest for the PM. Juxtapose those denials with the Guardian’s Peter Walker
smart story filleting the Gray report for five email/WhatsApp quotes from No.
10 officials that show they knew what they were doing was wrong.
Unreversed
ferret: It’s always fun to check in on where Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross
is today. Ross called for Johnson to go in January before promptly reversing
his position due to the war in Ukraine — and now says Johnson should step down
when the war is over. “If the war in Ukraine is over, then the prime minister
doesn’t have the same support that he has at the moment, not just from me but
from other MPs who previously called for him to resign and go,” he told Sky
News. He confirmed he would return to his previous position of calling for
Johnson to go if the war ended. Veteran Sky correspondent Jon Craig’s snap
analysis was so brutal the National clipped it up. The confusion over his
Partygate position only adds to a febrile mood among Ross’ MSPs following a
poor local election result, with one telling the Times that the situation is “a
complete f***ing mess.”
What the
opposition is saying: Labour leader Keir Starmer told the Commons: “Members
opposite must finally do their bit. They must tell the current inhabitant —
their leader — that this has gone on too long. That the game is up. That you
cannot be a lawmaker and a lawbreaker. That it’s time to pack his bags. Only
then can the government function again. Only then can the rot be carved out.
Only then can we restore the dignity of that great office, and the democracy it
represents.” Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner is on ITV’s Loose Women at
12.30 p.m. talking about Partygate and the cost of living.
The danger
is not over: It is possible that having slept on it, more Tory MPs come out
against Johnson today. And there remains the threat that the privileges
committee will find that Johnson lied to parliament, something that is usually
a resignation offense. The committee will also be investigating whether Johnson
asked Gray not to publish her report at their secret meeting earlier this
month, something the PM refused to deny when asked by the Sun’s Harry Cole
yesterday. The Times‘ Steve Swinford and Oli Wright say a No. 10 official saw
parts of the report on Tuesday.
Humble
brag: Johnson sounded in better spirits at the 1922 committee of Tory
backbenchers last night, joking about porn-in-the-Commons former Tory MP Neil
Parish, the Telegraph’s Ben Riley-Smith hears. ITV’s Shehab Khan says the PM
also ruled out a Downing Street booze ban, arguing Britain would not have won
Wold War II if alcohol had been banned in No. 10 in the 1940s.
Anatomy of
a scandal: The Mirror’s Pippa Crerar, who broke the original Partygate story
last November, writes for the paper today about how she got the string of
scoops that cratered the Tory poll rating.
And, er …
TV presenter Patrick Kielty tells the Telegraph of his “wild nights in Sue
Gray’s pub” and a “brush with the civil servant at 2 a.m.”
COST OF LIVING CRISIS
SHARE THE
RISH-ES: Downing Street tries to wrest back control of the news agenda this
morning when Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveils his rushed-forward cost of living
support package. Sunak is expected to announce a windfall tax on energy
companies to pay for a host of measures mainly targeted at the most needy, with
some others applying to the wider population. A government source told Playbook
he would announce targeted support for the most vulnerable, as well as a plan
for reducing inflation. Here’s how Sunak’s day will pan out …
Cabinet:
Playbook hears Cabinet ministers were last night invited to a call taking place
this morning to sign off the package.
Statement:
The chancellor will make his announcement in the Commons at 11.30 a.m.
Visit: Then
Sunak is on one of his Treasury Connect visits — a town hall where he takes
questions from local people. This one will take place at a B&Q in London.
Cut
through: In the afternoon Sunak will take part in a live social media Q&A
with Martin Lewis on his Twitter.
Tonight:
Then he’ll do a sit down interview with BBC pol ed Chris Mason.
Tomorrow:
And Sunak is on the morning broadcast round on Friday.
Energy bill
loan scrapped: Several papers report this morning that the chancellor is
dropping his controversial Energy Bills Support Scheme, which would have seen
people given a £200 reduction in the energy bills later this year, and then
have to pay it back to the government in £50 instalments. The scheme was widely
criticized as a loan rather than a rebate. Instead, Sunak will drop the requirement
to repay the cash, and increase the amount, possibly to £400 — at a cost of £10
billion. The Telegraph’s Ben Riley-Smith and the Times‘ Steve Swinford both run
the story. Swinford has a detailed report on what to expect today, including a
further council tax cut. He also says No. 10 and No. 11 have decided to defer a
decision on cutting VAT on energy bills and cuts to general taxation to later
in the year.
Back in
March … Playbook revealed Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng had asked Sunak to
either double the rebate or exempt vulnerable households from repayments. At
the time, the Treasury said it wasn’t considering any changes. But some 10
weeks later, the move appears to be on. (Incidentally, happy birthday Kwasi
Kwarteng.)
And there’s
more: Sunak is proposing a “mix and match” approach where much of the support
is targeted. ITV’s Anushka Asthana has more on what could be coming on that
front, including: one-off payments to everyone on means-tested benefits,
possibly higher than £600 each paid in two instalments in July and August …
payments to disabled people … and higher winter fuel payments for pensioners.
What Labour
is saying: Expect Labour to spend the day shouting about how the Tories have
stolen their clothes. Not only have they been calling for a windfall tax on
energy companies for months, Starmer also told Sunak to U-turn on the “forced
loan” rebate back in March.
Right on
cue: Sixty-three percent of U.K. adults and 66 percent of 2019 Tory voters
support a windfall tax, polling by Public First for the environment think tank
Green Alliance shows. The Independent’s Saphora Smith got the story.
WONK WATCH:
The IfG has a report out looking at how the government should tackle the cost
of living crisis, which argues that there is a case for the government to
consider targeted help for lower income households instead of universal
measures. “Given that the crisis has so far hit lower income households more
than higher income ones, there is a case for the government to offer targeted
help to rebalance the pain,” IfG Chief Economist Gemma Tetlow said.
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