Afternoon summary
- Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, has in very general terms backed Boris Johnson’s call for the NHS to get more money, while gently mocking Johnson’s suggestion that the government could easily find an extra £100m a week for this purpose. (See 4.33pm.)
- Hunt has said that the Brexit transition may not be finalised until after March. (See 2.55pm.) Giving evidence to the Commons health committee, he also said he would favour “close regulatory alignment” with the EU, provided the UK did not have to adopt new EU regulation. (See 3.19pm.) He also said a no deal Brexit would be “uniquely damaging” because cancer patients could be left unable to get the drugs they needed.
- The Conservative MP Ben Bradley has defended the “broad point” behind his suggestion that benefits claimants should have vasectomies by saying working people find it frustrating when a minority “take advantage” of the welfare system. As the Press Association reports, Bradley, who was made a Tory vice chairman in the recent reshuffle, apologised for the language he used when he said people on welfare should stop having children if they could not afford them, before suggesting sterilisation. He was writing in support of the benefits cap and suggested it would not be long “before we’re drowning in a vast sea of unemployed wasters”. Bradley, who posted the blog when he was 21 years old in 2012, apologised for his “immature” language and said he may have been deliberately provocative as he was an aspiring journalist. But in a Facebook video message, he went on:
The broad issue that I was trying to address was that there are a lot of people, particularly in places like Mansfield, who work very hard and have to make very difficult decisions financially about whether they can afford to have kids. And I found that people find it frustrating when a very small minority of people appear to take advantage of the benefit system. Now we have the benefits cap and we have a two-child limit on child benefit and hopefully those things can’t happen anymore. But language aside that was the broad point I was trying to make and I still stand by that.
In his video message Bradley admitted he “cocked up” but said there needs to be a conversation about whether younger people may be put off from entering politics if they are judged on past online comments.
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
The health committee hearing is now over.
Q: Are you winning the argument for more money for the NHS?
Hunt says the government understands the pressures the NHS is under. But it is also under pressure to ensure government money is spent well. There is still waste in the NHS that needs to be tackled, he says.
Hunt says the NHS does not just require universal access; there must be universal access to quality care, not just any old care, he says.
Hunt says Italy and Spain spend less than the UK on social care, but seem to have fewer problems. There may be societal reasons for that, he says.
He says he does want to look at what happens in other countries as part of the review of social care.
Sarah Wollaston says she is pleased to hear Hunt say health funding and social care funding are linked. Will the review cover both?
Hunt says all he can say is that it does not make sense to look at the funding for one without looking at the funding for another.
Q: Will you get cross-party support for this?
Hunt says he wants a longer-term solution to NHS funding. But he says decisions about NHS funding will always be political.
Labour’s Ben Bradshaw goes next.
Q: Did you support Boris Johnson’s call for extra health spending?
Hunt says health secretaries always want more funding. But he will not comment on what happened at cabinet, he says.
Q: Where is this money going to come from? There won’t be an extra money there next March.
Hunt replies:
That is a question you will have to ask the foreign secretary.
Updated
Hunt says the risk pooling part of the social care system does not work at the moment. It is very random. If you get dementia, you could end up in a care home and having to pay for everything. That does not happen with other illnesses, he says.
Hunt says it does not make sense to look at health funding separately from social care funding. They are connected, he says.
Q: What do you think of the call from MPs for a cross-party commission on health funding?
Hunt says you cannot take the politics out of the NHS.
But he says he would always be interested in listening to the views of MPs on this issue.
Sarah Wollaston, the committee chair, says they have finished the Brexit questions.
Now they want to ask about the change to the department’s name, and to Jeremy Hunt’s role. He is now secretary of state for health and social care.
Q: Is this just a name change? Or will it lead to a new approach?
Hunt says changing the name of the department does not address funding issues. So we should not overstate it.
But symbolism matters, he says. For the first time a secretary of state has social care in the job title. That shows Theresa May attaches a lot of importance to reforming social care.
Q: Does it change the way money is spent?
No, says Hunt. But he is now in charge of the social care green paper.
A few minutes ago Labour’s Ben Bradshaw asked Jeremy Hunt about the NHS and the government’s migration target (getting net migration below 100,000 a year). Hunt said the home secretary, Amber Rudd, was sympathetic to the needs of the health and social care sector. He said she totally understood the needs of the sector.
Bradshaw said it sounded as if the target were going, which he said would be “very good news”. Hunt did not respond.
