London Playbook: Barging in — ICGS scoop — Boothroyd remembered

 

London Playbook: Barging in — ICGS scoop — Boothroyd remembered

BY ELENI COUREA

MARCH 29, 2023 8:10 AM CET

https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/barging-in-icgs-scoop-boothroyd-remembered/

 

London Playbook

By ELENI COUREA

 

DRIVING THE DAY

DUN DUN DUUUN … It’s Dominic Raab day in SW1. Not because we find out the outcome of the bullying probe — but because he’s touring broadcast studios and then deputizing for Rishi Sunak at PMQs.

 

So where the hell is that report? It’s now been 126 days since Adam Tolley KC was tasked with producing it. The Whitehall probe into bullying allegations against Priti Patel took 10 months, so we’re still some way off that … but today could end up being Raab’s last hurrah, if the investigation doesn’t go his way.

 

What Raab wants to talk about: He’s unveiling a bill giving ministers powers to block the release of the most serious offenders on parole. At noon he is up against Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner in the Commons (always a good watch).

 

Sorry to barge in but: Robert Jenrick is going to suck attention away from all that by announcing plans to house Channel migrants on military bases instead of in hotel rooms. The immigration minister is due to make a Commons statement today, which multiple reporters detected was coming.

 

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Most eye-catchingly … There are reportedly plans to move migrants onto one or more giant disused barges (the Times, the Sun, the Express) … plus maybe ferries and cruise ships (the Telegraph, the Mail) … including potentially a former cruise ship from Indonesia (the Guardian).

 

After conversations with government officials last night … Playbook isn’t quite sure whether plans to use such vessels will actually feature in Jenrick’s announcement or just remain a vague future promise. The Times’ Steve Swinford and Matt Dathan report that although the barge has been procured, discussions are at an “early stage,” while the Telegraph says the announcement will primarily be about using military bases.

 

Before we move on: If this all sounds kind of familiar it’s because — as Sunder Katwala recounts in this Twitter thread — there have been multiple stories about various iterations of this policy in the past year, including by Charles Hymas in Saturday’s Telegraph who saw it coming this week. Notably the Times’ Matt Dathan reported last summer that Sunak’s idea to put migrants on cruise ships was “laughed off the table” at Cabinet because of “astronomical” costs and legal concerns … so what’s changed?

 

More on the vessels: The idea is these would be moored off the coast, emulating the way the Scottish government has housed Ukrainian refugees on ships, one government aide told Playbook. The Telegraph says this ensures the arrangement doesn’t breach international conventions on refugees, and reports that docks in the south-west of England and Liverpool are under consideration. Slightly surreally the Times splash says the barge in question “is of a kind usually used for offshore construction projects and has basic facilities. It is unclear how the government would deal with matters such as the safety of those on board, although a government source said: ‘It’s a row we’re prepared to have.’”

 

More on the bases: These plans appear to be on firmer ground (sorry) and involve RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, once home to the Dambusters, and RAF Wethersfield in Essex. The latter is something of a headache for James Cleverly, who has opposed the proposal as the area’s local MP … which explains the attraction of using vessels out at sea where there are no pesky voters to complain about their presence (as the Mail splash points out).

 

Not such firm ground after all: The Tel’s Charles Hymas reports that local authorities in both Essex (as per BBC) and Lincolnshire are preparing to seek High Court injunctions to stop the military bases in their areas from being used to accommodate migrants. 

 

On the government side: The Mail reports in its splash that Jenrick told Cabinet on Tuesday the average cost of accommodating a migrant in a hotel had reached £150 a night — more than £6 million a day in total. “He made it clear that the cost is completely unsustainable,” an unspecified source tells the paper. “We need to start getting people out of expensive hotels and into more appropriate accommodation.” Like expensive cruise ships?

 

Importantly: The plans would only apply to new arrivals — people who are already here would not be moved out of hotel rooms, at least for now. Those who are being removed from hotels are Afghans, whom ministers are relocating into permanent housing in plans announced on Tuesday. The Times reports on concerns from Afghans who fear being moved far from areas where they’ve lived for years.

