Steerpike

Throughout the coronavirus crisis, the UK government has insisted that its decisions and policies have been led by the scientific advice on the virus. It’s a commitment that has allowed the government to convince the public that drastic interventions to stop the disease have been necessary. But, equally, there have been criticisms in some quarters that the scientists advising Number 10 have been used as human shields for the mistakes and unpopular policies of politicians. Health minister Helen Whately did nothing to allay those fears when she appeared on Sky News this morning.

Priti Patel was in the Commons today, to be asked about the policing of the recent Black Lives Matter protests across the country. And, it was an understatement to say that the Home Secretary was taking no prisoners when it came to accusations from Labour that she or the government did not understand racism in this country. In response to Labour MP Florence Eshalomi – who asked whether the government and the Home Secretary recognised that there is racism and discrimination in the UK – Patel gave a remarkable speech in which she declared that she would ‘not take lectures’ from Labour about racism, and accused those who expect ethnic minorities to behave in a certain way as racist themselves.

Another day, another BBC apology. But Mr S isn't convinced this one is actually needed. The BBC's new boss was announced this morning and it fell to the corporation's media editor Amol Rajan to fill in viewers about who Tim Davie is. Rajan explained Davie had a 'hellishly, hellishly difficult job' in manning the ship over the next few years. All for £575,000 a year. Poor Tim.  Rajan then told viewers that Davie was privately educated. He explained: 'He’s a father of three, marathon runner, big Crystal Palace fan. Interestingly, he was privately educated before going on to Cambridge and he’s someone who had a career in marketing…' But after coming off air, an urgent clarification was issued: https://twitter.

Last week, the BBC show Newsnight found itself in hot water, after its presenter Emily Maitlis was rebuked by the BBC for not showing due impartiality, when she opened the show with a broadside against Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson. You would think, therefore, that the programme would be on its best behaviour at the moment, and would make sure that it was reporting the facts correctly. Apparently not though. Yesterday evening, the programme included a segment in which it suggested that the UK’s daily death toll from Covid-19 was higher than every other country in the EU combined. The programme even displayed a graph prominently, to highlight the UK’s high death toll. https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1268304147301965826?

Was Boris Johnson wearing an earpiece during PMQs? Of course not. But that didn't stop some of those who should know better suggesting otherwise. Former media editor of the Times Raymond Snoddy shared a claim that 'it seems entirely possible the PM is in fact having radio prompts to attempt to make him appear competent'. Stand-up comedian Alastair Barrie also joined in: 'This needs some serious retweeting. Johnson using an earpiece at #PMQs the day after The Telegraph reported he’s taken ‘direct control’,' he wrote. While Labour MP Bill Esterton wrote: 'Suggestions that Johnson had an earpiece in for #PMQs. If he was receiving help, it didn't show.

MPs tried out Jacob Rees-Mogg’s new voting system for the first time today, as they prepared for a return to the House of Commons and the end of the virtual voting system. The reforms have already proven controversial among MPs, who have complained that the new system will involve long queues, will take at least 40 minutes for a vote, and shielded members will not be able to take part. In order to keep socially distanced, the politicians were forced to form an orderly queue which ended up stretching for almost a kilometre around the Parliamentary estate, so MPs could remain two metres apart at all times.

Last month, Mr Steerpike wrote about the worrying decision by YouTube to remove a video featuring Karol Sikora, a professor of medicine, from its platform. Sikora appeared to have been targeted because he believed that coronavirus was petering out, and that we could potentially learn from Sweden which did not lockdown to protect itself against the virus. Happily, YouTube reversed the decision shortly afterwards. Unfortunately though, it seems as though the social media company has not changed its policy on coronavirus videos. Today, the free speech show Triggernometry, has claimed that its recent interview with the Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens appears to have been removed from YouTube search.

The Newsnight team were rapped on the knuckles by the BBC yesterday, after presenter Emily Maitlis opened Tuesday's show with a monologue saying Dominic Cummings had broken the rules with his lockdown trip to Durham. The corporation ruled that the introduction ‘did not meet our standards of due impartiality'. Safe to say, those working on Newsnight were not happy with the BBC’s reprimand. In response Maitlis ducked out of presenting the show last night, while policy editor Lewis Goodall sent tweets praising the ‘world class presenter’ and reiterating his support for the programme. So you can imagine Goodall’s delight this afternoon when it was reported that Durham police had concluded that Cummings had broken the lockdown rules.

Today, Boris Johnson was grilled by MPs on the Liaison committee, which is made up of select committee chairs. The Prime Minister was asked about a range of topics in the marathon session, including about his adviser Dominic Cummings’s trip to Durham during lockdown. But while the Prime Minister seemed to survive arguably the trickiest part of the session involving Cummings – after MPs mainly used the opportunity to grandstand, rather than ask probing questions – Boris seemed to struggle when asked about female participation in his top team. Former Home Office minister Caroline Nokes began by asking the Prime Minister about his comment that ‘enough’ women were involved in the decision-making process during the coronavirus crisis.

Dominic Cummings doesn't have a huge number of supporters in the newspapers this morning, but Michael Gove is doing his best to defend the PM's chief aide. Asked by LBC's Nick Ferrari whether he would, like Cummings, go on a sixty-mile trip to test his eyesight, Gove suggested he would do, before abruptly changing tack: Gove: 'I have on occasions in the past driven with my wife in order to make sure I...what's the right way of putting it?' Ferrari: 'I'm staggered. I don't know how you're going to get out of this but it's going to be fun.' Gove: 'I think people who know me would know I'm not an authority on driving...' Ferrari: 'I merely asked you whether you'd been on a sixty-mile round trip to test your eyesight and you said you had. I mean, why not go to Specsavers?