UPDATE: Bradshaw then tweeted this.
Jeremy Hunt tells @CommonsHealth Home Office “very sympathetic” to the NHS & Social Care’s need for migrant labour in wake of #Brexit vote. Sounds like Govt’s net immigration target’s on the way out.
— Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) January 23, 2018
Updated
Hunt says he would favour 'close regulatory alignment' with EU
This is what Jeremy Hunt said earlier (see 3.19pm) about favouring “close regulatory alignment” with the EU.
In terms of the regulatory alignment, I think the situation is this. There is I don’t think any intellectual problem or incompatibility with totally close regulatory alignment and the UK agreeing to do that on an ongoing basis. Obviously parliaments cannot bind future parliaments, but saying this is what we intend to happen for ever.
I think the issue is the legal underpinnings to that. If that regulatory alignment is agreed between two sovereign powers, the EU and the UK, with international arbitration, or an agreed arbitration if one party thinks the other party is breaching that agreement, then I think that is completely acceptable and I think that is the kind of relationship that could work every well, not just in pharmaceuticals but also in life sciences, also financial services as well.
What I think is difficult to square with my view of what people voted for would be an arrangement where we were obliged to change our regulations in response to a unilateral change in regulations made by the EU going forward. I don’t think that would be compatible with having control of our own destiny.
The national security council has agreed to hold a separate, stand-alone defence review, the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn reports. Currently defence is being considered as part of the national security capability review, which also covers counter-terrorism.
Breaking: Defence cuts have been suspended, at least for now. The NSC have just agreed to hold a fresh defence review (which they'll call a Modernising Defence Programme).
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) January 23, 2018
This is a considerable victory for @GavinWilliamson, and first blood against HMT. The won is far from over though. https://t.co/UFuTkfgBdE
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) January 23, 2018
This is from my colleague Anushka Asthana.
Someone just told me Amber Rudd was one of 8 cabinet ministers ticking off Boris. Source said she argued there had to be “trust” between ministers, before adding: “I’m talking to you, foreign secretary.” Ha!!
— Anushka Asthana (@GuardianAnushka) January 23, 2018
Hunt says Brexit has been a catalyst for thinking about how the NHS treats its staff. He says relying on recruitment from overseas to fill NHS posts was never a sustainable position.
In November the Commons passed a Labour motion calling for the public sector pay cap to be lifted for the armed forces. The motion was passed without opposition because, lacking a majority, the government has given up trying to defeat opposition day motions which are not binding anyway.
But the government has committed itself to responding to motions like this with a statement. Today Tobias Ellwood, a defence minister, has issued a written ministerial statement about the defence pay vote. He says:
The 2015 spending review and autumn statement budgeted for 1% average basic pay and progression pay awards. However, the government recognises that in some parts of the public sector, more flexibility may be required, particularly in areas of skill shortage and in return for improvements to public sector productivity. There continues to be a need for pay discipline over the coming years to ensure the affordability of the public services and the sustainability of public sector employment.
Hunt says staying in the single market would not be compatible with the vote to leave the EU. That would leave the UK as a rule-taker. Many people who voted leave would find that completely unacceptable, he says.
On regulatory alignment, he says he does not see any problem with “totally close regulatory alignment”.
But the problem relates to how that is underpinned, he says.
He says that is the kind of relationship that could work well, not just for industries like pharmaceuticals, but financial services.
However, Hunt says what would not be acceptable would be a situation that meant Britain had to change its regulations every time the EU changed theirs.
- Hunt says he would favour “close regulatory alignment” with the EU, provided the UK did not have to adopt new EU regulation.
Updated
Back at the health committee the Labour MP Ben Bradshaw asks Jeremy Hunt who is holding up a Brexit transition deal. Hunt says there will be one.
But we could agree one now, Bradshaw says. Who is holding it up? Boris Johnson?
Hunt dismisses this. The UK needs to agree it with the EU, he says.
Grant Shapps, the former Conservative party chairman, has just told BBC News that, while he disagreed with Boris Johnson’s decision to brief the newspapers about his NHS spending demands, he thought Johnson’s argument was a sound one. Shapps said he thought the public were now in favour of spending more money on the NHS.
Does anyone know what the Conservative MP Julian Knight has done wrong? Envoy to Mongolia used to be a joke job that no one would ever want, but it turns out this afternoon that it is a real post, and it’s just gone to Knight.
Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, made the announcement in written ministerial statement. Fox said:
The prime minister has approved two new appointments to the trade Envoy programme. Ranil Jayawardena MP has been appointed as the trade envoy for Sri Lanka and Julian Knight MP, as the trade envoy for Mongolia. These new trade envoys take the total number to 30 parliamentarians covering 59 markets.
The trade envoy programme is an unpaid and voluntary cross-party network, who support the UK’s ambitious trade and investment agenda in global markets. They have contributed to business wins worth around £19.5bn.
My colleague Gaby Hinsliff has a good column on Boris Johnson and the NHS. Here is an excerpt.
[Johnson] has also acknowledged a formidable space opening up for Labour. Ambitious Tories used to signal leadership intentions by promising tax cuts and a war on waste. Now they compete to spend money (witness the defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, unleashing the chiefs of defence staff to do his lobbying for him). They sense the public mood shifting, approaching the tipping point that historically propels Labour into power; an emerging consensus even among voters not directly affected by austerity that it’s gone too far now, that public services need a break.
All the stars are aligned, in other words, for a lifesaving injection except one; thanks partly to Johnson’s undoubtedly brilliant campaigning skills, the economy may be headed for a brick wall. Even if Brexit miraculously turns out to cost nothing – if a perfect deal materialises from nowhere, if GDP doesn’t miss a beat, if we spend virtually nothing on replicating what the EU used to do and thus free up the £350m a week we never actually sent to Brussels because some of it came home in a rebate – that money still won’t be available until the transition period ends in 2021. The NHS needs help now, which means it realistically must come from the same place it always comes: voters’ pockets, or fellow cabinet ministers’ budgets. We’re about to see how keen they are to save Boris Johnson from himself.
And here is the article in full.
Hunt says Brexit transition deal may not be finalised by the end of March
Jeremy Hunt says the government wants to settle the transition agreement by the end of March, but adds “it may take a little longer.”
This is significant because, for business, the end of March has been almost an absolute deadline for a transition deal. For example, Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI director general, said in a speech yesterday that business needs a “transition deal agreed, in writing within 70 days, by the end of March”.
- Hunt says transition deal may not be finalised by the end of March.
Updated
Here is some more on what happened at cabinet.
From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg
Hearing there was support for Johnson's NHS plea at Cabinet this morning from some quarters, as well as the telling off from others - importantly principle was agreed that money that won't go on EU payments after Brexit should be spent, at least in part, on the NHS
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) January 23, 2018
From ITV’s Paul Brand
Asked one cabinet member whether Boris got a ticking off in cabinet. “He got a complete bitch slap”. Not once, but twice by PM. And also slapped down by other cabinet members including Jeremy Hunt.
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) January 23, 2018
Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, starts by saying she wants to spend 15 minutes at the end of the session on other topics.
Jeremy Hunt introduces himself. He is the health secretary, he says, before remembering his new title and correcting himself; he is the health and social care secretary, he says.
Jeremy Hunt gives evidence to Commons health committee
Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, is about to give evidence to the Commons health committee. The hearing is supposed to be about Brexit and the regulation of medicines, but MPs often use these sessions to ask about topical issues and so NHS funding generally may come up.
You can watch a live feed here. I will be covering the highlights.
Lunchtime summary
- Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, has been reprimanded by Theresa May for arguing for more NHS spending through briefings to newspapers, rather than in private at cabinet. May also said she did not accept Johnson’s call for an urgent increase in NHS funding, telling ministers the government increased health spending only recently at the budget. (See 12.44pm and 1.07pm.) Earlier Philip Hammond, the chancellor, also rebuked Johnson for his Fleet Street briefing activities. (See 8.33am.) Johnson’s allies told the papers that he was arguing for an extra £100m per week to go to the NHS but it is understood that at cabinet, conscious that colleagues disapproved of his tactics, he only made a general point and did not push this specific figure.
- David Gauke, the new justice secretary, has told MPs that the “most stringent” licensing conditions must be placed on John Worboys when he is released from prison. Speaking in the Commons he said:
First of all when it comes to the precise conditions those are operational matters that are decided at an operational level. But let me reassure him that nearly a fortnight ago I wrote to the relevant authorities stressing the needs to ensure that the concerns of victims are put at the heart of this process, and ensuring that the most stringent measures are taken in place in terms of the conditions.