 

ICYMI: Sunak and Keir Starmer won’t be sparring over all this at PMQs because they are both attending the funeral of much-loved former Commons Speaker Betty Boothroyd today — Playbook’s ace reporter Noah Keate rounds up some of her finest moments below.

 

TODAY’S BOX-OFFICE HEARING: Jeremy Hunt is being questioned by the Treasury committee on the budget at 9.30 a.m. The FT splash reports he is planning to spend an additional £3 billion on pay rises for health workers (the Times’ Chris Smyth hears similar). Unsurprisingly teachers are demanding ministers give them a pay rise with new money too.

 

BOOTHROYD REMEMBERED: As the first — and so far only — female speaker, Boothroyd was an iconic trailblazer loved and respected by all sides of the House, Playbook’s Noah Keate writes. She ascended to the speakership in 1992, just three years after TV cameras started to transmit Commons proceedings. Perfect timing to record plenty of iconic moments: Suspending the “Beast of Bolsover” Dennis Skinner … Putting future Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith in his place … Declaring she was “sick and tired” of a member shouting out … Using her casting vote in a debate about Europe (how times change) … Telling former Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes to “produce your voice” … Receiving a standing ovation in the U.S. Senate … Shouting “order” in the Lords 17 years after stepping down as speaker … and attending the musical about her life only a month before her death.

 

CLIMATE CRUNCH

NOT SO GREEN DAY: The U.K. is “strikingly unprepared” for the impacts of the climate crisis after a “lost decade,” according to the Climate Change Committee, the government’s official climate adviser. The Guardian and the FT have write-ups. The CCC’s biennial report will be unveiled at an event at 10 a.m., nicely timed on the day before the government’s so-called green day package of proposals to improve energy security. It’s triggered some admittedly funny Ed Miliband puns. No. 10 would rather call it “energy security day.”

 

Tomorrow’s announcement today: The Times has lots of detail about the planned policies, reporting that products imported from polluting factories abroad could face green taxes and middle-income families given grants to make their homes more energy efficient. Ministers will also consult on “carbon border taxes” to protect U.K. manufacturers from being undercut by countries with laxer environmental regulations. The Mail’s Harriet Line reports there will be an international contest to build new U.K. nuclear power stations. The measures will be announced on Thursday by Energy Secretary Grant Shapps.

 

Scooplet — UK + EU vs. IRA: My colleague Stefan Boscia hears Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch will meet her EU counterpart Valdis Dombrovskis today to intensify talks on the U.K. and EU responses to Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. A Whitehall official tells Stefan that Badenoch will seek to ensure the U.K. is not frozen out of Brussels’ response to the IRA, which will see the EU spend hundreds of billions of euros on green subsidies.

 

Petrol ban under fire: The Telegraph splash questions the U.K. commitment to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, as Brussels wrangles over its own 2035 policy under pressure from German carmakers. Tory MPs Iain Duncan Smith, John Redwood, Greg Smith, Philip Davies and Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen all challenge the 2030 deadline.

 

POLICY CORNER

LATEST ‘DRUGS’ CRACKDOWN: Never mind laughing gas, the Sun’s Harry Cole reports ministers are consulting on banning the fruit-flavored vapes popular with under-18s. He says Public Health Minister Neil O’Brien is planning a big speech in early April on smoking — and that the government will reject some of the strictest recommendations it’s had such as printing “smoking kills” on individual cigarettes.

 

IN NEED OF AID: In a scathing report today, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact estimates that the government spent a third of its aid budget last year — or £3.5 billion — on refugees and asylum seekers in the U.K. Here’s the PA write-up via the Indy. It gets a mention in the Mail splash.

 

NHS IN POOR HEALTH: The British Social Attitudes survey has recorded the lowest level of public satisfaction with the NHS since it began in the 1980s. Only 29 percent of people said they were satisfied with the NHS, falling to 14 percent with the social care system (trailed by the Observer at the weekend). The story splashes the Express.

 

REGULATING AI: The government is unveiling its first-ever plan for regulating artificial intelligence in a white paper today. Michelle Donelan told the Sun’s Natasha Clark that “AI is not something we should fear.”

 

Today … marks 50 days since Sunak’s reshuffle created Donelan’s science and technology department, and officials are excited about it. DSIT is planning to issue a highlights reel of its first 50 days.

