Inside Politics: Boris Johnson’s roadmap too slow for Tory lockdown sceptics

Music fans are in mourning. There will be no more Daft Punk songs; no more “sound of the summer”. There is, however, jubilant planning under way for the summer ahead. Social media is full of memes about the massive parties coming on 21 June – the date on which Boris Johnson hopes all limits on socialising can be lifted. The PM hopes the data allows him to get lucky and fulfil his lockdown easing targets over the next four months. Does a harder, better, faster, stronger Britain await?

Inside the bubble

Chief political commentator John Rentoul on what to look out for today:

Boris Johnson will chair a UN Security Council session on climate change and conflict at 1.30pm. Elsewhere, the business committee will hear how Brexit has affected the car, manufacturing and haulage industries. Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds will join the UK in a Changing Europe and Labour List panel session on Labour’s economic strategy at 6pm.

Daily briefing

NICE AND EASING DOES IT: Boris Johnson mostly avoided bombast as he unveiled his detailed lockdown exit plan. But couldn’t help a touch of grandstanding at the Downing Street press conference, telling the nation: “We’re now travelling on a one-way road to freedom.” Shops, hairdressers, gyms and outdoor beer gardens should – data permitting – reopen on 12 April. And up to six people from separate households could be able to meet in beer gardens from that date. Self-catering staycations may also be allowed then. The next big step comes on 17 May, when the “rule of six” is abolished for outdoor gatherings, and two households can mix indoors again. If all goes well, all legal limits on our social lives will be lifted by 21 June. Prof Neil Ferguson said the roadmap struck the “right balance” – but the usual Tory backbenchers disagreed. Steve Baker, deputy chief of the Covid Recovery Group, said the “pace of change will be a hammer blow” to hospitality, aviation and the arts. The Daily Mail’s latest front page fumes: “What are we waiting for?”

DELIGHT AND DESPAIR: Rishi Sunak is preparing to extend emergency economic measures until the summer, reports this morning suggest. The chancellor is set to push furlough on until at least May, according to the FT. It wouldn’t leave Keir Starmer much room to complain. The Labour leader responded to the PM’s plan by demanding “proper economic support” during the easing process. Many retail businesses expressed relief at Boris Johnson’s roadmap. Pub bosses are less pleased. “Our sector will continue to face severe restrictions,” said the British Beer & Pub Association. “Many pubs simply won’t be able to hold out to April or May.” While the FA said it was “absolutely delighted” that up to 10,000 fans could be back in stadiums by mid-May, music trade body Live also complained the industry is “at the back of the queue to re-open” in June. Surprisingly, having downplayed a possible role for weeks, Boris Johnson said vaccine passports (or “health certificates”) could be used in order to attend events. “We just need to get it right,” said the PM.

RETURN OF THE LIVING DREAD: Keir Starmer was able to claim some clear ground on schools – calling on the government to “speed up the vaccination” of staff ahead of confirmed restart on 8 March. Johnson said schools across England would be given discretion on a phased return during that week. The PM also promised twice-weekly home testing for pupils in secondaries, while all secondary students will be advised to wear masks. “All the evidence shows that classrooms are the best places for our young people to be,” Johnson told MPs. But unions still aren’t happy. An alliance of teachers’ and head teachers’ unions warned that sending back children and staff at the same time was “reckless”. Geoff Barton, leader of the ASCL, said it “runs the risk of increasing the rate of infection and prolonging the damaging cycle of stop-start schooling”. Minutes from a recent Sage group meeting, published on Monday, show advisers said the reopening of schools could push the R rate up by a factor up to 50 per cent.

DON’T HATE THE PLAYAZ: DUP leaders aren’t giving up on their push to scrap the protocol, despite being accused of “games”. Party leader Arlene Foster said she believed the judicial review examining current arrangements for Northern Ireland had a “good chance of success”. And senior DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson claimed the protocol has “the potential to cause political instability”. But Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O’Neill said the DUP were the ones causing the instability. The deputy first minister pleaded with Foster’s party to stop playing “silly games”. Influential Tory MP Simon Hoare – chair of the NI affairs select committee at Westminster – appeared to side with Sinn Fein. He said the protocol had the potential to create a “golden age” for the Northern Irish economy, given a bit of time. Incidentally, bookmakers have shortened the odds on the UK re-joining the EU in five years due to the impact of our messy exit. Betfair is giving odds of 5/1 of the UK re-joining by 2026.

YOU HAVE SOME AUTHORITY HERE: Boris Johnson is chairing a UN Security Council session this afternoon – the first time a British PM has done so since 1992. Let’s hope our bumbling leader can keep good order via Zoom and doesn’t need Jackie Weaver to get involved. Johnson is expected to warn that climate change is a “grave” security threat, and Sir David Attenborough will be joining the meeting to make similar points. Meanwhile, Downing Street has denied that Johnson’s fiancée Carrie Symonds has a key role in running the country. Asked if it was true to say Symonds helped shape policy – as a leading Tory think tank suggested – the PM’s press secretary Allegra Stratton said: “It’s incorrect … [Symonds] is raising their son Wilf and returned to work at the wildlife charity the Aspinall Foundation after her maternity leave.”

MULL OF CONSPIRE: Things have turned even nastier in Scottish politics, if that’s possible. Nicola Sturgeon has gotten her retaliation in first – daring Alex Salmond to prove a conspiracy against him when he gives evidence to a Holyrood committee on Wednesday. She said his claims of a devilish plot to ruin his career were “completely baseless”, calling on her predecessor to “replace the insinuation” with evidence. “I don’t believe he can do that, because I know what he is claiming about a conspiracy is not true.” Salmond, meanwhile, accused senior SNP figures around Sturgeon of making a “malicious and concerted” attempt to destroy his reputation. Salmond alleges Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell and her chief of staff, Liz Lloyd, were among those behind his attempted ruination – allegations finally published in his dossier late on Monday. The former SNP leader wants heads to roll. “No-one in this entire process has uttered the simple words which are necessary … ‘I resign’.”

On the record

“I can’t guarantee that it’s going to be irreversible, but the intention is that it should be.”

Boris Johnson on his hope this lockdown is the last.

From the Twitterati

“Boris Johnson’s roadmap for Covid freedom seems very sensible to me. I’m astonished.”

Piers Morgan is amazed at having to agree with the PM…

“Keir Starmer’s current approach seems to be to agree with Boris Johnson, but in a special disappointed voice.”

…and Isabel Hardman says Starmer must be frustrated at having to agree too.

Essential reading

Andrew Grice, The Independent: Boris Johnson can’t afford to backtrack on his approach to lockdown easing

Hannah Selinger, The Independent: Trump is speaking at CPAC and the Republican leadership is terrified

Jonn Elledge, New Statesman: People will soon start to miss the benefits of the EU

Rachel Sylvester, The Times: New-look No 10 boosts Johnson’s prospects

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