- Esther McVey, the new work and pensions secretary, told MPs that her department spent £181,000 on legal fees before deciding on Friday last week not to contest a High Court ruling limiting access to disability benefits. In one of her first decisions in her new job she decided not appeal against December’s judgment which found that a policy limiting people with mental health issues from claiming higher rates of personal independence payment (PIP) had been “blatantly discriminatory”. McVey said up to 220,000 people could benefit from her decision.
- Alan Milburn, the former chair of the Social Mobility Commission, has told MPs that Brexit distracted officials and ministers from dealing with the issue of social mobility. He told the Commons education committee:
What became increasingly obvious is that where there should have been clarity, there was ambiguity. It got worse post-2017 election, of that there is absolutely no doubt.
- Matt Hancock, the new culture secretary, has branded loneliness “one of the most pressing social issues of our time”. Speaking at the Charity Commission’s annual public meeting, he said:
This [loneliness] is one of the most pressing social issues of our time, with research showing that nine million people say they always or often feel lonely. And of course it is charities and civil society who will play a crucial part in our plans to tackle it.
More from the Times’ Sam Coates.
Further updates on cabinet this morning paints different picture: interventions by Michael Gove, Chris Graying and Jeremy Hunt were seen (by some) as helpful to Johnson. Lots of anger at Johnson allies briefing op BUT no disagreement that brexit dividend should be used for NHS
— Sam Coates Times (@SamCoatesTimes) January 23, 2018
Here is some more from the lobby briefing.
- The prime minister’s spokesman refused to say whether calls for a royal commission on the NHS, or a hypothecated health tax, were discussed at cabinet. Asked about these topics, he just said the main focus was on efficiency reviews, integrating health and social care and next year’s spending review.
- The spokesman said the next spending round would take place in the spring or summer of 2019.
- He said ministers spent around an hour discussing the NHS at today’s cabinet. Most ministers took part in that discussion. There was also an update from Karen Bradley, the Northern Ireland secretary, on the resumption of talks on power-sharing in Northern Ireland tomorrow, and Theresa May congratulated the Brexit department and the whips on the passage of the EU withdrawal bill through the Commons.
Here is the Times’s Sam Coates on today’s cabinet.
Asked if today’s cabinet meeting was a humiliation for Boris, one observer said: “pretty much”. They added: “Let’s just say he didn’t have much support”
— Sam Coates Times (@SamCoatesTimes) January 23, 2018
This is that the prime minister’s spokesman told the lobby in his read-out about what was said at cabinet about the NHS
The cabinet then received a winter update on the NHS. Ministers were told the health service had been placed under significant pressure by the worst flu outbreak for a number of years. In the first week of 2018 flu admissions were approaching that seen in the highest week in 2010-11, which was the time of the swine flu epidemic, but staff were doing an excellent job in treating patients.
Cabinet were told the most extensive preparations ever had taken place due to enhancements to the 111 phone line, with more doctors and nurses on the end of the line. An estimated 2.3m people have been diverted away from A&E. An extra 1m people were also given flu vaccinations.
The prime minister said that at the budget the government announced £6bn additional funding for the NHS. She said this priority at the budget reflects that fact that the NHS is one of the government’s top priorities.
As regards the future, and how any return of the EU contribution would be spent, the prime minister reminded cabinet that the government has consistently said that we will spend money on our priorities, such as housing, schools and the NHS. There will also be other calls upon that money but we will discuss those priorities at that time.
As regards the NHS, the prime minister said there are a number of factors we need to consider as part of this. These are the the efficiency reviews that we set up on the budget to ensure that the taxpayer get best value for the money it spends in the NHS, ambitious work to integrate health and social care and reform the system, and the next spending review, which is due early next year.
The prime minister said she was working with the chancellor and the health secretary to ensure this work is done and make sure the government continues to invest in the NHS as we did at the budget only a few weeks ago.
And this is what the spokesman said when asked about Boris Johnson briefing the newspapers about his views.
The prime minister and a large number of cabinet ministers made the point that cabinet discussions should take place in private.
Updated
Here is the Spectator’s James Forsyth on what happened at cabinet.
Understand Boris didn't mention specific figures at Cabinet, and pulled his horns in a bit after those who spoke first emphasised that these conversations should take place in private not public
— James Forsyth (@JGForsyth) January 23, 2018
Cabinet today another reminder of how Theresa May sees Liam Fox as a bridge between her and the Brexiteers, look at how early on she called him & how he delivered for her by emphasising that these conversations should take place in private
— James Forsyth (@JGForsyth) January 23, 2018
Boris Johnson reprimanded as cabinet rejects his call for NHS to get urgent spending boost
I’m just back from the Number 10 lobby briefing about today’s cabinet. Here are the key points.
