Inside Politics: No 10 fears flat refurb ‘paper trail’ at Tory HQ

To borrow one of Jack Nicholson’s lines from A Few Good Men, Boris Johnson doesn’t give a damn what you think you’re entitled to. The PM’s unhinged performance at PMQs – red-in-face, gesticulating wildly and screaming at Keir Starmer – saw him likened to Nicholson in the courtroom classic, cracking under the pressure of a lawyer’s demands for the truth. Johnson didn’t quite break, however. He still won’t tell us how his luxury furnishings were paid for. The Electoral Commission will have to take up the Tom Cruise role. The watchdog has launched its own formal investigation, which may finally force the hand of our stubborn general.

Inside the bubble

Political editor Andrew Woodock on what to look out for today:

While Boris Johnson’s ministers are firefighting more questions about the cash-for-curtains business, G7 digital ministers will hold a virtual meeting as part of the UK’s pre-Cornwall summit sessions. Elsewhere, Labour leader Keir Starmer will be in Manchester to campaign with mayor Andy Burnham and push the plan for a public takeover of the buses.

Daily briefing

WALLPAPER CLOSING IN: Boris Johnson and his fiancée Carrie Symonds may have to hand over their emails and texts as part of the Electoral Commission’s investigation into the funding of their Downing Street flat refurb. No 10 is said to be worried about a damaging “paper trail” at Tory HQ. “It’s not clear how this will end,” a government official told The Times. Right on cue Johnson has appointed Lord Geidt as his new ethics adviser. But No 10 made clear the PM remains “the ultimate arbiter” and retains the power to exonerate himself – at least when it comes to the ministerial code. Labour is not happy with this state of affairs. Keir Starmer said it was time for truly “independent” adviser who can “actually start investigations of his or her own volition”. Johnson is clearly under a lot of pressure right now. He lost his temper like never before at PMQs – shouting so loudly at Starmer that his microphone crackled. The chuckling Labour team described it as the PM’s “Kevin Keegan moment” (one for the 90s football fans).

LORD OF MISTRUTH: Looks like Boris Johnson, once he’s calmed down, might have to take a new approach to Commons’ performances. He is facing new rules which would force him to correct “misleading” statements after Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle backed cross-party demands for tougher action on mistruths (what Green MP Caroline Lucas likes to call “lies”). The procedure committee will now look at how “perceived inaccuracies could be corrected” asap. Keir Starmer warned Johnson he would have to quit if it’s shown he lied by denying the “let the bodies pile high” remark. The Labour leader rather cleverly got Johnson to repeat his denial in the Commons. The sleaze stuff still doesn’t seem to be registering in the polls. The BMG survey for The Independent has the Tories on 39 per cent to Labour’s 35 (extending the Tory lead from two to four points). Sarah Vine, the Daily Mail columnist and wife of Michael Gove, bravely defended Johnson and Symonds’ need for luxury furnishings. They cannot be expected to “live in a skip,” she said.

TRUCE IN POOTS? There’s yet another power vacuum in Northern Ireland after Arlene Foster was forced out as DUP leader by her own MLAs and MPs. She said she would step down as party leader on 28 May and as first minister at the end of June, calling it “the privilege of my life to serve”. It was a putsch without a plan, it seems. Foster’s removal is a “total mess” which could even see another Northern Ireland Assembly election this year, one senior DUP source told the BBC. Sinn Fein support is needed for the next DUP leader to become first minister. Can anyone unite DUP factions? Is there anyone remotely acceptable to Sinn Fein? Step forward Edwin Poots, who has emerged as the frontrunner to take charge. “Edwin Poots is the person who is clearly out ahead. He is the one person who seems to be, by process of elimination, pretty much the only credible person … who the DUP could put forward,” said NI political expert Sam McBride.

BOOSTIAN RUSH: Matt Hancock had some good news to announce at a bad time for the government: an extra 60 million doses of the Pfizer Covid vaccine have been bought up for booster jabs. The booster programme will begin in the Autumn, the health secretary said, calling it the “best way to keep us safe and free”. Reassuringly, the deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van Tam said we’re now “at or close to the bottom” of Covid disease levels, but Hancock said the “harrowing pictures” from India showed the pandemic wasn’t close to over yet. Meanwhile, a top EU official attacked Boris Johnson for trying to spark a “beauty contest” over the vaccine rollout. The bloc’s new ambassador to the UK, Joao Vale de Almeida, said the delivery of jabs is “not a sprint,” adding: “Let’s see where we are in September.” It seems Almeida is feeling free to criticise. The UK government is thought to be ready to grant him full diplomatic status, after the very silly row over formal recognition of his credentials.

LET’S TALK ABOUT TEXT: Ministers will be WhatsApp-ing and emoji-ing all over the place about a new legal challenge which could change the way they do business. They could be banned from using platforms such as WhatsApp and Signal for any formal communications – if the challenge launched by lawyers at Foxglove on behalf of campaign group The Citizens is successful. “A government of WhatsApp and Signal is undemocratic and unlawful,” said The Citizens’ Kerry Shaw. “It’s enabling the rampant cronyism and sleaze.” In other news, the author of the controversial race report invoked Bob Marley lyrics to deny that he attempted to glorify slavery. Speaking at Policy Exchange panel event, Tony Sewell dismissed the accusations as a “vile misrepresentation”. Sewell quipped that if he had a guitar on him, he would’ve performed Bob Marley’s Redemption Song – before reciting the lyrics and explaining it was about how “slaves retained the powerhouse of their imagination”.

THE HAIR BLAIR BUNCH: Peep Show fans will remember The Hair Blair Bunch as one of the many brilliant band names briefly used by Jez and Super Hans. It seems we’re all temporary members of The Hair Blair Bunch at the moment: the Twitterati continues to obsess over his wild lockdown mullet. Some compared him to Doc from the Back to the Future movies, strip club supremo Peter Stringfellow or Queen legend Brian May. Some pointed out a passing resemblance to lizard-hating conspiracy theorist David Icke and Elrond, the half-elven leader from Lord of the Rings. Others simply pleaded with him to get a haircut. Blair said he doubts the people of Scotland want another independence referendum. Is he right? Lord Ashcroft’s latest “mega-poll” – twice as large as the usual survey samples by surveying 2,000 people – found that support for the Union remains on a knife edge, with 51 per cent backing the UK compared to 49 per cent for a breakaway.

On the record

“Let’s see where we are at the end of this race – let’s see where we are in September. We need to be very humble regarding this virus.”

EU ambassador to the UK Joao Vale de Almeida on the vaccine rollout.

From the Twitterati

“Am told Labour officials watching PMQs openly laughed at Johnson’s ‘Kevin Keegan moment’.”

The Huff Post’s Paul Waugh on the PM’s red-faced rant…

“I’ve learned now that whenever Boris Johnson knows he’s in the s***, he starts screaming like a hysterical mongoose.”

…and Emma Kennedy notes the PM’s behaviour when cornered.

Essential reading

Tom Peck, The Independent:The wallpaper is surely closing in on Boris Johnson – no wonder he’s angry

Ben Chu, The Independent:The UK’s economic conflict with the EU is only just starting

Zoe Williams, The Guardian:The ‘John Lewis nightmare’ shows just how out of touch Johnson is

Lesley Riddoch, The Spectator:How London will help Scotland get independence

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