“Boris Johnson will raise concerns about Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal in his first public intervention since it was announced earlier this week. The former prime minister will use an address in central London to outline his views on the new deal amid mounting criticism from Tory Eurosceptics. One ally suggested he would criticise parts of the deal but said that he will not oppose it outright. A source close to Johnson did not deny that he retains significant concerns about the plans and stands by his warning that the government should retain the Northern Ireland protocol bill.” – The Times
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>Yesterday:
“Already Sunak has achieved something significant, in that none of the ERG members in the government have quit or even felt the need to signal their disapproval in a coded way. None of this is to dismiss the real problems that Sunak still faces. But prime ministers are often shaped by their first big success, and this is Sunak’s. The achievement – which, as our reporters highlight, involved a markedly less confrontational approach than Boris Johnson’s – has served to answer those in his inner circle who were arguing that he needed to be bold and stretch his party rather than bend to it.” – FT
>Today: Hugh Bennett in Comment: The Windsor Framework is a masterclass in rebranding – not a decisive resolution to the problems of the Protocol
“Ministers have formally vowed never to use controversial new spy laws to lock up journalists. The climbdown came as peers debated the National Security Bill that risked jailing reporters for assisting foreign spooks — even by accident. Home Office Minister Lord Sharpe pledged the Government would not go after newspapers and TV for revelations that may “incidentally be capable of assisting a foreign intelligence service”. He said: “The Government may profoundly disagree with the conclusions of some journalists, but we will not hide behind the criminal law to suppress legitimate competing views.”” – The Sun
>Yesterday: Simon Fell MP and Mary Robinson MP in Comment: We must use this opportunity to strengthen the Economic Crime Bill
“Political correctness has created a blind spot in which Islamist extremists have operated “under our radar”, the home secretary has said. Suella Braverman said that a “highly co-ordinated” Islamist network had been largely unchallenged as it spread propaganda and warped ideology. Braverman told a counterextremism conference that Islamist ideology could look “perfectly respectable” but under the surface contain extremist views… She made her remarks after an independent review of Prevent, the government’s counter-extremism programme, found that it had failed to tackle Islamist radicalisation.” – The Times
“Rishi Sunak will “put the pedal to the metal” after his Brexit win by finally unveiling his much-delayed small boats law next week. Allies say the PM is hopeful, despite last-minute wrangling with government lawyers about its scale and scope. His Bill will make it a crime to enter the UK without permission – and enshrine in law the ability to deport illegal migrants within days to safe countries like Rwanda. It has been delayed for weeks to ensure it is legally watertight amid Whitehall hand-wringing about “cutting across the Human Rights Act”. After the legislation is revealed, Mr Sunak plans to meet France’s Emmanuel Macron and US President Joe Biden to keep up momentum.” – The Sun
“Embattled Matt Hancock dramatically broke his silence today over 100,000 leaked WhatsApp messages he sent to ministers and officials during the pandemic. The ex-Health Secretary slammed the data dump as a “massive betrayal”. And he hit back at accusations he sent “menacing messages” to Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who broke a non-disclosure agreement to leak the texts to The Telegraph. “I am hugely disappointed and sad at the massive betrayal and breach of trust by Isabel Oakeshott,” Mr Hancock fumed. “Isabel repeatedly reiterated the importance of trust throughout, and then broke that trust.” Ms Oakeshott co-authored Mr Hancock’s Covid memoir, The Pandemic Diaries.” – The Sun
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Comment:
>Today: ToryDiary: The Lockdown Files. By making Hancock the pandemic’s pantomime villain, we obscure the dysfunctional system around him.
“Luciana Berger could return to parliament as an MP or peer, shadow cabinet ministers believe, as the path clears for others who left Labour under Jeremy Corbyn to come back to the party. Berger announced at the weekend that she was rejoining the party four years after resigning in protest at its handling of antisemitism allegations. Berger needed police protection to attend a Labour conference and received a torrent of antisemitic abuse during Corbyn’s leadership. Sir Keir Starmer publicly apologised to Berger, saying that she had faced “intolerable and unacceptable” abuse from within the party’s ranks.” – The Times
>Today: Philip Bibby in Local Government: Labour is failing the people of Stevenage
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: PMQs sketch: Sunak mocks Starmer for being from North London
“Kate Forbes has vowed to force the Prime Minister to hand over the powers to hold a new independence referendum within three months of next year’s general election. The Finance Secretary announced a new plan at the first hustings event of the SNP leadership contest, as she sought to upstage Humza Yousaf’s more patient plan for securing Scottish sovereignty. The candidates also clashed over gender reforms, with Mr Yousaf, the narrow favourite in the contest, questioning his opponents’ patriotism for saying they would not challenge the UK Government’s veto to Nicola Sturgeon’s gender reforms.” – Daily Telegraph