- Boris Johnson has been reprimanded by Theresa May for briefing the papers about his NHS demands. The prime minister’s spokesman said that “the prime minister and a large number of cabinet ministers made the point that cabinet discussions should take place in private.” That was their response to Johnson’s decision to offer his contribution to today’s discussion in the form of the Times splash and multiple briefings to newspapers. (See 8.33am.)
- Johnson’s call for the NHS to get an immediate cash injection was rejected. The spokesman said May told cabinet that the NHS got £6bn extra funding quite recently in the budget and that funding would be reconsidered next year, when the spending review takes place.
- May conceded that after Brexit more money would be available for the NHS. The spokesman said May told cabinet that, after the UK stopped paying money to the EU, money would be available for priorities like housing, schools and the NHS.
I will post a more detailed summary soon.
Updated
Here is the Evening Standard’s splash.
Today’s @EveningStandard: Hammond slaps down Boris over NHS spending & the amazing Kyle Edmund powers to the semis in the Australian Open pic.twitter.com/8Uwg2suRis
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) January 23, 2018
I’m off to the lobby briefing now. I will post again after 12.30pm.
This is from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.
Boris Johnson said nothing as he left Cabinet -Other members of Cabinet looked less than delighted to be asked about what he had to say
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) January 23, 2018
Labour accuses Boris Johnson of demanding extra health money out of concern for himself, not the NHS
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, has accused Boris Johnson of using the NHS just to advance his own standing in the Conservative party. Ashworth told the BBC
He’s calling for an extra £5bn. It’s just Boris Johnson playing games, isn’t it? He’s weaponising the NHS, if you like, for his own internal Tory party games.
He’s calling for an extra £5bn for the NHS. That’s actually what we’ve been calling for. But where’s he been these last two years? We had a budget last autumn where the Tory government completely failed to give the NHS the funding it needs. Where was he ahead of that budget?
I’m afraid this is all about Boris Johnson. He’s not really concerned about those patients waiting on trolleys in corridors and those elderly people in the backs of ambulances in the freezing cold waiting to be treated. It’s just about Boris Johnson’s tedious political games.
Norman Smith has also spotted a remoaner fox ...
In other news.. .a fox scuttled along Downing Street earlier and cocked its leg on the railings outside David Davis’ Brexit dept.
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) January 23, 2018
Today’s cabinet is over, the BBC’s Norman Smith reports.
Boris Johnson first to leave cabinet. Says nothing.
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) January 23, 2018
Here are some of the most interesting Brexit stories around today.
Last autumn, senior City figures say they were promised a detailed position paper in a matter of weeks setting out Britain’s negotiating priorities for a sector that employs more than 1m people across the country.
But delivery of the paper was delayed repeatedly and now ministers are considering not publishing it at all, according to business executives and government officials involved in the discussions. The government remains unable to agree a detailed position on the sector, and some officials are still reluctant to show Brussels their negotiating hand, they added.
The environment secretary told cabinet that the big companies of today may be eclipsed by businesses that don’t even exist yet as he made the case for a clean Brexit ...
During a recent cabinet meeting Philip Hammond, the chancellor, highlighted the demands of business as he made the case for “high-alignment” with the EU after Brexit.
A cabinet minister told The Daily Telegraph: “Hammond with the back-up of other Remain ministers was making the case for ‘high-alignment’ on the basis that big business was lobbying for this, and that was what they need.
“Michael made the point that if we did that in 2000 we would have built our economy on the basis of what IBM wants. Since then Facebook, Google and other tech giants have emerged as the biggest companies in the World.
“When the Tories came into power in 2010 some of these companies like Uber didn’t even exist. What does that mean for our economy in five to 10 years time? He said that we’re developing a VHS economy. We need flexibility with the ability to diverge. We need a low-level of alignment.”
The European Commission president will agree to pay Home Office bills of up to £230 million for EU citizens to secure their permanent residency rights in Britain, a source in Brussels said.
The proposal to pick up the bill, tabled by Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s negotiator, and senior MEPs as a way for the EU to win the moral high ground in Brexit talks, had been “positively received” by Mr Juncker, the source added. “Juncker was open to the idea, which puts the EU on the side of citizens in Brexit and makes the British look petty for charging,” they said.
