London Playbook: In a pinch — 1922 election looms — ‘Make Brexit work’

 

London Playbook: In a pinch — 1922 election looms — ‘Make Brexit work’

BY ELENI COUREA

July 4, 2022 8:00 am

https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/in-a-pinch-1922-election-looms-make-brexit-work/

 

POLITICO London Playbook

By ELENI COUREA

 

DRIVING THE DAY

IN A PINCH: MPs return to Westminster today for the first time since the Chris Pincher scandal erupted, after a brutal set of weekend papers jam-packed with lurid allegations about his conduct stretching back a decade.

 

Over in No. 10: Boris Johnson and his senior aides are under pressure over claims that they ignored warnings about Pincher’s conduct before appointing him deputy chief whip — a role overseeing party discipline — in February. Pincher’s own position as an MP looks increasingly shaky under the weight of the sheer number of new allegations that have made their way into the papers.

 

Emerging over the weekend: Playbook counts 13 new claims spanning a decade — one from around 2012 and one from 2013 in this story by the Mail on Sunday’s Georgia Edkins … one from 2013 in Saturday’s Sun reported by Noa Hoffman … three allegations from 2017, 2018 and 2019 by the Sunday Times’ political team … one from 2018 from charity fundraiser Mark Dabbs, who has spoken on the record to the Sun … one from 2019 in today’s Times story by Henry Zeffman … one from 2021 in Saturday’s Times also by Henry Zeffman … another from 2021 reported by Claire Ellicott in the Mail, who says the alleged victim is planning to make a statement to the police, plus another that is undated … and a pair of claims by one MP from 2021 and 2022 reported by the Independent’s Anna Isaac. Pincher has denied all such allegations and in a statement over the weekend, he said he would “cooperate fully” with the parliamentary inquiry into his behavior and seek professional medical help.

 

What did the PM know? On Friday, Playbook was the first to report Johnson had been informed about allegations against Pincher before appointing him (though his spokesman later insisted that the PM was not aware of “specific allegations” and that it would not have been right to block his appointment based on “unsubstantiated” claims).

 

**A message from Lloyds Banking Group: We’re committed to helping the UK reach its net zero targets. That’s why, through our Lex Autolease brand, we’re proud to be the lead sponsor of this week’s Great British EV Rally. The rally will demonstrate the role electric vehicles can play in saving money, improving efficiency, and protecting the environment. Find out more.**

 

Reshuffle kerfuffle: The Sunday Times’ Harry Yorke has more detail. He reports that ahead of the reshuffle, a Tory MP messaged a No. 10 official and the incoming chief whip, Chris Heaton-Harris, alleging that Pincher had invited him to his parliamentary office in 2018 to discuss government business and made an unwanted pass at him. The MP told Heaton-Harris he knew of colleagues who had had similar experiences, according to Yorke.

 

And there’s more: The Mail on Sunday says Johnson knew of allegations about Pincher well before that, having told aides in 2020 that the trouble with him is that “he’s handsy … Pincher by name, Pincher by nature.” The Guardian’s Rowena Mason and Rajeev Syal have spoken with two Tory MPs who said they raised general concerns about Pincher with the whips’ office before his appointment in February. Labour’s Anneliese Dodds has written to Johnson urging him to come clean on what he knew.

 

Meanwhile: The Sunday Telegraph reported that Craig Whittaker resigned as a whip in February over Pincher’s appointment. Whittaker disputed the story with a statement to his local paper saying he quit over health reasons.

 

Date for your diaries: Against this grim backdrop, Downing Street is preparing for a critical election to the executive of the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers. In his Times splash, Henry Zeffman says the vote — which will pit the PM’s allies against anti-Johnson rebels who want to change the rules and oust him — is likely to happen on Wednesday July 13.

 

State of play: Rebels involved in a bid to change the rules (which currently bar another confidence vote from happening until June 2023) to allow a challenge against Johnson sooner are being threatened with de-selection, the Mail on Sunday’s Anna Mikhailova reports. The Tel’s Camilla Turner says nominations for 18 positions on the executive will open on Wednesday this week (when the PM is also due to face the Commons liaison committee).

 

From the tea room: One Tory MP texted Playbook that while a group of their colleagues were in the Tea Room talking about how rumors of Tory MP defections were nonsense, Nadine Dorries came over and said rebels should defect because “we’re going to withdraw the whip from them all anyway.” A source close to Dorries disputed the account.

 

The changes under consideration: One proposal that rebels are mulling would force another confidence vote should 15 percent of Tory MPs (54 of them in the current parliament) demand one, according to the Times. Another “compromise” proposal would allow letters from a quarter of the Tory parliamentary party (90 MPs) to trigger another confidence vote before a year has passed.

