Johnson 1) ‘Bullish’ Johnson ‘unleashes his inner Margaret Thatcher’ as he pledges to cut taxes, slash spending, and remove tariffs…
“Boris Johnson revealed a Thatcherite streak yesterday as he pledged to slash government spending and cut taxes. And he indicated he will start by reducing tariffs on imported food. In his first major speech since this week’s bruising revolt against his leadership, the Prime Minister signalled a drive to cut the size of the state in the wake of the pandemic. Echoing both Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, he said there were many areas where the Government should ‘simply get out of the way’ and let people get on with their lives. He said he was determined to lower the record tax burden, which he described as an ‘aberration’ caused largely by the ‘fiscal meteorite of Covid’. But sustained tax cuts would require a reduction in the size of the state following a period of ‘phenomenal corporate welfare’, he said.” – The Daily Mail
- Hitting reset: The Prime Minister’s numerous attempts to reboot his Number 10 image – The Guardian
- Johnson ‘pushing for second fuel duty cut’… – The I
- …as the cost of filling a family car hits £100 for the first time – The Times
- The Prime Minister can ease fuel prices pain – if he tells the Chancellor to take 10p off a litre – Editorial, The Sun
- Johnson is losing his hold on the levers of power – James Forsyth, The Times
- Cost of fuel is nothing short of a national emergency – and oil bosses are laughing at us – Robert Halfon, The Sun
- Churchill faces two votes of no confidence…and he seemed to do okay – Leo McKinstry, Daily Express
- Hallelujah! The great splurge artiste plies a more humble trade – Quentin Letts, The Times
- Johnson is raiding the politics cupboard for his cure-all policy omelette – Madeline Grant, The Daily Telegraph
- The Prime Minister dished out chunks of prime tenderloin for the Tory faithful – Henry Deedes, The Daily Mail
>Today:
- Andrew Bowie in Comment: I’m a Conservative MP and I ask. Where’s the big idea? What’s the offer to the country?
Johnson 2) …as he promises ‘right to buy’ for four millions Britons…
“The prime minister has promised “many more” 95 per cent mortgages to help first-time buyers on to the housing ladder as part of plans to “unbolt the door” to home ownership for more than four million people. Decades-long fixed-rate mortgages and compulsory insurance against defaults are the key options being examined by a review… Vowing to set out reforms to reduce the cost of food, energy, transport and childcare, Johnson chose yesterday to focus on housing and vowed to “finish the right-to-own reforms Margaret Thatcher began in the 1980s”. Owning your own home was “a fantastic, mobilising, motivating thing that drives people’s thoughts and passions and engages them deeply”, Johnson said, lamenting that the proportion of 25 to 34 year-olds who did so had fallen 20 per cent in a decade.” – The Times
- The Prime Minister proposes allowing housing benefits to pay for a mortgage – The Financial Times
- This housing plan is ‘nowhere hear enough to save him’, according to Tory rebels – The Guardian
- Expanding ‘right to buy’ won’t fix the problem, according to Shelter chief executive – The I
- Johnson’s latest proposals look largely unworkable and would risk pushing prices higher – Editorial, The Times
- The Prime Minister needs to deliver on his housing promises – Editorial, The Daily Telegraph
- Johnson homes (groan) in on issues close to people’s hearts – Editorial, Daily Express
- The Prime Minister won’t solve the house crisis – but he might make it worse – Kate Andrews, The Daily Telegraph
- Tories need a new scheme, not a revival of right to buy – Ross Clark, Daily Express
- We need more houses, not bigger mortgages – James Coney, The Times
>Today:
Johnson 3)…vows not to ‘roll over and surrender’ with rail unions set to paralyse the country…
“Boris Johnson vowed not to ‘surrender’ to the rail unions as two more announced strike plots yesterday as part of a co-ordinated ‘summer of discontent’. The Prime Minister told Cabinet colleagues that the Department for Transport and the rail industry had his ‘1,000 per cent support in this fight’. He pledged that the Government will not simply ‘roll over’ to union demands in the face of threats to bring the railways to a standstill and will help the industry weather the storm if a deal can’t be struck. It came as train drivers’ union Aslef announced strikes to coincide with those by the militant RMT, heaping more misery on rail travellers this summer. Aslef drivers on Hull Trains will strike on June 26 and those on Greater Anglia on June 23. Drivers on the Croydon Tramlink, in south London, will also walk out on June 28, 29 and July 13 and 14.” – The Daily Mail
- Drivers join rail strikes as ballots set to spread – The Times
- The Prime Minister warns of ‘wage-price spiral’ if workers demand higher pay – The Guardian
- Unison warns of public-sector strikes unless pay deals match the cost of living – The Financial Times
- Rail industry is stuck in the past and reform is long overdue – Huw Merriman, The Sun
