Steerpike

A feisty exchange took place at Prime Minister’s Questions today, on the subject of free school meals, after widely-shared images showed children being provided with substandard food packages. Keir Starmer went on the attack, and suggested that the meagre meals were in line with the government’s current guidance. But it was Boris Johnson who provoked the ire of the Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, after the PM suggested that Starmer’s stance on the matter was hypocritical. The remark led to the visibly angry Speaker giving Johnson a dressing down, with Hoyle calling on the PM to withdraw the remark. Watch here: https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/1349332819374432256?

At tonight's Covid press conference, the Home Secretary Priti Patel sought to defend the coronavirus restrictions against suggestions that the law was confusing and hard to follow. She said: 'The rules are actually very simple and clear. We are meant to stay at home and only leave home for a very, very limited number of reasons'. What were those reasons? A list followed, including: 'outdoor recreation but in a very, very restricted and limited way, staying local, I’ve said that several times over the last week.' Except, outdoor recreation was specifically deleted as a deemed reasonable excuse to leave home by the regulatory amendments bringing into effect the national lockdown. Presumably the Home Secretary meant outdoor exercise (an exception retained in the regulations).

Exercise is a dangerous game these days. As two women recently discovered, drive five miles for a walk at a beauty spot complete with two cups of coffee and you can find yourself fined £200. Meanwhile, alarm inside government at the number of people out and about despite the 'stay at home' message has led to tighter restrictions being considered by No. 10. So, it's fair to say there's a lot of curiosity in Westminster over a bike ride Boris Johnson embarked on over the weekend. Evening Standard reporter Sophia Sleigh spotted the Prime Minister cycling around the Olympic Park in Stratford on Sunday afternoon — seven miles from No. 10. The guidance on exercise says 'you should not travel outside your local area'. So, what does the Prime Minister say?

It certainly doesn’t seem like things are calming down in America anytime soon, after the recent mob takeover of Capitol Hill. At least Mr S got that sense when tuning in to Sky News today. On the show, Sky’s Adam Boulton was speaking from Washington to Erin Elmore, a former Trump campaign spokesperson, who was dialling in from Jupiter, Florida. The interview began civilly enough, as the pair discussed the recent invasion of the Capitol building and acts of violence which had taken place. It didn’t take long though for the discussion to become rather heated as Elmore attempted to link the Senate invasion to the violence in US cities during the Black Lives Matter protests.

Oh dear. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has not exactly been at the top of his game in recent weeks. Across the country teachers, children and parents have been thrown into turmoil by the government’s haphazard education plans, which have seen schools open up for a single day, and national exams cancelled, despite the Education Secretary’s insistence they would ‘absolutely’ go ahead. Still, Mr S hoped that Williamson would at least be clear in his mind about getting schools back open once again. Unfortunately, the minister seemed to rather struggle with that message when in Parliament today.

It shouldn’t have been a difficult task to hold the government to account today on schools and lockdown, as the Prime Minister currently weighs up shuttering the school gates till Covid cases decline. Labour leader Keir Starmer though seems to have managed to develop an even more confused policy today. This morning, Labour suggested that schools should remain open even if the country went into lockdown. This was followed by a hasty U-Turn this afternoon, with the party then calling for schools to be closed. After such a big change, Mr S had presumed that Labour would at least have a basic grasp of their new policy.

Oh dear. It's not been a good weekend on vaccine news for the New York Times or the Labour party. The one time paper of record ran a misleading report claiming the UK planned to give Britons a dangerous cocktail of Covid vaccines. Despite that claim being debunked, it wasn't enough to stop a Labour MP from sharing similar comments. Now there is another incident to add to the list. The self-titled shadow 'cabinet' minister for mental health Dr Rosena Allin-Khan set the cat among the pigeons late on Saturday night with a series of extraordinary tweets.

The New York Times really does have it in for poor old Britain, doesn't it? Not content with portraying Brits as boiled mutton eating swamp dwellers, America's self-styled paper of record is now suggesting we're being pumped full of a dangerous cocktail of Covid vaccines. 'Britain Opts for Mix-and-Match Vaccinations, Confounding Experts' screams the headline.  https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1345121388718391296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw The reality? A different second dose will only be considered in very limited circumstances where there is an 'immediate high risk' to health. And that's only if the previous type of vaccine isn't known or isn't available. Surely a reasonable precautionary measure if all else fails?

As Boris Johnson's Brexit deal sails through the Commons, the hope among Labour MPs is that this will mark an end to Brexit dominating UK politics. In 2021, Sir Keir Starmer has signalled that he wants to move beyond the issue as he begins to put the flesh on the bones of his leadership. The Labour leader has said he plans to be more proactive on policy with a focus on the economy. So, what will this look like? Up until now, Starmer has managed to get by saying very little about what he actually wants to do in various key areas – instead developing a reputation for abstaining on the issues of the day.

When a Tory MP recently suggested on the party's WhatsApp group that MPs ought to be one of the priority groups to receive the vaccine early on, they were met with derision from their colleagues – with several suggesting it would be a bad look. However, that message does not appear to hold much sway with Labour. With limited does of the Pfizer vaccine in the country, they are currently eligible to those at the top of the priority list – care home residents, care workers, health workers and the over-80s. However, the Birmingham Mail reports that local MP Khalid Mahmood has managed to get the Coronavirus vaccine ahead of schedule.

We're closing 2020 by republishing our ten most-read articles of the year. Here's No. 5: Steerpike's questions from April for Neil Ferguson. It was a tale of two interviews on the Today programme this morning. First up on the show was Neil Ferguson, professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London, who has been instrumental in forming the UK government’s response to the coronavirus crisis, and whose virus modelling led to the current lockdown being put in place. On the show, the professor received an almost deferential line of questioning from Sarah Smith with his views seemingly taken as near-Gospel as he declared that a 'significant level' of social distancing could have to be maintained indefinitely until a vaccine becomes available.

Boris Johnson will be hoping for at the very least a brief break after securing a Brexit deal on Christmas eve. So, how will the Prime Minister choose to unwind? Perhaps a clue can be found in a photo recently uploaded to Flickr by 10 Downing Street official photographer Andrew Parsons.  There has been much amusement online over the new photos by Parsons which document the fateful hours leading up to Johnson securing a deal with the EU. In a range of pictures, the Prime Minister is photographed deep in conversation with his closest aides as well as swigging from a can of beer and near a bag filled with Five Guys burgers.