When we turned to what would happen next, his words implied that Britain’s problems are only beginning: “The new parallel talks [on how negotiations on the future relationship will be structured] will probably start in March. The actual negotiations on the future relationship will only begin once the UK leaves the EU.”
What about the transition that is supposed to avoid a “cliff-edge” Brexit, I asked. “There is no mandate to discuss the transition period yet, but it will be short. Prime Minister May has stated that it should take two years. It cannot last longer for legal reasons.” That sounds like it could mean unwelcome inflexibility for Britain, now that even Davis is talking about transition lasting “about” two years. Much of Whitehall is banking on (or praying for) something much longer ...
Despite this calculated vagueness, very specific rumours are circulating about what Barnier might like to do next. Juncker has indicated that he will not seek another term as Commission president in 2019, which creates a tempting vacancy. Last time Barnier applied for the job, in 2014, he missed out, lacking crucial support from Paris. Since then, despite his own political background, he has been careful to position himself close to President Macron—raising fears among some that Brexit negotiations are being conducted to a French tempo.
“I am grateful of course for [Macron’s] European engagement,” Barnier told me. “He’s the first French president to be so active, so convincing on these issues since François Mitterrand,” a name-check that reveals how Barnier, too, can transcend the old party divides. As to their closeness, Barnier was unsurprisingly tactful: “I consult with him as I do with other heads of state or government. But make no mistake: I am in charge of the negotiations on behalf of all the 27 member countries and the European Commission. That is my job.”
Barnier’s quote about how “the actual negotiations on the future relationship will only begin once the UK leaves the EU” is interesting because it is sharply at odds with how the UK government expects the negotiations to proceed this year. Theresa May and her colleagues say that, although they accept a future trade deal with the EU will not be signed until after the UK has left, they do expect the talks this year to decide the substance of what will be in that deal. But the EU says that this year there will just be “preliminary and preparatory discussions” covering “the framework of the future relationship”.
Updated
In his Facebook post ITV’s Robert Peston says the government now seems to be on course for a softish Brexit. (See 10.26am.) Nick Macpherson, the former permanent secretary at the Treasury, is saying much the same. He posted these on Twitter this morning.
1/2 A reason for cautious optimism. What HMG has said and what it has done on EU negotiations are very different.
— Nick Macpherson (@nickmacpherson2) January 23, 2018
2/2 We will end up more integrated with EU than Brexiteers hope and Remainers fear. #freetrade
— Nick Macpherson (@nickmacpherson2) January 23, 2018
Henry Bolton, the Ukip leader, told Sky’s All Out Politics that he expects the extraordinary general meeting that will decide whether he can remain as leader to be held on Saturday 17 February.
ITV’s political editor Robert Peston has written an interesting blog about Boris Johnson. He is speculating that Johnson’s NHS manoeuvring is in part be about Johnson positioning himself to be ready to resign if Theresa May ends up opting for a softish Brexit.
Since Boris Johnson is in the news, this letter to the Times today (paywall) is worth flagging up.
Sir, As the second phase of the UK’s negotiations with the EU start, I gather from friends at the European Commission that thanks to Boris Johnson, “cake” has entered Brussels bureaucratic slang for a ridiculous position or demand, one that is so far from being realistic that the other side doesn’t even bother to respond.
For example, a civil servant may say to his or her minister: “Minister, I fear that may be seen as cake.” Or a negotiator may respond to another’s demand with: “Thank you for that piece of cake.” It is marginally more polite than “Get real” but has much the same meaning.
John Nugée
New Malden, Surrey
Here is Boris Johnson arriving for cabinet.
Nick Timothy, who was Theresa May’s co-chief of staff until he resigned after the general election, has used Twitter to accuse Boris Johnson of disloyalty.
Breaching collective responsibility and leaking cabinet discussions are bad enough but part of political life. But pre-briefing your disagreement with government policy ahead of cabinet?
— Nick Timothy (@NickJTimothy) January 23, 2018
Farage refuses to give Henry Bolton his full backing as Ukip leader
Turning away from the cabinet and Boris Johnson for a moment, the Ukip saga rumbles on. Henry Bolton, the embattled leader, and Nigel Farage, his more accomplished predecessor, have both been giving interviews this morning. Here are the main points.
