Matthew Taylor

The Prime Minister has been attending the annual Munich Security Conference, where the prospective Russian invasion of Ukraine is very much at the top of the agenda. The BBC’s Sophie Raworth caught up with Boris Johnson yesterday, following a speech he made warning of the disaster that war would bring. Johnson said in the interview that he believed that Vladimir Putin was ready to orchestrate such a crisis at any moment: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1495334713057288192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw ‘It is important that people should feel confident again’ Tomorrow, the government is expected to announce its plans to remove all Covid restrictions for England.

The situation on Ukraine’s borders now appears to many as though it is the calm before the inevitable storm. In the Sunday Times, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has even criticised some western actors for creating ‘a whiff of Munich in the air’, referencing Neville Chamberlain’s infamous 1938 negotiations with Nazi Germany. Trevor Phillips interviewed the Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, who said in no uncertain terms that Ukraine would have to brace itself for the worst: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1492780537861353477?

Boris Johnson’s decision to accuse Keir Starmer of ‘prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile’ while he was director of public prosecutions continues to divide the Tory party. The comment has gone down badly with his own MPs, and the Chancellor Rishi Sunak notably refused to defend the remark. It also led to the resignation of Munira Mirza, the director of the No. 10 policy unit. However, the Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told Trevor Phillips that although Starmer did not bear any personal blame, Johnson was well within his rights to make the remark: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1490248267111841797?

Liz Truss – It is ‘highly likely’ that Russia will invade Ukraine January may be Eastern Europe’s coldest month, but most Ukrainians are unwilling to accept Vladimir Putin’s gigantic bear hug for comfort. Last week, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss claimed to have seen intelligence suggesting a Russian plan to install a puppet government in Kyiv, and diplomatic efforts have not yet managed to take the chill off the situation. Truss was interviewed by Sophie Raworth, who asked her how likely it was that the situation could escalate: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1487729051271843842?

Dominic Raab – ‘Serious consequences’ if Russia invades Ukraine The Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab took to the TV studios this morning after another turbulent week for the government. Perhaps the most pressing issue on the agenda is deciphering the motives of Vladimir Putin, as a reported 100,000 Russian troops envelop Ukraine’s eastern border. Trevor Phillips asked Raab what was being done in the West to try and face Putin down as the icy Ukrainian winter threatens to heat up: There will be very serious consequences if Russia takes this move to try and invade, but also install a puppet regime… It will involve a range of financial and economic sanctions. https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1485171773570228225?

Keir Starmer – I think Boris broke the law and lied about it To preside over one lockdown party might be seen as a misfortune. Two begins to look like carelessness. Imagine then, the Prime Minister’s incredulity if even half of the alleged Downing Street parties are indeed found to have taken place by the ‘Partygate’ investigator-in-chief, Sue Gray. The leader of the opposition Keir Starmer joined Sophie Raworth this morning to discuss what seems to be the only story in town. Having called for Boris Johnson to resign last week, Sir Keir Starmer did not relent in his bid to keep up the pressure on the PM, arguing that he had known full well about ‘industrial scale partying’ taking place: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1482658157348466689?

The Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi was in the hotseat this morning as the Sunday interview shows make their return. He spoke to Trevor Phillips and immediately scotched reports in the Sunday Times from Whitehall sources suggesting that the current policy of providing free lateral flow tests could soon be on its way out: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1480100116883197952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw NZ: I don’t recognise [this] at all… TP: There are no plans at the moment to stop lateral flow tests being free? NZ: Absolutely not. Cutting isolation to 5 days ‘would certainly help’ Zahawi also spoke to Sophie Raworth, who is now filling the role vacated by Andrew Marr.

Sajid Javid – More restrictions cannot be ruled out before Christmas With Sunday’s interview shows enjoying their last outing of the year, one might be forgiven for thinking that things would be wrapped up as neatly as presents under the tree on Christmas Eve. Instead, signs of the new year’s arguments and battles were laid bare. Leaked minutes from a recent meeting of the Sage advisory committee have fuelled rumours of a ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown to deal with Covid’s Omicron wave. The Prime Minister remains in a precarious position, and his lack of authority would make any such imposition difficult without sending the Conservative parliamentary party into full scale revolt.

If it looked like the Prime Minister was in trouble last week, it seems that was just the tip of the iceberg. The latest needle in Boris Johnson’s side is a photo splashed in the Daily Mirror which shows him hosting a Christmas quiz on December 15 last year. At the time, the capital was placed under Tier 2 restrictions, forbidding social get-togethers indoors for anyone outside their pre-agreed support bubble. The video has raised questions about the legality of the Prime Minister’s actions, and undermined his claims not to have known about any parties taking place within Downing Street, since staff are reported to have played along in teams and stayed well on into the evening.

Dominic Raab – Abused children like Labinjo-Hughes need ‘maximum protection’ The Justice Secretary undertook the government’s media round this morning. On Sky, Trevor Phillips began the interview by asking Raab about the tragic case of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, who was tortured and murdered by his father and stepmother last year.  Raab told Phillips that there would be a review as a result of the incident, amid the revelation that the safeguarding authorities in Solihull had not reported any concerns about Labinjo-Hughes’s situation. He also confirmed that there would also be a review into the sentences handed to Thomas Hughes and Emma Tustin, to ensure that they were not too lenient: https://twitter.