 

With good timing: For the first time in six months, ConHome has polled Tory members on whom they think should lead their party after Johnson. Ben Wallace comes out top — but only by a sliver — followed by Penny Mordaunt and then Liz Truss in third place. ConHome says it is publishing runoffs pitting the various contenders against each other today … which should be fun. 

 

Speaking of Cabinet: The Telegraph’s Camilla Turner and Dominic Penna splash on criticism from sources close to three Cabinet ministers over the Pincher fiasco. One source tells them that defending Johnson’s handling of it is “soul-destroying” and another says it is “a bit like getting punched in the face.” Anyone who watched Thérèse Coffey on yesterday’s broadcast round will be inclined to agree.

 

Wider fallout: Tory Whip Sarah Dines, said to be one of the MPs who reported Pincher last week, has been criticized herself for asking one of the alleged victims on Wednesday — who has since spoken to the Sunday Times — whether he was gay. Separately, Guto Harri, Johnson’s director of comms, has come under fire from government advisers after comparing Pincher to David Kelly, a military expert who killed himself after he was identified as the source of a story about Tony Blair’s Iraq War dossier being “sexed up,” at a meeting on Friday.

 

Staffers revolt: Conservative Staffers for Change, a campaign group, is due to meet Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle about the Pincher case on Wednesday, according to the Sunday Mirror.

 

Why politics is broken: Michael Crick has written an interesting piece for Unherd arguing that the Pincher saga shows we need a lot more public scrutiny of the party selection processes through which people become MPs. He has started a Twitter project to report on the selection of every candidate with a chance of becoming an MP.

 

ICYMI over the weekend: POLITICO’s Esther Webber — who revealed last week that Pincher had been assigned a “minder” to try and stop him from drinking too much and getting into trouble — had a piece on Saturday lifting the lid on the practise. And Emilio Casalicchio has written a piece with Esther about why Johnson never sacks anyone. A former Cabinet minister tells them the PM operates by “establishing a mafia, or a coterie, or a tribe whose principal aim is to share the spoils.”

 

**Happening tomorrow – This is your last chance to register for our event “Offshore wind: the green energy panacea with some hurdles”. Do not miss the opportunity to tune in to the discussion with our speakers at 10:00 a.m. CEST. Register now!**

 

LABOURLAND

LET’S TALK ABOUT … BREXIT: Keir Starmer will set out Labour’s five-point plan for “making Brexit work” in a speech at the Centre for European Reform today.

 

Behind the slogan: After two years of avoiding the issue, the Labour leader is changing tactics and is now apparently quite keen to argue that the whole thing isn’t going very well. The FT’s George Parker has a write-up of what Starmer is expected to say.

 

The key points: Starmer will rule out rejoining the single market, customs union or the EU as a whole. Instead he will, erm, commit to seeking a veterinary agreement with the EU to cut onerous agri-food checks, and agree mutual recognition of product standards. Not exactly electrifying stuff.

 

Something a bit more fun: Labour will also commit to seeking a deal on mobility to allow Brits and Europeans to take short business trips, and help musicians tour in Europe.

 

What the speech is really about: Starmer’s planned comments appear directed at those in his own party — including, according to the FT, Sadiq Khan — who want to see him go further and commit to rejoining the EU single market. “There are some who say ‘We don’t need to make Brexit work. We need to reverse it,’” Starmer’s expected to say. “I couldn’t disagree more. Because you cannot move forward or grow the country or deliver change or win back the trust of those who have lost faith in politics if you’re constantly focused on the arguments of the past … It would simply be a recipe for more division, it would distract us from taking on the challenges facing people and it would ensure Britain remained stuck for another decade.”

 

Still in the shadows: Labour-watchers yearning for a version of ConHome’s Cabinet league table will be interested in this polling carried out for the Express on which shadow Cabinet ministers Labour voters recognize. Rachel Reeves comes out top with just 19 percent, followed by Lucy Powell and Jonathan Ashworth.

 

Remember Beergate? One of the witnesses who filmed the video of Keir Starmer drinking beer in Durham has been asked if he’d be willing to testify in court, the MoS’s Anna Mikhailova and Mark Hookham report, amid expectations that Durham police will announce the conclusions of their investigation in the near future.

 

Union update: CWU boss Dave Ward told National World’s Ethan Shone that he and his union have “had enough of Westminster style politics” — sorry to lose you as a Playbook reader, Dave — and is now focusing on supporting sympathetic regional and local politicians, rather than pursuing closer ties with the Labour leadership. There’s more in Shone’s long read on strikes, union strategy and Starmer here.