Inside Politics: Battle of the deputies

Hello there, I’m Matt Mathers and welcome to The Independent’s Inside Politics newsletter.

It’s the battle of the deputies at PMQs today with Rishi Sunak away on international business. The PM will take part in an emergency G7 meeting after missiles killed two in Poland.

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

With Rishi Sunak attending the G20 summit in Indonesia, where he is due to meet Joe Biden, there will be a rare episode of deputy prime minister’s questions. It will be better timed for Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy-PM-in-waiting, than Dominic Raab, the current DPM. With more allegations that Raab has bullied civil servants emerging daily, which he denies, Rayner will surely note that it is anti-bullying week.

Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England governor, will be quizzed by the Treasury select committee on interest rates. The human rights joint committee of MPs and peers will begin a very topical inquiry into the rules for the processing and detention of asylum applicants. Steve Barclay, the health secretary, will address the annual conference of NHS Providers in Liverpool.

Rishi Sunak will no longer hold planned talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Bali today, Downing Street has said, following concerning developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The world held its breath yesterday after missiles hit a building in the Polish village of Prezedwodow near the Ukrainian border, killing two people and sparking fears that the conflict had spilled over onto the land of a NATO member. The military alliance is obliged to act if one of its members comes under attack but there are no indications this morning that the strikes were planned or carried out intentionally by the Kremlin.

The details of what exactly happened are still emerging but Joe Biden, the US president, said it was “unlikely” that the missile was fired from Russia. Moscow denies firing the missiles and three US officials, who are not authorised to discuss the matter publicly, said preliminary assessments suggest they were fired by Ukrainian forces seeking to counter a Russian missile.

Sunak had been due to see Xi on the margins of the Bali summit, announced at the last minute on Tuesday, in a meeting that sparked alarm among Conservative China hawks, who feared the PM was going soft on Beijing after announcing he would not press ahead with predecessor Liz Truss’s plan to upgrade China from a “challenge” to a “threat”, alongside Russia, in the official assessment of the UK’s defence, security and foreign policy priorities.

Downing Street said the timings of the meetings no longer worked – in part due to impromptu G7 leaders’ meeting this morning following the events in Poland. In a statement following the deaths, the G7 said in a statement that “we offer our full support for and assistance with Poland’s ongoing investigation. We agree to remain in close touch to determine appropriate next steps as the investigation proceeds. We reaffirm our steadfast support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in the face of ongoing Russian aggression”.

Sunak and Justin Trudeau – the Canadian PM – will hold a conference call with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky later after speaking with the country’s foreign minister.

open image in gallery

Alleged bully boy and justice secretary Dominic Raab, who apparently mouthed “wan*er” at Keir Stamer during last week’s session of PMQs, finds himself in the hot seat against Labour deputy Angela Rayner today with Sunak away on international duty.

Claims about Raab continue to mount, with a top civil servant telling journalists yesterday that many staff were “scared to go into his office”.

Lord McDonald urged the PM to have “another look” at bullying complaints procedures in government and the civil service. Raab continues to deny the bullying allegations and Sunak has urged any staff members who have concerns to come forward and report them.

Elsewhere, there is further bad news for chancellor Jeremy Hunt as he finalises plans for tomorrow’s autumn statement. Figures published within the past hour show inflation has risen to 11.1 per cent - higher than experts expected.

See all of The Independent’s daily cartoons here

open image in gallery

Lord McDonald, former Foreign Office permanent secretary, on Raab ‘bullying’ claims.

“Colleagues did not complain to me formally, it was kind of their professional pride to cope, but many were scared to go into his office.”

Adam Bienkov, Byline Times politics editor, on reports that there now must be a senior civil servant in the room for meetings with Raab.

“Never the greatest of signs about a minister’s behaviour when he needs a chaperone in every meeting just to make sure he’s not bullying anyone.”

Inside Politics first appeared in our daily morning email. You can sign up via this link.