London Playbook: Viral hustings — Breaking
Britain — Taking the Maitlis bait
BY EMILIO
CASALICCHIO
AUGUST 25,
2022 8:00 AM
POLITICO
London Playbook
By EMILIO
CASALICCHIO
Good
Thursday morning. This is Emilio Casalicchio. I’ll be back tomorrow too.
DRIVING THE
DAY
VIRAL
HUSTINGS: It’s the penultimate hustings of the Conservative leadership race
tonight — and this one might just be interesting (don’t subtweet us).
Interesting because former chancellor and bazooka-toting campaign underdog
Rishi Sunak has given an astonishing interview to the Spectator, lifting the
lid on the government failure to consider the wider impacts of lockdowns during
the pandemic. Wider impacts like excess deaths due to patients not attending
hospital for non-COVID issues; spiraling cancer waiting lists; and Gavin
Williamson fumbling about with school contact hours and exams. The hustings
chair tonight is lockdown-skeptic TalkTV host Julia Hartley-Brewer — which
couldn’t be more perfect. No doubt she’ll have a few questions to ask.
The scoop
he long wanted: Fraser Nelson bagged the exclusive interview in what must be a
wet dream come true for the Speccie editor and fellow lockdown-skeptic. In it,
Sunak argues it was “wrong to scare people” about the threat of COVID and
admits the scientists on SAGE ended up with too much power. “This is the
problem. If you empower all these independent people, you’re screwed,” Sunak
said. The interview went live on the Spectator website about an hour ago and
makes the front page of the magazine.
Damning
line: Nelson concludes from the discussion that the Downing Street plan was “to
create the impression that lockdown was a scientifically created policy which
only crackpots dared question.”
Never
admit: Sunak reveals officials were unable to explain how the blood-curdling
COVID death toll predictions were reached, and that no one did a cost-benefit
calculation about the trade-offs of lockdown. “The script was not to ever
acknowledge them,” he said. “The script was: oh, there’s no trade-off, because
doing this for our health is good for the economy.” He insists he was alone in
fighting to raise issues like growing cancer waiting lists and elective surgery
backlogs, as well as the hit to children not getting to school. And he complains
that too often Cabinet members were kept in the dark about policy plans until
minutes before they were expected to sign them off.
Sounds
about right: One ex-No. 10 official told Playbook last night: “This is a pretty
fair account of what Rishi said and thought at the time. Sometimes he’d very
forcefully argue his case. Other times he’d know the machine had already
decided the outcome, so he would say less, while Matt [Hancock] and Michael
[Gove] pushed against an open door for a very hardcore approach. The PM and
Rishi both hated lockdowns. Rishi always understood, though, that the blame
would rest with Boris if we got it wrong. He was as forceful as he could be
given the circumstances.”
But but
but: A No. 10 spokesperson insisted that “throughout the pandemic, public
health, education, and the economy were central to the difficult decisions made
on COVID restrictions to protect the British public from an unprecedented novel
virus. At every point, ministers made collective decisions which considered a
wide range of expert advice available at the time in order to protect public
health.”
Just over a
week to go: Sunak makes clear his rationale for being straight up about all
this now. He argues better government comes from the PM making good decisions
and not blaming someone else when things go wrong: “The leader matters. It
matters who the person at the top is.” A campaign aide noted to Playbook
however that the revelations were not a long-planned intervention; the
Spectator was just on the interview list and asked those questions.
More Team
Sunak thinking: The same aide argued the candid interview is part of the Sunak
pitch for a different approach to government, where people have all the facts
in front of them and make decisions based on full disclosure and discussion.
“This was lives and livelihoods and ministers didn’t even get the time to read
papers,” the person said about the lockdown decisions. “Rishi’s would be proper
Cabinet government where ministers are empowered and accountable.”
Fingers
holstered: Sunak insists he isn’t pointing fingers of blame for how the
lockdown debate happened in government. But the implication is clear: Liz Truss
was not asking the questions about the trade-offs of lockdown — although to be
fair, she wasn’t in a domestic-facing brief like Sunak was. Her campaign
refused to comment to Playbook last night.
Back to the
hustings: If we’re lucky, JHB will focus a few questions on the lockdown
revelations tonight instead of drawing out the long-litigated lines about tax
cuts and how “wokeism” is plunging Britain down the tubes. (OK that last one
might be a bit hopeful.) The event kicks off at 7 p.m. and will be watchable on
the TalkTV Twitter feeds etc — although there’s little point in tuning in until
8 p.m., which is when the actual questions start. Conservative volunteers Chair
Peter Booth will open the event, then both candidates will get the usual introduction
speeches from a pal before making their well-worn stump pitches. Just one to go
after tonight — hang in there.
Before the
hustings: As well as member events online and on the ground in Norfolk and
Suffolk, Sunak is doing a Facebook Q&A at noon. Tune in here. He’ll also be
interviewed on the Radio 4 World at One program. Truss is doing a clip during a
visit to a food manufacturing plant. Expect that to appear on TV some time
after 4 p.m. Will she get asked whether Sunak is “thrashing around all over the
place like a wounded stoat” at risk of destroying the Tories, as her allies
have been briefing?
