Inside Politics: Patel under fire and more woes for Hancock

Yes, it’s the one you’ve been waiting for. No, not business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on this morning’s broadcast round...England v Denmark in the Euro semi-final! Based on last night’s showing and previous games, Gareth Southgate’s side will have it all to do against Italy if they can topple the Danes. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. At Westminster, Priti Patel is under fire over the Nationality and Borders Bill. And there is more bad news for Matt Hancock. Is the former health secretary facing a red card?

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Political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for today:

Extra time for Boris Johnson. He will be quizzed for 90 minutes by the liaison committee of senior MPs about the COP26 climate conference, Covid and Brexit, on top of his 30 minutes at prime minister’s questions. The SNP will stage Commons debates on Covid and the EU settlement scheme. Ministers appearing before select committees include Therese Coffey and Liz Truss.

MORALLY WRONG: Tough-talking Priti Patel is under fire again today over her approach to migrants. This time, the home secretary is drawing up plans to allow Border Force to send small boats of migrants making the dangerous journey across the Channel back to France. Steve Valdez-Symonds, refugee and migrant rights programme director at Amnesty International UK, condemned the proposals, saying push-backs were “disdainful of international law and dangerous for the people subjected to them”. The Guardian also picks up on the proposals published in the government’s Nationality and Borders Bill yesterday. It says the UK will block visas for visitors from countries the home secretary believes are failing to cooperate in taking back rejected asylum seekers or offenders, as Patel’s overhaul of asylum rules continues.

LONG SUMMER: There is another lorry load of Covid news to bring you this morning following Monday’s announcement. Here are some of the top lines. Thei splashes on an exclusive saying ministers overruled Sage to prioritise the economy. A Whitehall source told the paper that research showing the hospitality industry would be down around £4 billion if social distancing measures continued was key in scrapping rules. Elsewhere, fully-jabbed Britons arriving back from amber list countries will avoid quarantine from as early as 19 July, according toThe Times. The paper says the policy will be signed off tomorrow. Touring the broadcast studios yesterday, new health secretary Sajid Javid suggested Covid cases could hit up to 100,000 per day over the summer. And in an exclusive for The Independent, campaigners say Boris Johnson’s decision to drop mandatory face-masks and social distancing could condemn thousands of young Britons to years of debilitating sickness with long Covid. Gavin Williamson also announced school bubbles are to be scrapped.

EASY SLEAZY: Matt Hancock might have slipped out of public view in recent weeks, but voters haven’t forgotten about his passionate embrace with aide Gina Coladangelo. In fact, they think the former health secretary’s resignation made Boris Johnson look weak and the government sleazy, which given the PM’s...colourful past is perhaps no mean feat. Those findings are according to a Savanta ComRes survey forThe Independent, carried out over the weekend. And there could be trouble on the horizon for the man who helped to get Coladangelo’s secret Commons pass. Lord Bethell, a health minister and friend of Hancock is under formal investigation, the Lords Commissioner for Standards has confirmed.

EMAIL PROBE: Separately, the Information Commissioner’s Office has launched a probe into “concerning suggestions” that health ministers used private email accounts for government business, an accusation levelled at both Hancock and Bethell. They both deny any wrongdoing. ICO chief Elizabeth Denim said: “The role of transparency as fundamental to democracy has never been clearer than in the past eighteen months.” Transparency is not the first word that springs to mind when considering the conduct of both men over the past few months. One to watch.

SYSTEM FAILURE: A failure to carry out checks before scandal-hit Greensill Capital joined a government-backed loan scheme – putting £335m of taxpayers’ cash at risk –has been criticised by a watchdog. Fast-tracked accreditation, at the start of the Covid pandemic last year, failed to “identify the risks” laid bare when the lender collapsed in May this year, the National Audit Office (NAO) says. The decision has become hugely controversial, with the Treasury accused of giving the doomed firm special favours because of fierce lobbying by David Cameron, who was employed by it.

SAME OLD JOHNSON, ALWAYS SCHEMING: Boris Johnson’s government is attempting to push through electoral reforms to give wealthy Tory donors living abroad a “free ticket” to bankroll the Conservative Party, Labour has claimed. Cat Smith, shadow minister for democracy, toldThe Independent that the plans threaten the integrity of the UK’s elections by allowing “foreign political donations to flood our system”. Last night the PM urged England players to “bring it home”. According toThe Times, he is ramping up efforts to host the World Cup in 2030. If England does manage to win this year’s Euro, don’t be surprised if Johnson makes an effort to try to claim some credit for the victory. Maybe he’ll say it is the bold, brave and confident new England outside of the EU wot won it. Pubs are allowed to open a bit later tonight in case the game goes to extra time.

“The Conservatives have finally admitted that their 11-years in power has resulted in a broken asylum system – the responsibility lies on their shoulders. Yet despite these failings, the measures being proposed in this Bill do not deal with the chaos they have created.”

Labour MP and shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds on the government’s Nationality and Borders Bill.

“One day after the policing bill passes third reading, the latest bit of rampant Home Office authoritarianism is published: The Nationality and Borders Bill.”

Politics.co.uk editor-at-large Ian Dunt is not a fan of the controversial plans

“Priti Patel’s #BordersBill lacks all compassion or fairness. It will criminalise people who flee to UK seeking asylum simply because of how they arrive here, ignoring the war, persecution & terror they may have fled.”

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has her say on the borders bill