Inside Politics: Boris Johnson wants to paint the north in permanent blue

Even rock stars want to be Boris Johnson’s mate now that he’s a winner. Very old rock stars, admittedly. The prime minister celebrated his election triumph by partying at Annabel’s nightclub with Mick Jagger (it seems the Stones’ singer still has a lot of sympathy for the devil). Today, Tory ministers find out whether they’re in or out of Johnson’s gang as he assembles his new cabinet. Jeremy Corbyn’s gang, on the other hand, is in disarray. Corbyn knows he is out of time, but his comrades are hoping to keep the Labour party under their thumb for as long as possible. But, as Jagger once told us, you can’t always get what you want. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing.

Our political correspondent Lizzy Buchan on what to look out for the rest of today:

Boris Johnson gets back to work today by addressing the group of 109 new Conservative MPs at a private meeting – and will no doubt inform them they will be expected to vote for his Withdrawal Agreement Bill to help “get Brexit done”. The PM is also set to carry out a small-scale cabinet reshuffle. He needs to fill vacant posts, including the culture and welsh secretary roles. Meanwhile a small group of officers in Labour’s National Executive Committee are expected to get together on Monday to begin discussing the timetable for electing Jeremy Corbyn’s successor.

AGE OF DOM: Before the election there was talk Dominic Cummings would be happy to walk away from No 10 after delivering a win. Nonsense. He isn’t going anywhere. Government plans briefed to the media have “classic Dom” written all over them. The PM is ready to spend £78bn on infrastructure in the north of England so he has stuff to point at – things like “Boris bridges” – at the next election. Cummings also wants a “revolutionary” overhaul of the civil service by scrapping permanent secretaries. Some departments will be merged, and a new immigration system set up distinct from the Home Office. Today’s micro reshuffle, meanwhile, will be followed by a bigger one in February already dubbed the “Valentine’s Day massacre,” with Jacob Rees-Mogg, Liz Truss and Andrea Leadsom all thought to be at risk. They should all be on their guard. Cummings has previously said the cabinet “should be a maximum of probably six or seven people”.

REALITY STILL NOT BITING: With the age of Corbyn coming to an end, there are so many feuds within the Labour party it’s hard to know where to begin. We might as well start with Jez himself, who infuriated MPs and defeated candidates by claiming “we won the argument”. His three sons added to sense of delusional derangement by claiming their dad had come up with “the most wonderful manifesto this country has ever seen”. Corbyn looks set to stay until the end of March for an almost three-month leadership contest. Former leader Neil Kinnock told The Independent he must go “after a maximum of two months”. But Labour MPs who want rid of him ASAP are expected to urge chief whip Nick Brown to ask Dame Margaret Beckett to become interim leader. One Labour figure told The Times: “The danger is that they overreact and make a martyr of Jeremy when he’s making a t** of himself as it is.”

RED FLAG FIGHT: John McDonnell and Richard Burgon appear to be counting on Rebecca Long-Bailey to pick up the tattered battle flag of Corbynism in the face of challenges from the soft-left / Blairite sell-outs (delete as appropriate). As well as the obvious clash of left-wingery, Leave vs Remain and London elite vs the salt-of-the-earth North have become key dividing lines. Caroline Flint went on the attack against Emily Thornberry, accusing the metropolitan Europhile of saying Labour voters who backed Brexit were “stupid” (Thornberry accused Flint of coming up with “a total and utter lie”). Meanwhile, moderate types are being urging to join and rejoin the party to help consign the Corbyn era to history. One former Labour MP said 100,000 new members would be the “magic number” to shape the outcome of the contest.

INJURY ROOM: Let us return to factionalism in the Tory party, which has not magically disappeared with the election victory. Surprise, surprise: bickering over Europe. Theresa May’s former Brexit advisor Raoul Ruparel said the government is not “match fit” for trade deal talks with the EU next year. But Downing Street has rejected suggestions of an extension to the end of 2020 deadline, and rejected the idea of regulatory “alignment” with Brussels as part of a softer Brexit. Leading members of the ERG have warned Johnson against any such softening. But according to The Sunday Times, one Tory staffer watching Mark Francois on TV was heard scoffing: “He can say what the f*** he wants now – we don’t need the ERG anymore.”

LET’S BE HAVING YOU: The Lib Dems currently have no factionalism problem – they don’t have enough MPs for any of that. Layla Moran is the clear frontrunner to succeed Jo Swinson, but she is sure to be reminded about the fact she slapped her then-boyfriend at a party conference six years ago, despite discussing the incident openly earlier this year. Someone called Daisy Cooper suggested she will run for the leadership – despite only becoming an MP on Thursday night. Party chiefs are said to be worried about a serious loss in donors, and they are still smarting over that vaguely thuggish football-fan-on-the-terraces celebration by Nicola Sturgeon to Swinson’s defeat. Deputy leader Sir Ed Davey condemned Sturgeon “not very dignified” reaction. Sir Ed told The Independent Johnson’s Brexit plans could still “implode” – which would give the diminished liberals some role to play in the short-term.

“It’s on me. Let’s take it on the chin. I own this disaster. I apologise to all those wonderful Labour MPs who’ve lost their seats … If anyone’s to blame it is me.”

John McDonnell shows Jeremy Corbyn what a proper apology looks like.

“Some want to lay all the blame for the terrible election results on Jeremy ... The big difference clearly wasn’t the leader but because it became a Brexit election.”

Corbyn loyalist Richard Burgon denies the leader was a problem for Labour...

“Jesus wept. When will these people realise they LOST? And that isn’t someone else’s fault.”

...as author Christina Patterson articulates the frustration of many about denialism.

Layla Moran, The Independent: The appetite for progressive politics is still there – but we need to deliver by working together

Andrew Adonis, The Independent: Whatever you think of Tony Blair, Labour and the Lib Dems should learn from him

Katy Balls, The Spectator: Labour prepares for life after Corbyn

Tom McTague, The Atlantic: It’s Boris Johnson’s Britain now