Sajid Javid: we’re ‘nowhere near’ renewed social distancing Health Secretary Sajid Javid found himself back in the hot seat this morning after a week which saw the discovery of the new ‘Omicron variant’ of the virus in South Africa. Yesterday, Boris Johnson confirmed that there were at least two cases of this variant already in the UK, despite suspending flights from the country and ordering new quarantine measures to be put in place. Trevor Phillips spoke to Javid about whether the latest strain could mean a return to many of the measures that have previously been in place, such as social distancing. However, Javid insisted that, beyond the new mask mandate, the government would not be taking any knee-jerk reactions as a response: https://twitter.

Sajid Javid – 5.9 million are on NHS waiting lists This morning the Health Secretary Sajid Javid took to the TV studios in a week where his departmental remit has been very much back in the spotlight. The Austrian government has announced that it will be going back into a nationwide lockdown, and there is heavy speculation that Germany might do the same. Javid told Trevor Phillips that the UK was still following ‘Plan A’ and that a winter lockdown was still very unlikely, but confirmed that things were far from rosy in the National Health Service: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1462343678274543619?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw SJ: People waiting for elective procedures is around 5.

COP26 eneded last night after two weeks of intense haggling. A pact was approved in principle, but a last minute change by India and China drew most of the attention. The final wording now refers to a ‘phase down’ of coal, rather than a ‘phase out’, as many climate activists had hoped. Alok Sharma, the President of COP26, joined Trevor Phillips from Glasgow, and set about defending the deal as secured: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1459833888088510475?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Sharma: ‘I’ve invested an enormous amount’ in COP26 Despite this bullishness, one of the most memorable moments from COP26 will surely be Sharma's tearful apology after he conceded the coal compromise.

Keir Starmer: PM’s actions over Paterson ‘corrupt and contemptible’ If the government could write its own headlines, the last week would doubtless have been awash with the litany of pledges being churned out at Cop26. Instead, Boris Johnson has managed to earn the ire of not just the opposition, but also his own side of the House of Commons, after putting forward some hastily-retracted plans to reform Parliament’s disciplinary process. To cap it all, Owen Paterson, the MP whose career the proposals were transparently designed to save, has announced that he will be leaving the House after all.

Alok Sharma – All countries must ‘stand up and be counted’ at Cop 26 The much anticipated Cop 26 is getting underway in Glasgow, and there is a lot riding on the government having a successful couple of weeks. The Prince of Wales has already given an address on climate change to the G20 summit in Rome this morning, in hope of inspiring fruitful negotiations as governments aim to keep global temperature rises below 1.5 degrees. The President-Designate of Cop 26, Alok Sharma, joined Trevor Phillips and imposed that this conference was a critical juncture, adding that getting satisfactory agreement would be ‘tougher’ that at the Paris talks of 6 years earlier: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1454735164219789313?

Rishi Sunak – Plan B will not involve furlough This Wednesday will see the Chancellor’s second budget of the year. As always, the contents are hotly anticipated, but Rishi Sunak was reluctant to give too much away this morning. It has been reported that the new Health Security Agency is sounding out local authorities about the implementation of the government’s ‘Plan B’ for trying to control the coronavirus over the winter months. Andrew Marr asked Sunak if Plan B meant a return to a scenario very much like the one experienced this time last year: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1452206725961076747?

Priti Patel – Sir David Amess ‘touched so many lives’ Tributes have continued to pour in this morning for the late Sir David Amess MP, who was murdered while hosting a constituency surgery in his Southend seat on Friday. The attack, which is being treated as a terrorist case, has shaken Westminster to its core, and once again highlighted the risks that come with a job that, by its very nature, is so open and accessible to all. The Home Secretary Priti Patel, who also serves as an Essex MP, was one of many to offer their fond memories of a close personal friend: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1449670565267230720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw PP: He just had this infectious personality and energy, that I think has touched so many lives.

The Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng joined Trevor Phillips this morning amid a time of turmoil in the energy markets. Wholesale gas prices have risen by 250 per cent since January, and by as much as 70 per cent since August, when the market regulator Ofgem announced its latest price cap for consumers. With 12 energy companies already having gone bust since the start of the year, the government is facing calls within the industry to increase the price cap so that pressure can be eased on smaller firms. However, Kwarteng told Phillips that the current cap was here to stay until April of next year: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1447108552355684353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw KK: The price cap is the biggest shield in terms of consumer prices, and… it will not be moved.

The Conservative party conference is just beginning in Manchester and, as is tradition, the Prime Minister sat down with Andrew Marr to discuss some of the most important issues facing the country. Marr began by asking about the case of Sarah Everard, who was abducted, raped and murdered by serving policeman Wayne Couzens. Johnson told Marr that the police as a whole are ‘overwhelmingly trustworthy’ and that he would ‘stop at nothing’ to reform the criminal justice system in order to ‘get more rapists behind bars’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu1t9j3FwIA ‘Wages are growing’ Marr challenged Johnson over statistics that he gave on the state of the economy.

Angela Rayner: The cabinet are ‘scum’ If the Labour party was hoping to make the headlines this morning, they were in luck. The party’s conference is underway in Brighton, and it had been expected that much of the focus would be on Sir Keir Starmer’s efforts to reform the way the party elects its leader. However, it is the deputy leader Angela Rayner who has stolen the limelight so far, with remarks she made at an event last night. While addressing activists, she referred to prominent Conservatives as ‘homophobic, racist, misogynistic… scum’.