Johnson 4) …and will not face a confidence vote for at least another year (under the existing rules), according to Brady
“Boris Johnson will not face another confidence vote for at least a year after rebel Tory MPs’ pleas were refused by party grandees. The 1992 Committee chair Sir Graham Brady said there had been no talks on changing rules which would allow another vote within 12 months. He told Times Radio: “It’s not something that we as an executive have discussed at all in this parliament.” The rules can be changed by a simple majority of the committee’s 18 executive members. He said a year’s grace will still follow a leadership confidence vote. But he added: “It’s possible that rules can be changed in the future.” The PM won the vote earlier this week, but 148 Tory MPs refused to back him. Supported by 211 MPs, he vowed: “We are going to bash on.”” – The Sun
- Gove admits it was a ‘mistake’ to run against Johnson in 2016 – The I
>Yesterday:
Johnson 5) Frost: The Prime Minister has until the autumn to save himself
“The tumult and the shouting in the Conservative Party has died. But the would-be captains and kings have not departed. Boris Johnson won Monday’s confidence vote, but can’t ignore the depth of opposition. Speculation about how long the Prime Minister can last is ultimately pointless. The course of future events is still to be shaped. Mr Johnson has been granted the right to give the Government a fresh start. He deserves that opportunity when one looks at all he has done for the country since becoming prime minister. But he needs to get a move on. The investigation by the Committee of Privileges is still ongoing – it could easily come to some difficult conclusions and he will face real problems if MPs, the party, and our voters can’t by then see a new positive agenda that would justify sticking with him as prime minister.” – The Daily Telegraph
Sunak blamed for losing £11 billion in servicing UK government debt
“Rishi Sunak has been accused of squandering £11bn of taxpayers money by paying too much interest servicing the government’s debt. Calculations by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, the oldest non-partisan economic research institute in the UK, show the losses stem from the chancellor’s failure to take out insurance against interest rate rises a year ago on almost £900bn of reserves created by the quantitative easing process. The loss to taxpayers is greater than the amount Conservatives have accused former Labour chancellor and prime minister Gordon Brown of costing the UK between 2003 and 2010, when he sold some of the nation’s gold reserves at rock bottom prices.” – The Financial Times
- The Chancellor’s fuel taxes are strangling Britain’s arteries – Ben Marlow, The Daily Telegraph
Truss dubbed ‘Brexit Queen’ after Cabinet clash over Northern Ireland
“Liz Truss and Suella Braverman have been accused of trying to flutter their “leadership feathers” by attempting to toughen-up plans to replace the Northern Ireland Protocol. Ms Truss, the Foreign Secretary, and Ms Braverman, the Attorney General, clashed with rivals Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak in tense talks about new legislation to replace the Protocol. The meeting eventually agreed that businesses in Northern Ireland will be subject to “dual regulation” – regulation by both UK and EU rules – when the Bill is unveiled early next week. An automatic “sunset clause” demanded by the Brexiteers, which would mean that the EU jurisdiction fell away after a few years, was also dropped. Mr Sunak won a concession on whether the Treasury could alter VAT in the Province, rather than make it UK-wide.” – The Daily Telegraph
- Laws to override Brexit deal to launch next week amid ‘deep disquiet’ among Tories – The I
- Peers vow to block the bid to override parts of Johnson’s own Brexit deal – The Daily Mail
- Eurosceptics also threaten revolt – The Financial Times
- ‘Narcissistic’ UK politics puts EU relations at risk, says former British envoy – The Guardian
Patel faces headache as illegal migrants due to be flown to Rwanda could be released if activists win court bid
“Illegal migrants due to be flown to Rwanda could be released on tags if activists win a High Court bid today. Left-wing groups and unions have teamed up to stop Tuesday’s flight. They want a review of the plan to send asylum seekers to Africa as a deterrent. Afghans fleeing the Taliban are among those expected on the flights. They could be tagged pending the row. Home Secretary Priti Patel has told her team to work around the clock to halt the legal bid. But insiders reckon there is little chance they will. A civil servant yesterday wrote on new Twitter account Our Home Office that they were ashamed to work for the Government. One hit back: “I hope you are all dismissed.”” – The Sun
- Refugee charity Asylum Aid launces a second injunction against the Home Secretary’s efforts – The Guardian
- Afghan refugees expected to be on first deportation flight scheduled for next week – The I
- ‘Mutinous’ Home Office civil servants’ poster campaign against deportations compares Paddington Beat to an illegal immigrant – The Daily Mail
- Home Office tried to ‘sanitise’ staff education model on colonialism – The Guardian
