Inside Politics: Edwin Poots forced out by DUP in ‘bizarre’ meltdown

Anyone remember Don’t Come Home Too Soon – the official Scotland song the last time they were in a major tournament? As the Tartan Army descends on London for tonight’s clash with England, Sadiq Khan has pleaded with Scots without tickets to go home as soon as possible. But the chance to be in the capital for another one of Scotland’s (possibly) glorious failures is too good to miss. Speaking of glorious failures, it looks like DUP leader Edwin Poots is heading home too soon. Only three weeks after voting the guy in, the party has decided to force him out. A truly magnificent embarrassment. Right up there’s with Ally MacLeod’s World Cup bid of 1978.

Inside the bubble

Policy correspondent Jon Stone on what to look out for today:

The government’s rape review will be the focus of intense scrutiny today. Policing minister Kit Malthouse has been sent out to do the morning media round to explain falling conviction rates and the government’s response. Meanwhile, DUP MPs and MLAs will be asked to explain what on earth happens next after Edwin Poots’ shock exit.

Daily briefing

EDWIN, WE HARDLY KNEW YE: I’m afraid it’s all gone a bit Handforth Parish Council in Northern Ireland. Edwin Poots has been forced out as DUP leader after only 20 days in charge. It was made clear to Poots he had to resign at a “robust” meeting last night. DUP MPs and MLAs hated the fact that he agreed a deal giving the Irish language equal status. Poots had chosen to do a deal with Sinn Fein and push through Paul Givan’s nomination as first minister – despite DUP pleas to keep stalling in the stand-off. DUP folk seems well aware of the weirdness of what they’ve done – with no clear plan for a Poots replacement, or a way out of the deal struck with Sinn Fein. One senior figure told The Telegraph they’d never seen anything like it. “It is a bizarre and grotesque.” NI secretary Brandon Lewis had made clear to Poots that the UK government would legislate for the Irish Language Act if Stormont doesn’t do so by the end of September. But could Givan now be forced out as first minister by the DUP mafia, throwing everything up in the air? Nothing’s impossible in Northern Ireland.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE: The Lib Dems have won a surprise victory in the rolling hills of Amersham and Chesham, overturning a big Tory majority in spectacular fashion. Sarah Green won just over 21,000 votes at the by-election – easily defeating Tory candidate Peter Fleet (who got only 13,000). Very specific local issues – the HS2 project ripping through the Chiltern Hills and Tory planning changes – clearly had a huge impact. But Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said the result had “sent a shockwave through British politics” and showed “we can beat them anywhere”. There will be fresh questions for Keir Starmer too. Labour only came fourth, behind the Greens, with an astonishing low number of votes: 622. It comes as Starmer launches a policy review aimed at winning the next election. He claimed “an incredible amount of energy” was going into the process, adding: “The ideas are buzzing.” They’ll have to be electric to change Labour’s gloomy fortunes.

HEY HEY, HE SAVED THE WORLD TODAY: Jacob Rees-Mogg has hailed Matt Hancock as a “successful genius” after he was allegedly described as “hopeless” by the prime minister. The Commons leader called the health secretary “the brilliant, the one and only successful genius who has been running health over the last 15 months”, claiming Hancock “has done so much to make not only the country but the world safer”. Wow. He likes a good gag, does Jacob. Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire asked: “Why did the prime minister keep on as health secretary someone he thought was hopeless in a global health crisis?” But Rees-Mogg said Dominic Cummings’ text messages were mere “flotsam and jetsam”. No 10 didn’t deny the authenticity of Cummings’ recently-released messages with Boris Johnson, but insisted the PM still had full confidence in his health secretary. Keir Starmer, making up for lost time after missing the opportunity yesterday to attack the internal feuds, said Johnson’s border policies showed he was “as hopeless as Hancock”.

SNEEK PEAK? The vaccine roll-out has reached its final destination when it comes age groups: all over-18s are invited to book their jabs from today. Matt Hancock announced the move in the Commons and boasted about the fact four out of five UK adults have now had their first dose. But scientists and health chiefs appear more worried than ever about the impact of a third wave this summer. An internal NHS email seen by Channel 4 shows hospitals have been told to brace themselves for a likely third peak in early August. “The peak is expected to be 1 August.” Government adviser Prof Graham Medley said it was “not impossible” restrictions would have to be brought back in, should hospitalisations start to soar. Fellow Sage sub-group expert Prof Neil Ferguson claimed the third wave had already begun, but said it was still unclear how bad it will be. “The uncertainty spans the range of having a third wave which maybe is 100 [or] 200 deaths a day, at peak, to something which is at the scale of what we went through in January,” he said.

LETTER OF THE LAW: The sausage war with Brussels has entered its letter-writing phase. Boris Johnson’s government has very politely asked the EU to extend a “grace period” for chilled meats imports into Northern Ireland until the end of September. Sources close to Lord Frost said he had repeatedly requested a further three-month grace period in private talks with EU Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic – but he has now put it into a formal letter. The EU, remember, has warned it take legal action and slap tariffs on British goods if Downing Street ignores the protocol agreement at the end of this month. Meanwhile, Labour has demanded a parliamentary vote on the government’s trade deal with Australia. Shadow trade secretary Emily Thornberry said farmers had been thrown “to the wolves”. But Truss – another of the government’s very successful geniuses – told MPs her deal it was “truly historic” and “shows that global Britain is a force for free and fair trade around the world”.

MUST DO BETTER: Justice secretary Robert Buckland has apologised to rape victims after a government review showed conviction rates in England and Wales are getting even worse. He told the BBC it was “not good enough” and conceded budget cuts were partly to blame. Only 1,929 people saw their suspected attacker charged over the past year – only 1.6 per cent of claims recorded by police, down from 8 per cent five years ago. The government has promised to “do better’ and prosecute over 1,000 extra rape suspects by the end of this parliament. Meanwhile, Downing Street insisted the government has “no plans” to legislate for a legal right to work from home. The denial came after reports office staff could get the right to carry on with homeworking after the pandemic. Businesses told The Independent legislation could cause “corporate chaos”. Labour and the unions demanded clarity on what the guidance will be from 19 July – insisting employees mustn’t be “blackmailed back into unsafe workplaces”.

On the record

“The brilliant, the one and only successful genius, who has been running health over the last 15 months.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg raves about Matt Hancock.

From the Twitterati

“In the future, everyone will be DUP leader for 15 minutes.”

Stephen Bush on Edwin Poots’ seemingly short tenure…

“To be fair to Edwin Poots he lasted 2 Scaramuccis, or 2 Lady Jane Grays, or 400 Graylings.”

…while Jim Pickard compares Poots to others gone too soon.

Essential reading

Peter Mandelson, The Independent: The Unite vote could ruin Keir Starmer – and the Labour Party with him

Jeremy Corbyn, The Independent: G7 leaders are failing the world with shameful stance on vaccine patents

Ailbhe Rea, New Statesman: So why has Edwin Poots resigned as DUP leader after 20 days?

Alex Dean, Prospect: Brexit was meant to be right-wing. Has it been?

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