- Farage refused to give Bolton his full backing, but did say that he backed Bolton’s decision not to resign just because he had lost the confidence of Ukip’s national executive committee. Farage said Bolton was right to led the party membership as a whole decide his fate at an extraordinary general meeting within a month. Farage said:
I am not saying that I support Henry Bolton. What I do support is him saying to the NEC ‘I’m not going to take your judgment, I will move this on to a full extraordinary general meeting of the Ukip membership’. And that gives us a huge opportunity.
If there was an EGM tomorrow Henry Bolton would lose it very heavily indeed. But he has a month in which to make his case. If he is able in the space of a month to put together a new constitution, and a new management structure for the party that shows that the leader needs to be able to lead and not be held back by a failed organisation he might just win the day.
This extraordinary general meeting is not actually any more about Henry Bolton, it’s about ‘can Ukip survive as a party’.
When Bolton was elected leader in September last year, he won with the backing of just 30% of those members who voted, suggesting that he may struggle to win 50% support in a confidence vote. A wholehearted endorsement from Farage would help him considerably, but Farage did not offer that this morning.
-
Bolton claimed that Ukip’s national executive commitee was to blame for the plight of the party. He said:
It’s the NEC that has failed to address internal disciplinary matters, it’s failed to unite the party and it’s full of people who have always backed different people in the party and added to the fractionalisation of the party. We cannot politically afford another leadership contest and what’s really important going forward is we bring some stability to this. I’m attempting to do that.
- He refused to rule out resuming his relationship with Jo Marney, the model who has sent racist text messages. He said:
The romantic side of the relationship is on hold. It won’t go any further if indeed that is a problem for the party. Who knows what the future contains? Most probably it will not come back together.
- Jonathan Bullock has resigned as Ukip’s energy spokesman.
UKIP resignations still rolling in this morning. Jonathan Bullock tells me he's quitting as energy spox, here's his letter to Henry Bolton pic.twitter.com/6MxWYw4bs1
— Ross Kempsell (@rosskempsell) January 23, 2018
On the blog I spent much of yesterday monitoring Ukip resignations. I’m not sure I could do it all again today and retain the will to live, but they are made of stronger stuff at the Guido Fawkes website where their Ukip resignations live blog is still rolling ...
Photograph: Philip Toscano/PA
The Conservative pro-European Anna Soubry has renewed her call for Boris Johnson to be sacked.
PM shld have sacked #BorisJohnson for longstanding incompetence & disloyalty. Unless TM acts now Boris will bring her down #Godhelpus https://t.co/WXi93tsLP5
— Anna Soubry MP (@Anna_Soubry) January 23, 2018
Any decent For Sec wld have stepped down re Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe but then any decent For Sec wouldn’t have behaved as Boris did https://t.co/3f5uqgEUfe
— Anna Soubry MP (@Anna_Soubry) January 23, 2018
Caroline Lucas, the Green party’s co-leader, has joined other pro-Europeans in attacking Boris Johnson for his stance on the NHS. In a statement she said:
It seems that brass neck Boris has struck again. Not only does this brexiteer-in-chief keep repeating lies about mythical savings from leaving the EU, but now he’s trying to position himself as a saviour of the NHS after his party’s extreme brexit stance has caused EU nurses to leave the UK in droves.
Here is the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on today’s cabinet.
Q for this morning is how many ministers weigh in behind Boris Johnson at Cabinet, if any - tumbleweed down the table or some agreement? Watch this space....
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) January 23, 2018
But certainly worries about NHS are stoking concerns about May - one MP told me 'she's like a Soviet leader who comes to the window to be seen but no one is sure if they are alive' - #withfriendslikethese
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) January 23, 2018
Open Britain, which is campaigning for a soft Brexit, has also criticised Boris Johnson. It has put out this statement from the Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, a former health minister.
Few ministers in modern history have done more to undermine our NHS than Boris Johnson.
His lies about how Brexit would deliver £350m a week for the health service have fatally damaged public trust. And the reality of Brexit so far has been a weakened health service with fewer resources and a Brexodus of nurses and doctors.
The reality is that Brexit is today the biggest threat facing the NHS. If Boris Johnson and his cabinet colleagues were genuinely concerned about what is happening on the front-line they would be fighting to stay in the single market, rather than pushing for a hard and destructive Brexit.
Here is the pro-European Labour MP Chuka Umunna on Boris Johnson’s NHS intervention.
