Inside Politics: Boris Johnson switches off mobile after number revealed to be online

Is anything private anymore? Harry and Meghan “privately” reached out to William and Kate to congratulate them on their tenth wedding anniversary – but the goodwill gesture made its way into the headlines. Don’t ask Boris Johnson about privacy. It emerged last night that the prime minister’s mobile number has been online for the past 15 years – sparking a flood of calls and a security panic. Labour leader Keir Starmer doesn’t care about Johnson’s mobile. But he sure would love to see the receipts for the PM’s wallpaper, curtains and cushions.

Inside the bubble

Deputy political editor Rob Merrick on what to look out for today:

Parliament is now prorogued, so all the focus will be the campaign trail for next week’s elections. Health secretary Matt Hancock will speak to the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services spring conference – where the decade-long failure to rescue beleaguered social care might well come up.

Daily briefing

SEE NO EVIL: After his mid-week meltdown, Boris Johnson has a smirk on his face again. Perhaps he’s seen the polling which suggests how little people seem to care about the funding of his flat renovations? Out campaigning for the local elections, Johnson said voters shouldn’t worry their pretty little heads about it: “I don’t think there is anything to see here.” The PM refused to commit to publishing the full findings from his ethics adviser Lord Geidt’s inquiries into the cash-for-cushions affair. He also insisted: “I love John Lewis!” Keir Starmer claimed Johnson’s failure to answer a simple question on who initially paid to upgrade on the “John Lewis nightmare furniture” was now “farcical,” adding: “What is he hiding?” Labour is demanding that parliament’s standards commissioner Kathryn Stone looks into whether Johnson breached Commons rules on declaring relevant interests. Starmer trolled Johnson by looking at John Lewis wallpaper while campaigning in Manchester. Tory chair Amanda Milling accused the Labour leader of “playing politics”. Yes Amanda. That’s kind of his job.

YOU KNOW MY NAME, LOOK UP THE NUMBER: Boris Johnson’s mobile number has been online for the past 15 years. It was sitting at the bottom of a press release sent out when Johnson was still an opposition MP, and has remained online ever since. Wow. Wild. Weird. The gossip newsletter Popbitch shared the number by substituting some letters for the numerals included in Johnson’s number on Thursday – sparking a frenzy of attempts to call him last night. Attempts to call were met by an automated message saying the phone was “switched off”. No 10 is saying nothing. Labour MP Rachel Hopkins said the availability of the PM’s phone number had “obvious security and lobbying implications”. While we’re on celebrity gossip, BBC bosses are said to be keen to secure Carrie Symonds for the next series of Strictly Come Dancing. She’s top of this year’s Strictly “wish list” and could be offered as much as £200,000, according to The Sun. If it happens, let’s hope Carrie remembers to declare it properly.

MOTHER OF COD: A big Brexit failure to report. The prospect of a fishing deal with Norway for this year has collapsed. The government said its “fair offer” had been rejected, which means no access at all to cod-rich Norwegian waters. The UK Fisheries body said it was a “disgrace” that ministers had failed to “even to maintain the rights we have had to fish in Norwegian waters for decades”. Meanwhile, the government has been accused of wasting taxpayers’ money after a company headquartered in Dubai called Ecolog was paid £38.4m for a Test and Trace contract dropped soon after it had been awarded. “£38m of taxpayers money was just wasted,” an anonymous NHS procurement official told The Independent. “Sloshed up the wall by very poor programme management and contracting.” The government is also facing flak after a push to get financial protections for leaseholders was defeated in parliament. New fire safety laws leave many flat owners looking at crippling loans to pay for upgrades. The Grenfell United group said it was “deeply disappointed that ministers have broken their promises”.

TIME WAITS FOR ONE MAN: Will we ever see an inquiry into the Covid crisis? Boris Johnson has been urged to set out a timetable by a series of leading think tanks. The Institute for Government wants the PM to create a statutory public inquiry as soon as May – arguing that there’s no reason hearings couldn’t start in September. The King’s Fund, the respected healthcare institute, stated: “Now is the time.” Johnson was criticised for visiting to the Covid memorial wall “under the cover of darkness”. The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice accused the PM of trying to dodge relatives by visiting late on Tuesday night. But No 10 defended Johnson’s private visit to the site for “quiet reflection”. Nothing, not even the deluge of sleaze claims, seems to be cutting through with voters. The latest YouGov poll shows a 11-point gap between the Tories and Labour, with Labour down one on 33. YouGov’s Anthony Wells said: “People didn’t expect [Johnson] to be the cleanest of the clean.”

WIND BENEATH HER WINGS: Nicola Sturgeon has put nothing about the SNP’s big push for another referendum in her “first 100 days” document – promising to focus on the Covid recovery. But Alex Salmond made very clear that he won’t let her wait 100 days to demand a referendum from Boris Johnson. The Alba leader claimed a “puff of wind” could currently blow the PM over. “I don’t think moving Boris Johnson on the independence referendum is going to be as difficult as people feel it is,” he told STV. Sturgeon was accused of being “detached from the reality” after she pointed to the Northern Ireland protocol as a possible model for a border between England and Scotland. The SNP leader told the Irish Times the protocol offered “some template” for an independent Scotland. Ian Murray, Labour’s shadow Scottish secretary, said the remarks “simply beggar belief and demonstrate the bizarre positions that Nicola Sturgeon is forced to adopt”. Tory chief Douglas Ross claimed she was coming up with a “number of different policies” on border issues – but “no answers”.

POOTED AND SUITED? Northern Ireland minister Edwin Poots has put himself forward to replace Arlene Foster as the next DUP leader. Will they all rally round him as the flagbearer? One of his Stormont colleagues Jim Wells claimed Poots was the clear frontrunner, saying he had vast experience and “a shrewd head on his shoulders”. One official told the BBC that Poots has a “big advantage over any MP who might be in the running” since many MLAs felt “they were left out of the loop” under Foster. Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern warned the other parties not to let the change of DUP leadership to shake power-sharing arrangements. “That would be a disaster – I think instability just leaves everybody in a bad place,” he said. Meanwhile, UK ministers will use the instability in the province to warn the EU that further compromises on the protocol are needed, according to The Times. “Foster’s departure underlines the need for the EU to engage with us to find a constructive solution to the issues we are discussing,” one Whitehall official said.

On the record

“This is getting a bit farcical. All he’s got to do is answer a very simple question; which is who paid, initially, for the redecoration of your flat?”

Keir Starmer tells Boris Johnson to show us the receipts.

From the Twitterati

“If I can find the literal Prime Minister’s mobile phone number faster than ordering a takeaway online then something has gone spectacularly wrong.”

Harriet Marsden raises an eyebrow…

“Thoughts this evening are with the press officer for the organisation that has had Boris Johnson’s phone number sitting on their website for 15 years and didn’t think to remove it.”

…and The Telegraph’s Tony Diver shakes his head.

Essential reading

Andrew Grice, The Independent: Arlene Foster paid the price for trusting Boris Johnson

Mark Steel, The Independent: Please give what you can for Boris – he needs a dove grey wine console

Susan Dalgety, The Spectator: Is Nicola Sturgeon in for a scare in her own seat?

Emily Tamkin, News Statesman: Joe Biden has both delighted and disappointed

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