 

PRESS VICTORY: The government plans to scrap a key piece of press regulation law requiring news publishers to pay the legal costs of those who sue them unless they are signed up to a state-backed press regulator (no major news outlet is). The Guardian has a write-up of the plans, which form part of a draft media bill due to be published today.

 

**The Commission will finally unveil the first update of the EU’s pharma legislation in twenty years. And the shakeup promises to be major. Do you want to know more? Tune in on April 25 at POLITICO Live’s event “Breaking barriers in innovation and access: can the pharma legislation do it all?”. Register now! **

 

ICGS SCOOP

TWITTER WARS: The SNP’s John Nicolson has been cleared of bullying TV presenter and former Tory Cabinet Minister Nadine Dorries on Twitter following a six-month parliamentary investigation.

 

Wait, what? Nicolson — the SNP’s culture spokesperson — was cleared after an extended probe by the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) into his tweets, retweets and likes about Dorries while she was culture sec in Boris Johnson’s government. Full story here.

 

What happens now: Dorries has to decide whether to appeal to the independent expert panel.

 

What it’s all about: After a fiery DCMS committee hearing in November 2021, Nicolson posted tweets criticizing Dorries and liked tweets describing her as a “horrible disgusting woman,” a “mendacious, vacuous Tory goon,” “thick as two short planks,” and saying that she had been “rag-dolled by a Scottish MP.”

 

Waiting and waiting: Dorries reported Nicolson to the ICGS in October 2022, according to correspondence seen by POLITICO … so it’s taken nearly six months for it to reach a verdict about some tweets. Notably, this is the first known case of an MP making a formal complaint of cyberbullying against a fellow MP via the ICGS, which was set up in 2018 to crack down on misconduct.

 

Disclaimer: Dorries and Nicolson were both asked to sign confidentiality agreements under the ICGS process and declined to respond to POLITICO’s requests for comment. A Commons spokesperson said the ICGS “operates on the basis of confidentiality for the benefit of all parties. Therefore, we cannot provide any information on any complaint, including whether or not a complaint has been received.”

 

LABOUR LAND

CORBYN CANNED: Jeremy Corbyn dropped the heaviest of hints last night that he will contest Islington North as an independent candidate, after he was barred from standing for Labour — all but confirming the Times scoop by Patrick Maguire on Monday. Team Corbyn insists he wants to announce any decision on his own terms … feels like the horse has bolted on that one.

 

Waiting in the wings: The Times’ Henry Zeffman reports that a 32-year-old businessman who runs a string of IVF clinics is among those angling to become the Labour candidate seeking to unseat Corbyn.

 

BOOKMARK THIS — LABOUR’S CHINA COMMITMENT: Labour would pursue legal avenues toward declaring China’s crackdown on Uyghur Muslims a “genocide,” David Lammy told your Playbook author in a Q&A on Tuesday. Lammy said that if Labour forms the next government he would “act multilaterally with our partners” to seek recognition of China’s actions as genocide through international courts.  He was speaking at a Fabian Society event launching a pamphlet with his plans. Our POLITICO write-up will be here shortly.

 

Be in no doubt: This is a significant commitment and one human rights groups will praise, but which would put a Labour government on a collision course with China. Beijing sanctioned the seven parliamentarians who have been among the most vocal about human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Labour says it wants to carry on trading and collaborating with China — so the challenge will be squaring that with its genocide position.

 

SHAD CAB DIARY: Jonathan Reynolds is speaking at the launch of a Headland report concluding that Labour’s pro-business blitz is popular with voters. The event starts with networking at 8 a.m. (clearly one for execs with ludicrous morning routines) … and Labour Chair Anneliese Dodds is keynote speaker at the Social Mobility Business Seminar. She will be speaking about (you guessed it) social mobility at 9.38 a.m., so that’s one for people with insanely precise diaries.

 

**All the latest news about yesterday’s Energy Council Meeting in one place, from shifting away from natural gas to how changes will affect the EU’s promise of climate neutrality. Find out what was discussed at yesterday’s Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Meeting with POLITICO Pro Energy and Climate. Learn more here. **

 

TODAY IN WESTMINSTER

SECOND JOBS: After last weekend’s unedifying spectacle of ex-Cabinet ministers duped into asking for astronomical sums to work on the side for a fake South Korean company, the i’s Paul Waugh reports ex-Cabinet ministers are now even requesting fees to be interviewed on air — with one “mainstream broadcaster” asked to cough up a hefty £1,500 (and declining).

