Top story: Labour leadership race narrows
Good morning, Graham Russell here with how things look on Tuesday morning.
As new MPs prepare to be sworn in today in the Commons, Labour is starting to get its house in order after its disastrous election result, with Rebecca Long-Bailey firming as the candidate most likely to succeed Jeremy Corbyn. The Salford MP is good friends with fellow contender Angela Rayner, who now appears to have curtailed her leadership ambitions and is instead aiming for the deputy leader spot. Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, is expected to win the backing of the party’s largest donor, Unite, and key Corbyn allies – though it is not a done deal yet. The leadership contest is expected to formally begin on 7 January and it is a field of six at present – here are all the contenders. The leadership transition may yet be a painful one; Corbyn is likely to face an angry parliamentary party meeting tonight, with some incensed he still has not apologised for his election failure or contacted the 60 ousted MPs directly.
Speaking of transitions, a freshly emboldened Boris Johnson has moved to nail down the Brexit timetable, seeking to set down in law a transition end date of 31 December 2020. A Downing Street source said: “Our manifesto made clear that we will not extend the implementation period and the new withdrawal agreement bill will legally prohibit government agreeing to any extension.” The new parliament is likely to get its first Brexit vote on Friday.
Johnson’s cabinet retains many familiar figures after his pre-reshuffle shuffle, and notably one who had already stood down as an MP. Former culture secretary Nicky Morgan had already handed in her pass and bid goodbye to her staff and driver before being reappointed to her post, and simultaneously given a peerage.
It’s going to be a busy few days, so here’s a brief guide to what will happen over the rest of the week.
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‘Something must be wrong’ – A criminal justice system that is so under-resourced it is “close to breaking point” has led to a steep decline in rape convictions in England and Wales, a damning report has found. Nearly half of CPS lawyers say their caseload is “unmanageable”, its specialist sexual crime units are overstretched, and procedural matters such as examination of phones are taking up to 11 months to complete. The report by the CPS Inspectorate said: “The number of rape allegations lost in the investigative process is damning.”
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Boeing woes – Boeing has halted production of its 737 Max jets, the first time it has paused manufacturing of its 737 models in 20 years. More than 700 Max jets remain grounded worldwide, with the aviation regulator saying the plane would not return to service this year following two crashes in which 346 died. Boeing as yet has no timeframe for restarting production. The uncertainty could hit the US economy, and markets further afield, hard. Boeing is the country’s largest manufacturing exporter.
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Ongoing emergency – Years after the Grenfell Tower fire disaster, the London Fire Brigade remains one of the worst in the country, with incident commanders and drivers going without any training for years. Resourcing is not the problem, nor are its response times, the latest audit has found. Instead it is failing to learn from its mistakes and has a “worrying” culture that discourages incident commanders from using their discretion when fighting fires. The findings were “very concerning”, said a spokesperson for the London mayor, Sadiq Khan. Other poorly performing services were Gloucestershire, Northumberland and West Sussex. The best included West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire.
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A good turn – Ellie Goulding has come to the aid of a driver whose car was being pushed sideways down the A40 by an apparently unaware lorry driver. The singer told her 14.4 million Instagram followers: “On a side note, I can’t believe the first instinct of the other drivers who got out was to instantly start filming on their phones and shout abuse at the poor shocked driver …”
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Feast for the ayes – It is 30 years old, once contained a “mixed selection of biscuits”, and now holds the hopes of progressive MPs across New Zealand. The cherished “biscuit tin of democracy” contains the bingo counters that decide by chance which members’ bills get to be debated in parliament. The lucky dip – highlighted by a recent QI tweet – has led to debates on marriage equality and assisted dying.
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Today in Focus podcast: The ups and downs of Jamie Oliver
Fifteen Cornwall, one of Jamie Oliver’s last UK restaurants, shut last week with 100 job losses. Anna Berrill and Sarah Butler look at what went wrong for the celebrity chef. Also: Annie Kelly on a landmark legal case in the US against the world’s largest tech companies.
Lunchtime read: Life after homelessness
Life was tough on the streets for Susan Sutton. After her marriage ended, she spent a year sleeping rough among drug addicts, alcoholics and sex workers. When she couldn’t sleep on trains, she would wander the streets or see out the night in the 24-hour cafes. It was in one all-night venue – a Wimpy in Leicester Square to be exact – that her life turned around.
Sport
Changes to the structure of the Champions Cup are being considered with some stakeholders keen to reduce the competition to 18 teams. Manchester City will not stand in Mikel Arteta’s way if, as expected, he becomes the Arsenal manager this week and they would leave the door open for a return to the Etihad Stadium. Ben Stokes described himself as the “boy in the bubble” as the BBC Sports Personality of the Year thanked his teammates and the sport of cricket for helping him through his trial for affray and into a summer of sporting glory.
Wilfried Zaha slammed an angled strike into the roof of the net to equalise Neal Maupay’s goal and earn Crystal Palace a 1-1 draw at home to Brighton in the Premier League. The seeds have been falling fast at this year’s PDC world darts championship, but Gary Anderson comfortably avoided an early exit with a 3-0 victory over Brendan Dolan. The former Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has said he believes the theft of £50m worth of jewellery from his daughter’s property was an “inside job”. And the occasionally dramatic if sprawling medical tribunal of the former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman, which was due to be done and dusted last March, may not finish now until October 2020 after being adjourned yet again.
Business
The post-election bounce continued for the stock market on Monday with a 165-point rise in the FTSE100 which added £50bn to the value of Britain’s leading companies. But the possibility of a hard Brexit deadline dented the optimism after the close so it is set to drop 26 points or 0.35% at the opening today.
The pound also suffered from that Brexit report and is at $1.33 and €1.193.
The papers
More Brexit news on the front pages of the Telegraph: “Johnson to enshrine 2020 Brexit in law”, the FT: “Johnson vow on Brexit transition raises fears of cliff-edge next year”, the Times: “Johnson takes tough new line on Brexit trade talks” and the Express: “Boris to defy EU over Brexit deadline”.
The Guardian focuses on the race to become Labour leader, with a story that Angela Rayner has cleared the way for her friend Rebecca Long-Bailey to run: “Long-Bailey gets clear run as candidate of Labour left”. The i has a story about Sadiq Khan weighing in on why Labour lost the election: “The wrath of Khan”.
The Mail has: “Welby: Don’t expect royals to be saints” in an apparent defence of Prince Andrew by the archbishop. The Mirror reports that a private plane used by celebrities and royals came “10ft from drone disaster” and the Sun has a story about a builder who won a £105m lotto and is doing work for free over Christmas: “Santa chores”.
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