Nobody believes a word @BorisJohnson says. First it was £350m extra p/w for the NHS which he promised in 2016 and voted against in 2017. Now it’s gone down to £100m extra p/w in 2018. He must think we’re all idiots. https://t.co/wYDdfCkynn
— Chuka Umunna (@ChukaUmunna) January 23, 2018
Hammond says Brexit uncertainty damaging for the economy
In his clip for the broadcasters (see 8.49am) Philip Hammond, the chancellor, also said the uncertainty generated by Brexit was damaging the economy. Asked if Brexit was having a negative effect on the UK economy, he replied:
Because of the negotiations that are going on there’s a degree of uncertainty about our future direction and our future arrangements for trading with our European partners, and that’s bound to have an impact on thinking about the economy. The sooner we can generate certainty, the better, and that’s why we are keen to build on the momentum that we generated in December and get the negotiations moving forward now in a steady way so that we can see real progress over the course of the coming months.
This comment is also likely to antagonise Johnson. Johnson and his follow Brexiters tend to view any negativity about the economy as Brexit thoughtcrime.
Here is Philip Hammond speaking to reporters when he arrived for the Ecofin meeting in Brussels. I posted his words at 8.33am. Withering is probably the best way to describe his tone as he delivered the line: “Mr Johnson is the foreign secretary.”
There is a video clip here. (The reference to Johnson comes at the end.)
Arrival and doorstep #UK @PhilipHammondUK at the #ECOFIN Council "I will build on the momentum that we generated in December with the agreement on the completion of phase one discussions" #brexit https://t.co/b6msvErgYO
— EU Council TV News (@EUCouncilTVNews) January 23, 2018
Here is Labour’s Jon Trickett, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, on Boris Johnson’s intervention.
There have been many times when the Cabinet leaked after its meeting. There have been some times when there was a leak enquiry.
— Jon Trickett (@jon_trickett) January 23, 2018
I don’t remember a time when the leak occurred before the meeting and we knew the leakers identity #Boris#WeakAndWobblyPM
Cabinet split over NHS as Hammond rebukes Johnson for demanding urgent spending boost
Theresa May will chair a cabinet meeting this morning. Her normal practice is to invite ministers to make contributions on the topic under discussion when they are sitting around the oval table in Number 10 but this morning her team will arrive knowing that Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, has already made his intervention in the manner, as a former journalist, he knows best - a briefing from his allies to newspapers.
Here is our version of what Johnson is saying.
Other papers have similar stories, and the Times has even splashed on Johnson’s demand.
Tuesday's Times: "Johnson demands £5bn extra for NHS"#tomorrowspaperstoday#bbcpapers
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) January 22, 2018
(via @hendopolis) pic.twitter.com/b36X6YAgXd
Johnson, of course, is not in charge of the health service and his most recent policy proposal was dismissed by colleagues as a fanciful non-starter within hours. But on the NHS he is on much, much stronger ground (as demonstrated, for example, by the BBC’s harrowing extended report on conditions in an A&E department on the news last night.) Many Tories will think that when Johnson’s allies say increasing NHS spending is “about delivering on the number one concern for the public and beating Corbyn at the next election”, they are right. But, obviously, other factors are in play too. Whatever the spin, this is also about Johnson’s determination to quash claims that the Vote Leave promises about Brexit delivering more money for the NHS were lies. And, as in any story about internal Tory politics, leadership concerns are always part of the mix. Johnson has “a track record of winning”, one of his allies has told the Times (paywall).
Philip Hammond, the chancellor, will not be at cabinet today. He is at Ecofin, the meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels. But this morning, on arrival at the meeting, he delivered a slap-down to his colleague. He told journalists:
Mr Johnson is the foreign secretary. I gave the health secretary an extra £6bn at the recent budget and we will look at departmental allocations again at the spending review when that takes place.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Theresa May chairs cabinet.
10am: Alan Milburn, the former chair of the Social Mobility Commission, gives evidence to the Commons education committee.
12pm: Downing Street lobby briefing.
2.30pm: Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, gives evidence to the Commons health committee. The hearing is meant to focus on the impact of Brexit on medicines.
2.30pm: Nick Hurd, the policing minister, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about Brexit.
4.05pm: Karen Bradley, the Northern Ireland secretary, gives evidence to the Lords EU committee on UK-Ireland relations.
As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.
You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.
Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’ top 10 must reads.
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
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