 

RETIRING FROM JOBS: Ministers are expected to release a six-yearly review of the U.K. state pension age either today or Thursday, my colleague Dan Bloom hears. We already know ministers have delayed a decision on raising the pension age to 68 until after the 2024 election, as the FT first reported. Dan hears the decision to delay was taken in budget week.

 

AT RISK OF LOSING JOBS: A consultative ballot on possible strike action among NUJ members at Reach PLC, where staff are at risk of redundancy, closes today.

 

HOUSE OF COMMONS: Sits from 11.30 a.m. with Scotland questions followed by deputy PMQs at noon … Labour MP Gareth Thomas has a 10-minute rule bill on cooperatives … and then the main business is the second reading of the Finance (No. 2) Bill. Labour’s Bambos Charalambous has the adjournment debate on funding and support for classical music.

 

WESTMINSTER HALL: Debates from 9.30 a.m. on topics including human trafficking and modern slavery (led by Tory MP Peter Bone) … the cost of fuel and rural households and communities (managed by the SNP’s Angela Crawley) … and electricity technology skills in North Lancashire (headed by the Tories’ David Morris).

 

On committee corridor: The work and pensions committee hears from DWP Secretary Mel Stride about his work (9.15 a.m.) … Chancellor Jeremy Hunt appears before the Treasury committee to discuss the budget (9.45 a.m.) … Transport Minister Richard Holden speaks to the transport committee about strategic road investment (10.30 a.m.) … Welsh Economy Minister Vaughan Gething appears before the European scrutiny committee to discuss the U.K.’s EU representation and how it has changed (10.45 a.m.) … The environmental audit committee hears from Defra Minister Trudy Harrison about sustainable timber and deforestation (2.15 p.m.) … Justice Minister Damian Hinds is probed by the justice committee on the prison operational workforce (2.30 p.m.) … Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza speaks to the Lords’ public services committee about the review of the children’s social care implementation strategy (3 p.m.).

 

HOUSE OF LORDS: Sits from 3 p.m. with oral questions on granting British passports to Hong Kong military service veterans, verifying the identity, donations and voting of overseas citizens and accountability for when money is wasted in the defense ministry’s procurement program … and then the main business is the Draft Windsor Framework (Democratic Scrutiny) Regulations 2023 and the final day of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill at committee stage.

 

BEYOND THE M25

YOUSAF’S SCOTLAND: Humza Yousaf will be formally sworn in as Scottish first minister at the Court of Session in Edinburgh before assembling his new Cabinet. We already know Kate Forbes is out after being offered a demotion. The BBC reports Shona Robison will be Yousaf’s deputy first minister — an MSP since 1999, she was social justice secretary and introduced the controversial Gender Recognition Reform Bill.

 

DAVEY’S PITCH: The Lib Dems launch their local election campaign in Hertfordshire today focusing on local health services, and are publishing stats saying that over 500 GP practices have closed since 2019. There will be pooled camera footage of Ed Davey. Playbook is told to expect some kind of cheesy stunt but no yellow hammer this time. The party has landed attack stories today in the Tel and the Mail.

 

GFA TRIBUTES: The heads of the European Commission, Council and Parliament will mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement at a Parliament plenary session at 2 p.m. London time. On Tuesday MI5 raised the terrorist threat in Northern Ireland to severe. Irish media reports that Joe Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland will take place around April 11.

 

ICH BIN EIN BERLINER: King Charles travels to Germany for his first trip — and state visit — abroad as monarch. The king and queen consort will attend a state banquet at Bellevue Palace during a three-day visit to Berlin and Hamburg.

 

FRENCH UNREST: There were more protests in France against Emmanuel Macron’s reforms to the pension age, with activists throwing fireworks, paving stones and bottles at police — more from POLITICO here. The Times says the overall number of protestors fell by comparison to last week from 1.09 million to 740,000, with the number of workers taking strike action also decreasing.

 

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