What Truss
is talking about: The foreign sec is using the visit to announce a plan to
deliver for the East Anglican economy … although it’s just a rehash of her
existing pledges with a geographical indicator tacked on. Tax cuts, supply side
reform, better regulation, investment zones, cracking down on strikes, cutting
red tape and scrapping central housing targets are all in there. She’s even
been peddling the pledge to dual the A47 for a decade or so.
Truss
bingo: The Truss quote alongside the announcement is buzzword-tastic: “If
elected prime minister, I will turbocharge the economies of places like
Norwich, Great Yarmouth and across East Anglia by unleashing the private sector
with tax cuts and better regulation, cracking down on strike action slowing our
economy, and repealing the EU regulations that do not work for our rural
communities.” Expect the Conservative faithful in Norfolk to lose their shit for
it.
It just so
happens … that bosses from the “Eastern Powerhouse” (the north doesn’t have a
monopoly on powerhouses, it turns out) have penned a letter to Truss and Sunak
setting out their demands on how to “level up” the area. The 14 businesses, including
bosses from Adnams, Lotus and Hill Group, call for improved transport links,
diversification of fuel supplies and support for the local life sciences
sector, among other things.
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BREAKING
BRITAIN
POLLING
SCOOP: A majority of voters want more generous targeted financial support for
households struggling with their finances amid the cost of living crisis, new
polling shared with Playbook suggests. The survey for Citizens Advice, the
Social Market Foundation and Public First found 62 percent of voters believe
struggling households should receive help with their fuel bills, while 59
percent called for help with water bills and 58 percent said the same for food
bills.
Among
Tories: Even 54 percent of 2019 Conservative voters backed targeted support for
struggling households with fuel bills, with 25 percent opposed. Just fewer than
half backed helping households with food and fuel bills.
Feeling
will grow: Daisy Powell-Chandler from Public First said the numbers showed
“support will swing further behind a more broad-based support for households
struggling to cope with multiple higher costs” and urged prime ministerial hopefuls
to take a good look at the results. Don’t forget — we’ll find out about the new
fuel bills price cap tomorrow.
The problem
for Truss … is that something of a credibility gap over her crowd-pleasing
offer to Tory members is emerging as she gets closer to taking charge.
POLITICO’s Esther Webber reports there are some who expect her to go hell for
leather on taking office to combat the crisis. “I think we could be heading for
a 1980s-style culture shock,” one supportive MP said. “She’ll have people
around her telling her to do some radical things and that she has two years as
PM to make a difference before she fights an election.”
But, but,
but: The scale of financial pressures awaiting households as the colder seasons
approach means she’ll need to find a support package which will probably entail
spending cuts or higher borrowing. A Conservative councilor for a large local
authority tells Esther: “My personal issue is that she’s not been saying what
she’s going to take away. If you’re in an area like ours, which has suffered
really badly from cuts to local government, you’re very acutely aware that
there isn’t much else to cut.”
Pick a
side: Contributors who spoke to Esther honed in on infrastructure spending as
something that may be sacrificed to guarantee tax cuts, casting doubt on the
big Truss promise to the north of better rail provision. That could mean
choosing a side in the broad electoral coalition between traditional southern
Conservative voters and Brexit-supporting voters in northern towns which
Johnson stitched together in 2019. Esther’s full piece is well worth a read.
Running
theme: The wall of coverage about the cost of living crisis continues with
numerous angles this morning. The Resolution Foundation think tank argues in a
new report that the next PM must “think the unthinkable” and go big on fuel
help or risk a “catastrophe.” It notes that promises from the leadership
candidates are not enough. Crisis, meanwhile, has new research showing just 12
percent of rental properties are affordable to low-income renters, with rent
now 12 percent higher than before the pandemic, despite housing benefit remaining
frozen since March 2020.
It goes on:
The British Chambers of Commerce has a five-point plan to offer businesses
immediate support as prices rise, including an energy grant for SMEs, more
powers for energy regulators and a short-term reverse in National Insurance
Contributions. Consumer champion Which? is meanwhile urging the government to
raise its fuel bill discount by at least 150 percent or risk pushing millions
of households into financial distress.
You know
things are bad when … the Reform Party (formerly the Brexit Party) holds a
press conference — albeit online. Leader Richard Tice will urge ministers to
take control of production pricing, as happens in wartime, and energy planning.
Tune in here from 11 a.m.
Speaking of
the Reform Party: Former leader Nigel Farage has given an interview to, err,
his employer GB News, in which he says he still gets constant abuse and death
threats. He said he was given a hard time on a plane last week from someone who
looked like a student, but shot back: “It looks like you’ve had your say, sit
down, shut up, or I’ll make sure the transport police delay your journey home.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Nige backed Truss for the Conservative leadership
as the “least worst candidate.”
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