Inside Politics: G7 vaccine decisions ‘matter of life and death’

You have to feel sorry for Emmanuel Macron. You finally get a chance to get up close and personal with the voters – and they thwack you right across the face. The man who slapped Macron on Tuesday was heard to shout: “Down with Macronia!” Let’s hope the French president gets a better reception in the land of Johnsonia when he hops over the Channel to Cornwall this week. Macron, Johnson and the other G7 have been whacked in the face with a short, sharp warning: do more than provide surplus vaccine doses, or people will die.

Inside the bubble

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

Brexit minister David Frost will host talks with his EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic in London. Although Joe Biden will be hoping they make progress on the protocol, a major breakthrough is unlikely. After PMQs, Boris Johnson will head to Cornwall to prepare for the G7. And Labour will stage a Commons debate to call for a much bigger education catch-up programme.

Daily briefing

NOBEL OBLIGE: The G7 leaders meeting in Cornwall have been challenged to go further in the fight against Covid – 15 of the UK’s Nobel laureates are calling on Boris Johnson to back an intellectual property waiver on vaccines. Former PM Gordon Brown said it would not be enough to share surplus vaccine doses, calling the summit “a life and death matter”. It comes as the government faces more flak over £4bn cuts to the overseas aid budget. Johnson has “no plans” to give MPs a vote on reversing the cuts, No 10 has said – putting the government on a collision course with Tory rebels and opposition MPs. The chief Tory mutineer Andrew Mitchell accused the PM of an “unethical and unlawful betrayal” – claiming that Johnson was pandering to red wall voters. The rebels are now discussing what kind of mechanism could be used to force a vote in the Commons, and there are plans for an “extra-parliamentary” campaign to highlight the human impact of the cuts.

HOW THE SAUSAGE GETS MADE: Brexit minister David Frost has told Brussels to quit threatening a “sausage war” and be more flexible about protocol arrangements, ahead of his meeting with EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic in London later. Boris Johnson’s ministers seems to be enjoying the sausage thing – even though the UK government signed up to rules on the export of chilled meats from GB to NI as part of the Brexit deal. Environment secretary George Eustice described the row over sausages “bonkers”, claiming he had “no idea” why the EU imposed “idiosyncratic” rules. “I suspect it links to some kind of perception that they can’t really trust any country other than an EU country to make sausages,” he added. Meat madness aside, the EU is preparing to offer some concessions today – including “uninterrupted supply” for medicines destined for NI and the easing of some livestock regulations to avoid “multiple tagging”. Flexible enough for Frost?

THOSE WHO WAIT: Rishi Sunak is said to be willing to accept a four-week delay to the lifting of lockdown curbs in England. A Whitehall official told The Guardian the chancellor is not fixated on the 21 June date, and is more concerned the reopening is permanent when it does come. A delay is not yet guaranteed. Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove told colleagues he would bet on the reopening going ahead on 21 June, according to the Huff Post. It comes as health secretary Matt Hancock announced a “strengthened package of support” for Greater Manchester and parts of Lancashire to combat the Delta variant. Hancock, incidentally, will be quizzed over allegations he lied about care home testing on Thursday – despite the failure of Dominic Cummings to submit evidence against him. “We haven’t received the written evidence to back those claims up,” said health committee chair Jeremy Hunt. “But we’ll be putting all those allegations to [Hancock].”

TOWN AND FROWN: The government wants Cornwall to become the first “net zero” part of the UK. Boris Johnson had promised the region would see some kind of a “legacy” from this week’s G7 summit. So around £65m of town deal funding will go to Penzance, St Ives and Camborne to “level up” the area and cut carbon emissions. Will it ease the anger over all that security fencing? Eagle-eyed observers have spotted the latest tranche of town deal cash is mainly going to Tory areas, once again. Only four of the 26 towns set to benefit from the £610m pot are represented by MPs of any other party. Yet more sleazy “pork barrel” politics for Labour to attack? It comes as the ex-civil servant who worked for Greensill Capital and the government at the same time insisted that he “followed the rules”. Bill Crothers told MPs his employment for the firm had been “very part-time”, adding: “In the press the phrase ‘double-hatting’ has been used and I just feel that is not appropriate.”

THE YOUNG ONE: Paul Givan has been unveiled as Northern Ireland’s new first minister. The 39-year-old assembly member – the youngest ever to take the role – said it was a huge task to follow his successors Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster, referring to them as “giants”. New DUP leader Edwin Poots sees him as a safe pair of hands. But Givan’s own father, Alan, doesn’t sound too sure he’s ready. “He’s very young to be promoted … it’s something that we would fear, it’s come a bit too early for him,” Givan Snr told the BBC. “We just hope and pray that he makes a job of it.” Wow. Not exactly a pushy parent, is he? In other news, Boris Johnson’s trade yacht plan could break WTO rules. The PM wants a domestic shipyard to build the £200m vessel. But under the WTO’s procurement agreement – signed by trade secretary Liz Truss last year – the ship must be open to global competition. Labour’s Emily Thornberry described it as “copper-bottomed, ocean-going incompetence”.

LET’S PLAY CHARADES: Nicola Sturgeon has effectively given Boris Johnson a “veto” on whether or not another indyref2 can be held, an Alba MP has claimed. Kenny MacAskill – an ex-SNP minister who defected to Alex Salmond’s outfit – claimed the first minister was locked in a “charade” with the prime minister. Both are only interested in keeping “their partisan audience satiated”, he said. “That sterile debate will continue as it suits both SNP and Tory to posture.” Speaking of sterile debates, Sven-Goran Eriksson was continually prevented from making his point on Sky News when Lembit Opik called him seven times. A profile pic of a grinning Lembit kept on appearing as Sven’s phone call took over the live feed. Host Kay Burley said: “It really does look like Mr Opik wants to talk to you.” If you’re too young to know who Lembit Opik is, he’s a former Lib Dem MP who somehow managed to go out with Sian Lloyd and one of the Cheeky Girls. If you’re too young to know who Sian Lloyd and the Cheeky Girls … oh forget it.

On the record

“Everyone knows what this is about... It’s about the red wall seats. The government thinks it’s popular in red wall seats to stop British aid money going overseas.”

Andrew Mitchell says the aid budget cut is cynical.

From the Twitterati

“Watched little dullwit Eustice joking about how the EU doesn’t want our sausages. Aren’t they silly? Isn’t it mad? No. What’s mad is *anyone* falling for the steaming horses***ery of our own government’s excuses for our own government’s historic failure.”

Anti-Brexit campaigner Sarah Murphy doesn’t find the sausages stuff funny…

“If Germany starts a trade war over sausages that would be... a wurst käse scenario.

…but journalist David Whitley can’t resist a joke.

Essential reading

Marie Le Conte, The Independent: The foreign aid crisis shows how little we understand Brexit

John Rentoul, The Independent: Boundary changes suggest Boris Johnson could call an election in 2023

Emily Tamkin, New Statesman: Why a successful Britain matters to the US

Robert Peston, The Spectator: Why the 21 June unlocking will probably not go ahead

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