Politics

Boris Johnson must have been hoping that his troubles in the north were over, after his scrap with Andy Burnham was resolved last week and Greater Manchester moved into Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions. It appears though that it’s not only the metro mayors in the north that have the capacity to cause the Prime Minister headaches. Last night, the newly formed Northern Research Group – a ‘trade union’ for northern Tory MPs founded by the former minister Jake Berry – wrote to the Prime Minister, calling on him to not forget his promises to ‘level up’ the region.

Brandon Lewis - Our position on free school meals 'is the right one' Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford's campaign to extend the provision of free school meals over the school holidays has seen the government facing considerable criticism, with Labour forcing a vote on the issue in the House of Commons last Wednesday, which was defeated by 61 votes. A rift has even developed within the Conservative party itself, with Robert Halfon, chair of the Education Select Committee, writing in the Spectator on the conservative case for the extension. Sophy Ridge asked the Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis why the government was holding out against the campaign: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1320299437730746370?

The most important fact about British politics is also the most mundane: the next general election is an awfully long way off. Given the extraordinary events we are living through, it is sometimes tempting to forget this and to suppose that a big political moment in any given week is going to have transformative consequences. I have previously referred to outbreaks of this syndrome as flare-ups of ‘that bloke who drove to Durham that time’. This is in honour of all those pundits and MPs (including Tories) who claimed, ridiculously, that the Dominic Cummings saga was a game-changer that was bound to feature as a top cause of voter outrage with the government come the next election. In fact, we all need to slow down.

On Covid, there is a basic question: what is the government's strategy? No one seems to know what ministers are doing and why. But how could we? Neither do they. The lockdown approach is based on a premise, which has turned out to be false: that we could suppress and eliminate the virus – or at least keep it under control until the arrival of a vaccine. But there is no reason to believe that there will be a vaccine any time soon. Pharmaceutical companies have spent billions on research into vaccines for HIV and the common cold. Thus far, those efforts have been unavailing. If a Covid vaccine were discovered – and that is a huge if – it might become available among the ruins of the British economy.

What do Conservatives care about? First, high-quality education and academic attainment. Second, value for money for the taxpayer. Third, (unless you are an arch-libertarian) recognition that the battle that must be won is not between big government or small government, but good government. Combating child hunger should, therefore, be a cause that all Conservatives can embrace. That should include the temporary extension of free school meals over the holidays while (and only while) the economic impacts of the pandemic continue to be felt. That’s why I voted against the government on Wednesday evening in favour of the proposal.