Dawn Butler’s Commons hissy fit yesterday went exactly as planned: her own Twitter clip is currently on 1.4 million views, though she’s retweeted various other uploads of the clip which total 6.3 million in about half a day. She even had a speedily filmed and produced Byline TV interview out on the strop stunt…
It turns out Dawn’s stunt came very close to backfiring. Thankfully for her she was only suspended for the remainder of the day’s sitting – if she’d been thrown out using a similar standing order, and been suspended until the next sitting day, she would have remained a suspended MP going into the Summer recess, thereby being unable to draw a salary for over six weeks. Six weeks of an MP’s salary would have come to £9453. Commons sources suggest Dawn’s dodging of this unlucky outcome was unlikely to have been deliberate after a careful reading of Parliamentary procedure…
With numerous MPs coming out of the woodwork yesterday to announce planned boycotts of conference over a potential vaccine passport policy, Guido can understand why Tory chair Amanda Milling tried to assuage nerves in the MP group chat yesterday, saying “No decisions have been made”. It seems George Eustice didn’t get the memo…
On the morning media round, the DEFRA secretary basically confirmed the plans, saying “we need to keep these tools at our disposal at the moment”, and telling Sky News that
“as I say it could be that business conference, including possibly party conferences where you have large numbers of people indoors there could be a case for it there, we haven’t ruled that out.”
Guido can reveal further Tory MPs’ displeasure at the news. A couple of members have said while they had no plans to attend conference this year, they’re not happy with the news:
Craig Tracey: “I wasn’t planning to be at Conference this year anyway, so not something I’ve considered. I don’t agree with the concept of vaccine passports though”
Anne Marie Morris: “is opposed to the use of domestic vaccine passports but hasn’t attended conference for a number of years as she feels it’s a waste of time, that could be far better used being in the constituency… On that basis, you could say she’s been ‘boycotting’ conference long before the issue of vaccine passports came up.”
Greg Smith MP noted Milling’s wobble, though he said he remains wholly opposed to vaccine passports.
“I am booked to go and am double jabbed, but am very sympathetic to the point that the Conservative Party should not discriminate against people because of their health choices/records. Hopefully the Party does not go down this route!”
Sir Desmond Swayne says he will go to a vaccine passport-ed conference given he’s already paid, though issued the warning that he will be there in a capacity to “stiffen the Resistance”. It’s a good point from Sir Desmond – if every anti-vaccine passport MP and member boycotts, there’ll be no one there to push the arguments…
Keir Starmer has joined the long line of dodgy prophets who have predicted the impending running-out of Boris’s luck. He told Peston’s podcast he things the “the road will run out for Johnson”, and that “integrity, honesty and accountability do matter”. Guido can’t count how many times he’s heard this exact same prediction over the last two decades. Every time it’s been proved wrong.
ITV’s Daniel Hewitt was quick to point out that “the problem here is you haven’t quite worked out why he [Boris] appeals to people” and that in spite of Labour’s criticisms Johnson has defied expectations by winning the London mayoral election and a stonking Tory majority in 2019.
Today marks exactly two years since Boris became Prime Minister. He remains 13 points ahead of Labour…
A second anti-lockdown crank has pleaded not guilty to the harassment of the BBC’s Nick Watt, who was accosted by a mob of protesters in Whitehall last month. Christopher Aitken, who admits being part of the mob yet still insists he “did nothing wrong”, was caught on camera chasing the Newsnight editor into Richmond Terrace following the government’s decision to delay reopening beyond 21st June. Aitken left court yesterday wearing a box on his head, and in the esteemed company of – who else? – Piers Corbyn. A trial is now set for 29th November…
A brilliant clip of a 1991 G7 drinks reception has emerged and is doing the rounds this morning, featuring an Avengers Assemble cast of Margaret Thatcher, Ted Heath, Lady Diana, a coterie of world leaders and the Queen herself. A real flashback…
One of the highlights of the clip is the Queen saying what we all knew directly to Ted Heath’s face; when the former PM mentioned he’d been to Baghdad the Queen jokingly responds, “I know you did, you’re expendable”. The Queen of diplomacy…
This morning George Eustice has said the army remain “on stand-by” to help with the shortage of key staff, however they’re not needed yet. Not quite the headlines No. 10 were hoping for during the unlocking process…
The declaration came as the government introduces new lists of key workers who will now get preferential treatment to reduce cases of the pingdemic. Under the new rules, 10,000 food supply chain workers – vaccinated or not – will be allowed to take daily Covid tests rather than self-isolate when pinged. The BBC pointed out that this doesn’t include the whole food supply chain however – not least the actual shelf-stackers:
A separate list has also been drawn up by the government of “vital industries”, who are also entitled to access a different set of exemptions. Under the list of 16 vital industries, bosses will be able to contact the relevant department and request a limited number of exemptions for specific named workers who may need to be exempt. Yet more layers of pandemic rule complexity…