- Far from carrying out their duties to implement government guidelines on immigration, some in the Civil Service are working to undermine them – Dr Alan Mendoza, The Daily Mail
- Illegal migrants will stay in resort hotel with a pool – and the Left dubs this ‘hell’ – Douglas Murray, The Sun
Javid-backed report suggests making smoking illegal in pub gardens, ending cigarette sales in supermarkets, and banning lighting up before 9 PM on television
“Today’s children should be banned from ever being able to buy cigarettes and smoking in pub gardens should be made illegal, according to radical ‘nanny-state’ recommendations unveiled today. The age limit for purchasing cigarettes in England, currently set at 18, should rise by 12 months every year until no one can legally buy a tobacco product, the Government-commissioned review set out. Health Secretary Sajid Javid tasked former children’s charity chief Javed Khan with finding ways England could be smoke-free by 2030 — defined as less than five per cent of people smoking, compared to the current 15 per cent.” – The Daily Mail
- Gove supports the move – The Times
Rees-Mogg: The Civil Service must prepare for job cuts of up to 40 percent
“Civil servants face compulsory redundancies under plans to reduce the number of officials by 91,000 over three years, a leaked document suggests. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the minister charged with overseeing government efficiency, has said that the size of the civil service could be cut to pre-Brexit levels through attrition as people retire or resign. However, an official report sent to Whitehall departments suggests that officials could be dismissed to reduce their numbers by as much as 40 per cent in some departments. It states that as a result some government activity will need to be “deprioritised”. The document says that departments should draw up plans for three scenarios: cuts of 20 per cent; 30 per cent; and 40 per cent by March 2025.” – The Times
Dorries vows to act following audit which suggests web searches for ‘Boris Johnson’ give results for news sites hostile to the Prime Minister
“Google stood accused of bias last night after analysis showed it promoted news stories from Left-leaning publishers over those from the Right. The Daily Mail looked at which outlets’ articles were returned in last week’s top 11 most searched terms about Boris Johnson. The study found that The Guardian came up 38 times in the search results and The Independent was cited 14 times. Yet the Daily Telegraph came up just four times, the Daily Express three times and MailOnline twice. BBC News, which has been accused by some Conservatives of anti-Johnson bias, came up 24 times, along with nine further results for other BBC outlets. Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said the analysis proved what many had feared. And she promised action in a forthcoming bill to address ‘unfair bias and distortion’.” – The Daily Mail
Donelan u-turns over student numbers cap
“The Government has been consulting the higher education sector since February on bringing back controversial controls on admissions as part of a hard line on “low-quality” courses. One of the four proposed measures was “overall student numbers could be controlled at sector level”, with universities given a maximum allowance for entrants…However, the idea was roundly condemned, with Universities UK, which represents 140 British vice-chancellors, warning that the “heavy-handed” approach would be a “cap on aspiration”…On Thursday, Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, said: “I’d like to be clear that no one is talking about limiting the overall number of people going into higher education.”” – The Daily Telegraph
Hunt argues it was his “duty” to speak out against Johnson
“Hunt, one of the most senior Conservatives to turn against Johnson in Monday’s confidence vote, said he did not submit a letter to the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers or encourage others to do so. Writing in his local paper, The Farnham Herald, the former health and foreign secretary said he was obliged to speak “honestly”. He said that although “Boris Johnson, for all his endlessly-discussed faults, has achieved many important things”, they and future measures were “now overshadowed by the partygate events in a way that means many members of the public are no longer giving us the benefit of the doubt”. He added: “That makes it much harder to deliver the radical and transformative reforms we need in many areas.” – The Times
- The former Foreign Secretary ‘reacts with fury’ after ministers approve gas drilling his constituency – The Daily Mail
Nelson: As the Tories descend into chaos, The Blob is taking back control
