Inside Politics: Met Police chief retains Boris Johnson’s ‘full confidence’

The Chicago River will be dyed bright green for St Patrick’s Day festivities this week, despite curbs on mass gatherings. The city’s mayor said some “long-standing traditions” are too important to be stopped. Across the UK, mourners outraged by Sarah Everard’s death have been adding their own colours, in flowers and ribbons, to park gates and benches. The right to attend a peaceful vigil was too important to be stopped so abruptly, say MPs condemning the policing disaster. Labour and the Tories will debate long-standing protest traditions today, as the government’s controversial policing bill takes centre stage.

Inside the bubble

Political correspondent Ashley Cowburn on what to look out for today:

Marking a year since lockdown began, the Office for National Statistics releases its ‘Coronavirus:A Year Like No Other’ report this morning. MPs will debate the controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill at the second reading stage this afternoon, and Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross will speak at the party conference at 2pm.

Daily briefing

WATCHING THE WATCHMEN: Boris Johnson – who said he was “deeply concerned” by the footage of women being shoved to the ground and handcuffed at the Sarah Everard vigil – chairs a meeting of his crime and justice taskforce later today to examine ways to better protect women. Home secretary Priti Patel has asked Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to investigate the Metropolitan Police’s handling of the vigil. But reports this morning suggest Met commissioner Dame Cressida Dick retains the PM’s “full confidence”. London mayor Sadiq Khan said he was “not satisfied” with Dame Cressida’s explanation of events (that her officers did the right trying to enforce Covid rules). Lib Dem leader Ed Davey called on her to quit. Despite widespread outrage, Keir Starmer has been more cautious. Calling the scenes“disturbing”, the Labour leader said it was time to wait for reports before there are any resignations. Dame Cressida? She remains defiant – hitting out at her “armchair” critics.

C’MON, REPEAL THE NOISE: The government has defended its plan to limit the level of permitted noise at protests in England and Wales – claiming new rules would only affect“very disruptive” demonstrations. Isn’t noisiness the point of protest? Labour thinks so. Shadow justice minister David Lammy said the party would vote against the government’s policing bill, claiming the desire to impose existing rules for marches to “static” gatherings would impose “disproportionate controls”. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson will face howls of protest from dozens of Tory MPs when he attempts to extend lockdown laws for another six months from 25 March. “Sticking rigidly to a set of dates based on outdated, overly pessimistic modelling would be a mistake,” said Mark Harper MP, chair of the Covid Recovery Group. But Prof Ian Diamond, head of the Office for National Statistics, has warned there will “no doubt” be another wave of Covid infections on the way this autumn. “This is a virus that isn’t going to go away,” he said.

SUDDENLY THIS SUMMER: Despite the autumn warning, culture secretary Oliver Dowden has promised us a “summer of fun” ahead. He revealed a plan to test spectators at dozens of pilot events in late April and May – including 20,000 fans inside Wembley for the FA Cup final on 15 May. Yet ministers are said to be “pessimistic” about summer holidays abroad this year, given the increase in Covid infection levels across much ofEurope. “The prospect of popping over for two weeks on the Costa del Sol …seems remote,” one source told The Sunday Times. In the run-up to the big lockdown anniversary (23 March), Boris Johnson has been doing some thinking. The PM now accepts it was a mistake to delay the first national lockdown and would act “harder, earlier and faster” if he had his time again, allies have told The Telegraph. The paper says a “pivotal moment” came on 14 March when he was shown evidence on how quickly the NHS would be overwhelmed. Of course, pivotal action didn’t actually come until nine days later.

GOING FOR GOLD: Tory MP Mark Francois is full of ancient fury. Either that or he’s been reading his Asterix comics. The chairman of the ERG has urged Boris Johnson to consider halting Brexit bill payments to the EU – describing it as “Danegeld” (a land tax levied in Anglo-Saxon England) until protocol problems have been resolved. “As Brits, we traditionally honour our obligations,” huffed Francois – who suggested we no longer honour £20bn worth of Danegeld divorce payments over the next two years. His allies in the DUP have defended the decision to halt border posts construction in Northern Ireland. First minister Arlene Foster claimed the government was “damaging our own country” by honouring the protocol arrangements agreed with the EU. Meanwhile, in a weekend interview, Ireland’s foreign ministerSimon Coveney said the UK was demonstrating “perverse nationalism” by seeking to reach a trade deal with the US before the EU strikes one.

BLITHE SPIRIT: Boris Johnson, buoyed by recent polls showing a dip in support for independence, has attacked the SNP for trying to “turn us all against one another” during the pandemic. Speaking at the Scottish Tory conference, the PM said: “I find it incredible that the SNP would choose this movement, again to push their campaign for separation.” He needled Nicola Sturgeon by claiming it was the “kindness and perseverance of the British spirit” that would defeat Covid. A new Panelbase survey found that only a quarter of Scottish voters back the idea of holding indyref2 in the next year. The PM will be setting out his plan to modernise the armed forces and foreign policy on Tuesday. In a pre-speech teaser, his government revealed that 500 Foreign Office jobs will be moved up to Scotland. It follows news the Cabinet Office will move 500 civil servants north of the border by 2024. Looks like Scotland is receiving the kind of flattery the north of England has been getting since the 2019 election victory.

NO-BRAINER, GAME-CHANGER: Dr Anthony Fauci said he wishes Donald Trump would use his popularity among Republicans to persuade his followers to get the Covid vaccine. The US government’s top infectious disease expert lamented polling showing Trump supporters are more likely to refuse to get vaccinated – saying politics needs to be separated from “common-sense, no-brainer” public health measures. Fauci said it would be a “game changer” for vaccine efforts if Trump used his “incredible influence” among Republicans. Won’t happen, of course. Meanwhile, galaxy-brained Republican senator Ted Cruz has demanded a meeting with the head of the Marines, as he accused the Pentagon of launching “political attacks” against Fox News anchorTucker Carlson and others who criticise government. “Under Biden, the military is launching political attacks to intimidate Tucker Carlson and other civilians who criticise their policy decisions,” Cruz tweeted.

On the record

“I don’t think anybody who was not in the operation can actually pass a detailed comment on the rightness and wrongness … This is fiendishly difficult policing.”

Cressida Dick says we can’t judge the disastrous policing of the vigil.

From the Twitterati

“For f***’s sake.”

Owen Jones on Starmer’s decision not to call for Dame Cressida to resign…

“Thank f***Labour are no longer going to abstain on the policing bill. I had my Labour membership card between my scissors.”

…while Dr Mike Galsworthy is relieved Starmer is opposing the policing bill.

Essential reading

John Rentoul, The Independent: Johnson and Starmer have both surrounded themselves with weak teams

Andrew Naughtie, The Independent: Why is the Republican party suddenly so obsessed with children?

Isabel Hardman, The Spectator: Voting against the policing bill could backfire on Starmer

John Harris, The Guardian: The Tories are now the party of England. Changing that will be hard

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