Inside Politics: French push back against British ‘banger clanger’ claims

“Never complain, never explain.” The Queen is said to have ditched the long-held policy of stiff-upper-lip repression – with palace officials reportedly under orders to publicly correct misinterpretations of private conversations. There is plenty of complaining and explaining going on about private conversations between Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron. The French insist the British have misinterpreted the president’s remarks on Northern Ireland. Let’s hope the allies can agree on something as they move from the G7 to the Nato summit in Brussels – where there is plenty of room for more complaining, explaining and misinterpretation.

Inside the bubble

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

Joe Biden’s first Nato summit kicks off in Brussels. In London, the COP26 president Alok Sharma will address the CBI’s ‘Road to Net-Zero’ conference this morning. All eyes will be on Boris Johnson later. The PM is set to give a press conference on his roadmap for reopening at 6pm.

Daily briefing

PEEVED OVER HEAVE: Boris Johnson is expected to ask the nation for “one last heave” by delaying the 21 June reopening in England for up to four weeks. Senior ministers have reportedly signed off the decision, with most rules set to remain in place until around 19 July. Furious lockdown-sceptic Tory MPs are already planning their push against the extension of restriction laws, due to expire at the end of June. Steve Baker, deputy chief the Covid Recovery Group (CRG), has military manoeuvres in mind. He messaged his colleagues that it was “the sworn duty of all officers to try to escape” from lockdown, according to Politico. Oh dear. More seriously, the trade body UK Hospitality warned 300,000 jobs were at risk from a delay, which could cost the industry £3bn. Even London mayor Sadiq Khan has warned capital is “at risk of catastrophic collapse” from a four-week wait. But the government is hoping a month-long delay could allow for nine million more second doses.

BANGER CLANGER: Despite gorgeous scenery and lovely weather, the G7 ended with a bitter row over Brexit and sausages. Boris Johnson insisted Northern Ireland is part of “one great indivisible United Kingdom” after a dispute with Emmanuel Maron on the protocol rules around chilled meat imports. The French president said NI was not part of the UK, according to No 10 briefings – his “banger clanger” as The Sun dubbed it. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said the remark was “offensive”. But the French disputed the British spin. Macron said he never questioned “the integrity of the British territory”, adding: “We just want [protocol rules] to be respected – seriously, calmly, professionally.” Johnson is supposed to have asked Macron how he would feel if there were big barriers to selling sausages from Toulouse into Paris. Macron stressed “the situation was quite different”. Cue tizzy. Despite all the furious briefings, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney told RTE it was still possible to find a “middle ground” on aligning food standards to reduce checks.

HAWKS TAKE CHARGE: Joe Biden will leave the jam and clotted cream behind and head for the land of chips and mayo – attending his first NATO summit in Brussels today. China is expected to be the focus. More “dovish” EU leaders blocked US efforts to condemn China for using forced labour during the G7. But the American “hawks” should get their way today. There will be a rare warning about the potential security threat from Beijing’s growing military presence, according to the FT. Boris Johnson is expected to ask for greater investment in combatting cyberattacks. As for the Wuhan lab leak theory, Johnson was dismissive on Sunday. “The advice that we’ve had is it’s unlikely this particular zoonotic disease came from a lab,” he said, though he added: “Clearly anyone sensible would want to keep an open mind on that.” Biden said he personally hadn’t “reached a conclusion” yet – claiming it was still a possibility that Covid could have come from “an experiment gone awry”.

EPIC FAIL: So what was the upshot of all the commotion on the Cornish coast? In truth, not too much. G7 leaders pledged “one billion” Covid vaccine doses to poorer countries. Boris Johnson said it was a “big step towards vaccinating the world” and rather brazenly claimed countries were rejecting “selfish, nationalistic approaches”. But it turns out that “one billion” doses actually means 870 million doses, and the WHO has estimated that at least 11 billion are needed. Aid charities are also disappointed there was no agreement on an intellectual property waiver for the vaccine. Gordon Brown said the summit amounted to a “moral failure”. Climate campaigners agreed the summit was flop. Leaders “re-committed” to the target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, and “re-committed” to raising $100bn a year to help poor countries cut emissions (an annual target which has been repeatedly ignored). The G7 leaders “completely failed to meet the challenges of our times,” said Oxfam. But there were a few nice beach photos. So there’s that.

PAY DAY DELAYED: Ministers should be banned from lobbying for at least five years after leaving office, the chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life is expected to say. According to the Sunday Times, Lord Evans is set to propose the tougher measures – including fines for ministers if they break the rules – when a review of lobbying guidelines is published today. Lord Evans also wants ministers disclose all their informal lobbying efforts. “We need to have detail,” he told the BBC. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s in a formal meeting or at a dinner or it’s on WhatsApp.” Elsewhere, Oliver Dowden was forced to delete a rather too informal tweet after claiming that a renowned amphitheatre in Cornwall, visited by first lady Jill Biden, had received Covid support. The Minack Theatre pointed out that it had been left to “fend for” itself during the pandemic – “sorry Oliver Dowden but this is not true” – before the minister reached for the delete button.

50 YEARS OF HURT: Gordon Brown has made the very-possibly-slightly over-the-top claim that there could be “50 years of conflict” between Scotland and England should the SNP succeeding in gaining independence. The former PM said: “In this interdependent world, there is no future in nations that are neighbouring nations fighting each other, and I fear 50 years of conflict between Scotland and England if we don’t get these problems sorted out.” Scottish secretary Alister Jack has insisted that Scotland’s interests will be protected in the UK-Australia trade deal. 14 major firms and trade bodies in Scotland have written to the government to raise concerns about a flood of cheaper, lower-standard goods. But Jack claimed the domestic food and drink sector would be the “best beneficiary” of the deal. “Whisky is our biggest drink export, salmon our biggest food export, and we see enormous advantages.”

On the record

“The G7 have chosen to cook the books on vaccines and continue to cook the planet. We don’t need to wait for history to judge this summit a colossal failure, it is plain for all to see.”

Oxfam’s Max Lawson on the failures of the summit.

From the Twitterati

“The chances that Macron said N Ireland was not part of UK are close to zero. The chances that Johnson ordered the No 10 spin machine to make it up on his behalf … are closer to 100%.”

Alastair Campbell isn’t buying the No 10 line…

“This story reflects worse on Johnson than Macron – he’s still likening Northern Ireland to simple mainland arrangements … rather than engaging with the problem.”

…while the FT’s Henry Mance thinks it doesn’t say much for the PM.

Essential reading

Tom Peck, The Independent: Macron has asked Johnson to keep his word. Good luck with that

Lucy Powell, The Independent: Housing policy since Grenfell is failing both homeowners and tenants

Robert Peston, The Spectator: Boris Johnson’s strange refusal to talk about his faith

Nesrine Malik, The Guardian: It’s fruitless to debate the culture war confections of the right-wing press

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