Steerpike

Oh dear. Rishi Sunak is the subject of criticism from lockdown supporters everywhere this morning over a Telegraph front page detailing the Chancellor's apparent concerns that scientists are moving the goal posts on when lockdown ought to end. Treasury sources are keen to play down the report – but the aspect that has Mr S's interest isn't so much the contents but one MP's response to the news, Step forward Johnny Mercer. The defence minister was quick to 'like' a tweet by commentator Dan Hodges suggesting Sunak 'needs to get back in his box and stay focussed on the economics'. While everyone is allowed the occasional accidental like on social media, this appears to fit into a pattern.

At PMQs today, Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer clashed over the latter’s support in the past for the European Medicines Agency – which as Mr S pointed out, appeared to involve Keir Starmer potentially misleading the House of Commons. It now sounds though like the pair’s argument continued outside the Chamber. The Sun reports that Sir Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson ended up having a dust up in the ‘aye’ lobby at the end of the session. It appears that Starmer confronted the PM about the medicines row, which led to a ‘heated exchange’. According to one account, a Labour MP had to pull Starmer away from the row – although this version of events has been disputed by the MP in question.

You won't be surprised to learn that Philip Hammond was no big fan of Brexit. But Mr S was still somewhat taken aback by just how little the former chancellor made of Theresa May's 'Brexit means Brexit' strategy: 'My assessment of Theresa May’s Prime Ministership, in terms of Brexit, is that she dug a 20-foot-deep hole in October 2016 in making that speech' Hammond was, of course, referring to the speech May made to Tory party conference in her first year as prime minister. But Hammond's interview, released this week by UK in a changing Europe, has opened up something of a riddle.

Nicola Sturgeon is not known to be a forgiving sort but at least one of her MPs will be glad that she can sometimes let bygones be bygones. Glasgow North East MP Anne McLaughlin MP has been promoted to the SNP frontbench at Westminster, with the grand title of shadow secretary of state for justice and immigration. She had previously been a junior spokeswoman on women and equalities. McLaughlin’s elevation comes despite an unfortunate incident on the campaign trail in 2019. At a media call in Dennistoun, someone thought it would be a good idea for the candidate to play a round of swingball with Sturgeon. On her first attempt, McLaughlin whacked the ball round at full pelt — and straight into the face of her party leader. https://twitter.

Tonight we have witnessed some remarkably bad behaviour from the EU, after the bloc unilaterally announced that it was controlling the exports of vaccines from its territory – a move that threatens to introduce a hard border on the island of Ireland. But perhaps more surprising is that the EU’s poor behaviour has even managed to convince some die-hard Remainers that the apex of civilisation no longer resides in Brussels. And while some prominent anti-Brexit campaigners appear to prefer to stay silent today, it appears that the EU’s continent-wide tantrum over its inability to procure vaccines has almost united the country in disgust. Below are a handful of surprising new additions to the Euro-sceptic cause.

Another day, another Covid advertising fail for the government. Fresh from discontinuing a radio ad suggesting joggers and dog-walkers are 'highly likely' to have coronavirus, a 'stay home, save lives' poster has been pulled.  The advert, which showed women cleaning and caring for children while a man lounged on a sofa, sparked accusations of sexism. 'It has been withdrawn and removed from the campaign. I will make clear that it does not reflect the government's view on women which is why we have withdrawn it,' Boris Johnson's official spokesperson said today.  Oh dear..

With Sir Keir Starmer struggling to make a mark and the Tories maintaining a poll lead, there's been a concerted effort of late among those on the Left to take on Rishi Sunak. Labour brains view the Chancellor as the government's biggest electoral asset – particularly among swing voters. That perhaps goes some way to explain why certain members of the commentariat along with Starmer's front bench were so quick to go on the offensive this afternoon. The problem? An answer Sunak gave during Treasury Questions on the efforts of working mothers during the pandemic. Sunak was quoted online as saying:  'We owe mums everywhere an enormous debt of thanks for doing the enormously difficult job of juggling childcare and work at this tricky time.

It wasn't long ago that the government was staging a boycott of Piers Morgan's breakfast show. Now, Tory ministers are back on the show. But it's safe to say there is still no love lost between those speaking on behalf of the government and Morgan. This morning, it was Therese Coffey's turn to appear on Good Morning Britain.  Morgan quizzed Coffey on why Britain had one of the highest Covid death rates in the world. Coffey responded by saying there were plenty of reasons, including, possibly, the age of our population and Britain's obesity problem. Morgan then asked Coffey whether she was blaming Brits for our country's Covid crisis.  'I think that is a very insulting thing you've just said,' Coffey said.

Labour’s shadow Foreign Secretary, Lisa Nandy, opened a Pandora’s box yesterday in an interview with the Guardian, in which she praised the new US President Joe Biden for being a ‘woke guy’ and, according to the paper, appeared to suggest that those defending the Parliament square statue of Churchill were comparable to white supremacists marching in America. Mr S imagines that isn’t quite the strategy the party had in mind to win back Red Wall towns lost in 2019. Nonetheless, it appeared to be Boris Johnson who was struggling most with the idea of a ‘woke’ US President yesterday. In an interview with Sky News, the PM was asked if he thought Joe Biden was woke as well.

Scottish nationalists put a lot of stock in the mystical powers of independence, but this is a new one to Mr S: independence would apparently have improved Scotland’s response to Covid-19. At least according to Devi Sridhar, professor of global public health at Edinburgh University and member of the Scottish government’s Covid-19 advisory group. Interviewed on Holyrood magazine’s podcast, she was asked whether a separate Scotland would have made different decisions on the pandemic. ‘Yes, definitely,’ she reportedly replied.