“The Government, in its blind panic, has been desperate for laws to pass and the Schools Bill seemed an easy one to push. The problem is that Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, had not gone through the legislation properly. Even he is alarmed at what it says and is now working with Agnew and Nash to remedy things as best he can. But let’s pause to consider the real question this debacle raises. If the Education Secretary isn’t really in charge of education policy, who is? All this exposes a wider, more important and even more depressing truth: the Tories lost interest in school reform long ago. The bureaucrats are back in charge, which is why the Department for Education has returned to its centralising norm. Gove used to talk about his department – or at least shrinking it to a minimal size and turning its headquarters into a school. But since he left, the number of DfE headcount has risen 39 per cent over the last five years to 12,800. The empire successfully fought back.” – The Daily Telegraph
Putin: I’m reconquering just like Peter the Great
“President Putin has compared the war in Ukraine to Peter the Great’s conquests in the Baltic, arguing that in both conflicts Russia was recovering its own territory. “You get the impression that by fighting Sweden he was grabbing something. He wasn’t taking anything, he was taking it back,” Putin told a group of young entrepreneurs yesterday at an exhibition in Moscow marking the 350th anniversary of the tsar’s birth. “Everyone considered it to be part of Sweden. But from time immemorial Slavs had lived there alongside Finno-Ugric peoples,” Putin added. “It is our responsibility also to take back and strengthen,” he said in an apparent reference to Ukraine. Earlier Putin ordered the creation of an interior ministry department to enforce martial law, despite the Kremlin previously denying rumours that it was to be imposed.” – The Times
- Finland’s President cancels dinner with the Swedish King following the Russian President’s comments – The Daily Mail
Labour 1) Starmer fears setback after rail strikes put his party on the spot
“Labour was forced to clarify that it did not support the transport strikes set for the summer after a frontbencher said the party “was on the rail workers’ side”. Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling-up secretary, attempted to tread an uneasy middle ground yesterday when she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “We want to avoid the strikes and we’re on the public’s side on this. We’re also on the rail workers’ side and I was speaking to some rail workers on Monday just before I got on the train to come down to London. “They’re dealing with the same pressures that everyone else is — the cost of food, the cost of soaring inflation rates, taxes going up, and they’re really struggling to make ends meet.” Labour insisted that Nandy had not backed the strikes.” – The Times
- Rail union boss faces ‘MeTU’ moment amid harassment allegations – The Daily Telegraph
- Labour reveals true colours on strikes – Editorial, The Daily Mail
>Yesterday:
- Left Watch: Starmer’s honesty does not extend to saying what he would do about the Northern Ireland Protocol
Labour 2) Khan’s warns Tube and bus fares could rise by another 10 percent in a ‘war against commuters’
“Sadiq Khan could hike fares for London commuters by as much as 10 per cent from next year, it emerged today – as he was blasted for plans to expand the £12.50-a-day Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) and introduce pay-per-mile charges for motorists. Transport for London fares for Tubes, buses, the DLR and trams already rose by five per cent in March, and another significant rise would place an extra burden on households amid the cost of living crisis. The five percent hike was the biggest rise in fares since 2012, with tickets within Zone 1 increasing from £2.40 to £2.50 as a condition of the government’s £5billion bailout of cash-strapped TfL…’My concern is what happens this September when inflation is at nine or ten per cent. That’s a nine or ten per cent fare increase next year if the government requires RPI [inflation] plus 1 per cent,’ he told the London Assembly.” – The Daily Mail
>Today:
- Local Government: The Mayor of London’s war on the suburbs
Sturgeon ‘ramps up’ preparations for a second independence referendum in 2023
“The first of a series of papers making the case for Scottish independence will be published within the next three weeks, with legislation for a referendum following later this year. Nicola Sturgeon’s spokesman confirmed that the Scottish Government’s prospectus on leaving the UK would start to be released before Holyrood rises for recess on Saturday 2 July. The document, which he described as a “scene setter”, will be followed by a series of other papers aimed at persuading people of the benefits of independence. He also revealed that there will be no repeat of the 670-page Scotland’s Future white paper on independence published by Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon prior to the vote in 2014.” – The I
- The First Minister surrenders to unions as train drivers receive a 5 percent pay rise – The Daily Telegraph
News in Brief:
- Does advertising matter? – Lionel Shriver, The Spectator
- The man who broke Boris – Will Lloyd, UnHerd
- Johnson’s survival will doom the Scottish Tories – The New Statesman
- Why Right to Buy is a policy to be proud of – Elizabeth Dunkley, Cap X
- Why men don’t age like wine – Ed West, Wrong Side of History
- On Failure – Xavier Chapman, J’Accuse