Inside Politics: No 10 in meltdown as four top aides leave

Thursday was a day of resignations and departures. First Munira Mirza, Boris Johnson’s chief policy adviser, walked out of No 10 citing the prime minister’s “scurrilous” and untrue smear linking Keir Starmer to Jimmy Saville, as she launched a highly public attack on her former boss.

Just hours later, and against the backdrop of a Met Police investigation into partygate, three more top aides were shown the door as the Big Dog fast-tracked Operation Scapegoat in an attempt to shore up his own position, in an apparent nod to Tory MPs calling for an overhaul of the No 10 operation.

It was, however, the resignation of Paul Givan that will have the most material impact on people’s lives.

The DUP MLA quit his post as first minister in protest at Brexit’s Northern Ireland protocol, putting the power sharing executive on the brink of collapse as families across the country face the biggest drop in their living standards since records began as energy bills soar.

The cost of living crisis makes the front of several papers and news websites again this morning after Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, set out some measures to help families struggling with bills. Elsewhere the PM and Priti Patel, the home secretary, have been accused of pushing misleading crime stats.

Commons action consists of a day of private members’ bills. First up at 9.30am is Andrew Rosindell Animals (Penalty Notices) Bill.

Coming up:

– Energy minister Greg Hands on BBC Radio 4 Today at 8.10am

– Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband on Times Radio Breakfast at 8.40am

Daily Briefing

MELTDOWN: Downing Street was thrown into chaos yesterday as four top aides departed in the space of just a few hours in another day of high drama in the never-ending Boris Johnson soap opera. Jack Doyle, communications director, Martin Reynolds, principle private secretary and Dan Rosenfield, chief of staff, were reportedly asked to fall on their swords and followed Mirza, who unmistakably quit, out of the big black door. It is the departure of Mirza, however, that is most damaging to Johnson. She has been with him for over 10 years, throughout his time as London mayor, and is highly regarded by Tory colleagues who view her as an extremely clever and effective operator. In her resignation letter, Mirza said she had quit because she asked Johnson to apologise for his untrue claim linking Starmer to Saville.

HAMMER BLOW: “I believe it was wrong for you to imply this week that Keir Starmer was personally responsible for allowing Jimmy Savile to escape justice,” she said. “There was no fair or reasonable basis for that assertion.” Several cabinet ministers who went out on the airwaves this week to defend the PM’s comments, described as “Trumpian”, may be sitting a little more uncomfortably in their seats this morning. Others believe there is now a 50/50 chance that Johnson will be ousted from office. “It feels like the end, it’s all falling apart,” one tells The Times in its front page story. “Will the last one to leave please turn out the lights,” says the Daily Mail’s splash on the “Meltdown in Downing Street”. In his presser later in the evening, Sunak, who is the favourite to replace Johnson should he be ousted, was asked about the Savile comments and said: “Being honest — I wouldn’t have said it — and I’m glad the PM has clarified what he meant.”

BIG SQUEEZE TIGHTENS: The No 10 psychodrama played out as millions of people across the country were hit with a double-whammy of bad news in the form of sky-rocketing energy bills and rising interest rates. Ofgem revealed that the energy price cap will rise by nearly £700 for the average household from April to £1,971, resulting in the biggest squeeze on living standards since records began. The Bank of England raised interest rates from 0.25 to 0.5 per cent in an attempt to curb growing inflation. Sunak warned that even middle earners will “feel the pinch” in the months ahead as he announced that 80 per cent of households – those in council tax bands A-D – will receive a tax rebate of £150 this spring to try to mitigate the shock to household budgets. This will then be followed by a £200 discount on energy bills in October, which will be repaid in £40 instalments over five years from 2023. “For [the] poorest, it would have been better just to raise benefits in line with inflation,” said Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Its calculations showed that a worker on £30,000 a year would be roughly £400 worse off in real terms in the next financial year, compared with last. Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, accused Sunak of bringing in “a buy now, pay later scheme that loads up costs for tomorrow.”

‘MANUFACTURED CRISIS’: Givan was accused by politicians in both of Northern Ireland’s communities of putting his party before his country as he walked out of the Stormont government, ushering in yet another period of instability to the region’s politics. Just hours after his colleague Edwin Poots ordered officials to stop checks on goods entering NI from the rest of the UK, Givan said in a statement: “The consent principle is a cornerstone of the Belfast Agreement. And it is my earnest desire that all sections of the community will soon be able to give consent to the restoration of a fully functioning executive through a resolution to the issues that have regrettably brought us to this point.” Loyalist activists, some of whom have no interest in sharing power with their neighbours and who and are using opposition to the protocol as part of a wider strategy to undermine the Good Friday peace deal, celebrated as Givan quit, putting on ice the agreement a crucial three-year budget which will impact heavily on the lives of everyone in Northern Ireland. Doug Beattie, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, criticised “the manufactured crisis brought about by party political interests”.

MISLEADING STATS: Boris Johnson and Priti Patel have been criticised by the statistics watchdog for “misleading” claims that crime has fallen under their leadership. The Liberal Democrats urged the prime minister to return to the House of Commons “to apologise for his latest lie and set the record straight”, following the “damning verdict” from the UK Statistics Authority, which had been investigating the claims.While addressing Sue Gray’s report into No 10 parties in a bruising Commons session earlier this week, the prime minister claimed the government had “been cutting crime by 14 per cent”.And in a press release last week, the Home Office claimed that new Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed “crime continues to fall under this government”, and quoted Ms Patel as saying this demonstrated the government’s approach “is working”.But in fact, the ONS found that overall crime levels had actually increased by 14 per cent.

“You are aware of the reason for my decision: I believe it was wrong for you to imply this week that Keir Starmer was personally responsible for allowing Jimmy Savile to escape justice. There was no fair or reasonable basis for that assertion. This was not the normal cut-and-thrust of politics; it was an inappropriate and partisan reference to a horrendous case of child sex abuse. You tried to clarify your position today but, despite my urging, you did not apologise for the misleading impression you gave.”

Mirza’s resignation statement.

“Goodbye another crazy day. To be honest, in the eight years I’ve been at the Sunday Times that doesn’t even rank in the Top 10. But it feels like if a hard rain falls on Boris Johnson, the PM is now deficient in his supply of umbrellas.”

Sunday Times chief politics commentator Tim Shipman.

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