Inside Politics: Johnson continues ‘Con Air’ Union tour, as more candidates quit in disgrace

The past is an embarrassing place. They do things differently there. The BBC and ITV have decided to do away with classic sitcoms like Til Death Us Do Part and Love Thy Neighbour on their new streaming service Britbox because they’re properly, old-school racist. But our present is an embarrassing mess too. The 2019 general election campaign has descended into a slanging match in which Labour and the Tories both shout: “You’re more racist than us!” Boris Johnson has been trying to ignore his party’s Islamophobia problem by wheeling out well-worn catchphrases and prompting fake laughter during his three-day Union tour, while Jeremy Corbyn continues to be dogged by his party’s antisemitism troubles as he attempts to keep Labour’s show on the road.

Our political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for on the campaign trail today:

The Union will be one of today’s big election themes. After visiting Scotland yesterday, Boris Johnson is spending some time in Northern Ireland and then heading to Wales later. The Northern Ireland trip is sure to bring up the spectacular fall-out with the DUP over the Brexit deal, but he will try to change course by promising a fast track “NHS visa” to make it easier for overseas doctors and nurses to work in the UK. Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson will campaign in her native Scotland to call on the family of four nations to “work together to stop Brexit”. However, the Remain alliance between her party, the Greens and Plaid Cymru does not extend to Scotland – and the SNP has its eyes on Swinson’s East Dunbartonshire seat.

COME TO DISS: It’s the problem that just will not go away for Jeremy Corbyn. When you claim the Labour party is doing all it can to tackle antisemitism, it really, really doesn’t help when one of your candidates likens the Israeli government to a child abuser. Kate Ramsden has been forced to stand down in the Aberdeenshire constituency of Gordon after the Jewish Chronicle highlighted a blog post which stated “the Israeli state is like an abused child who becomes an abusive adult”. It follows a bad 24 hours for Labour during which ex-Labour MP Ian Austin said Corbyn was unfit to be PM and backed Boris Johnson instead, saying: “I can’t believe it’s come to this.” He was followed by three other former Labour MPs who said they were also voting for the Tories. Nothing much to worry about, suggested John McDonnell, who said Austin was “employed by the Tories” – referring his role as trade envoy to Israel. A “complete lie”, said Austin, explaining it was an unpaid government role.

AIR FORCE CON: If ugly squabbles on the ground get too much for the PM, he can always take to the skies on “Con Air” – his nickname for the Conservative campaign airplane rather than a reference to the extremely terrible 1997 thriller starring Nicolas Cage. Launching a three-day tour of British businesses, Johnson visited a distillery in Scotland and sipped whisky with more enthusiasm than he could muster for his points about trade tariffs and Nicola Sturgeon. It wasn’t an easy 24 hours for the Tories either. Tory peer Baroness Warsi said the failure to deal with Islamophobia meant party had “lost the moral high ground” on racism. And Tory candidate Nick Conrad – the ex-BBC presenter who once suggested women should “keep their knickers on” during a discussion about a high-profile rape case – stepped down from the race. Johnson, like a whisky-soaked mafia boss, sealed Conrad’s fate by calling his comments “completely unacceptable”. And within hours he was gone.

IMPOSSIBLE AND INCONTINENT: The eggheads have been pouring themselves a wee dram and studying the spending plans set out by the big two parties. And they don’t like what they see. The highly-respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that the level of investment promised by Labour – an extra £55bn a year – was so high it would be “just physically impossible to get there that quickly”. Even under Sajid Javid’s proposals, Britain is headed back to 1970s-level public spending, claimed the IFS. Lord Macpherson of Earl’s Court, a former permanent secretary at the Treasury, thinks both Tory and Labour plans are, well, pants. “Have the fiscal proposals of the two main parties ever been so incontinent?” You could argue the idea there’s cash to splash is completely delusional. The Bank of England has downgraded UK growth on the basis of the Brexit deal: our economy is expected to be about £14bn smaller after three years than previously assumed.

PACTS OF THE MATTER: The pro-EU parties finally revealed the 60 seats where the strongest Remainer will get a free run. Heidi Allen mocked Labour by claiming they had indulged in “Olympic-sized fence sitting” over Brexit. But not everyone’s happy with the electoral pact games. Mike Powell, who had been the Lib Dem candidate in Pontypridd until he was asked to step aside for the Welsh nationalists, stormed off in huff and decided to stand as an independent instead. TUC boss Frances Barber claimed the three parties had “sat around a nice bottle of wine carving up seats”. Fellow BBC guest, Plaid’s abstemious Liz Saville Roberts, replied: “There was no wine.” Nigel Farage – now there’s someone who loves a glass of the old vino. He would dearly love to get in on the electoral pact business too, saying 60 Brexit Party candidates could stand down in the same seats as the Remain alliance – if Boris would only see sense on a Leave alliance.

DANCE OF DEATH: Does everyone remember Zarah Sultana? She’s the Labour candidate who previously said on social media she would “celebrate” the death of Tony Blair. Fellow Labour candidate Jane Aitchison try to explain away the comments during a hilariously awful interview on BBC Radio 5 Live. Taking a 12-and-a-half second pause to answer a question about it, Aitchison finally decided to say: “People do celebrate deaths sometimes ... because they feel strongly about whatever that person represented.” It conjured up images of pagan death rituals, with lefties dancing round the fire when some capitalist baddie pops their clogs. Incidentally, Corbyn spoke at an arts centre in Liverpool that teaches dance, and quoted the great lefty Emma Goldman: “If I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution”. Which sounds cool, even though I have absolutely no idea what it means.

“He’s now employed by the Tories. What else do you expect him to do in an election campaign? When you’re employed by the Tories, you speak on behalf of the Tories.”

John McDonnell lashes out at Boris-backing ex-Labour MP Ian Austin – referring to his role as government trade envoy to Israel.

“A vote for Corbyn is a vote for a racist. It’s as simple as that.”

Former Tory MP Nick Boles sticks the boot in over Labour’s antisemitism problem...

“Honestly Nick we lost the moral high ground on racism a long time ago. If we genuinely believe in rooting out bigotry then we should root it out in our own party too - don’t you think? Otherwise it’s simply weaponising racism as a political tool.”

...before Tory peer Baroness Warsi puts the shoe on the other foot.

Kuba Shand-Baptiste, The Independent: Boris Johnson understands the dangerous power of social media – this election could be won by deepfakes

Tom Peck, The Independent: Which chancellor would you prefer to ruin your life? Sajid Javid or John McDonnell?

Ellie Mae O’Hagan, The Guardian: Beware of dodgy tactical voting sites – they’re the last resort of outmoded centrists

Liz Mair, The New York Times: Do you Republicans, do you really want Trump at your rally?