Politics

This afternoon, the JCVI has essentially passed the buck on vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds. It has declared that the health benefits of a vaccine for this age group are ‘marginally greater’ than the risks of Covid. But it has left the decision on whether to actually vaccinate them to the chief medical officers. It would surely have been better for the committee to have made a decision one way or the other In the past few weeks, tensions between ministers and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation have been rising. Ministers are keen to get on with an autumn booster shots campaign for the elderly and to vaccinate more school children.

John Bercow – ‘I do not identify with the Conservative party’ Last night, it was revealed that the former Commons Speaker John Bercow had not merely distanced himself from his former party, but had disowned it altogether. Interviewed by the Observer, he castigated the Conservative party as ‘reactionary, populist, nationalistic and sometimes even xenophobic’. Bercow’s jump across the divide may come as no surprise to some, but in doing so he has become the first ex-Speaker to ever make such a move back into the political arena. Trevor Phillips spoke to Bercow, once an enthusiastic figure on the Tory right, about the reasons for his change of allegiance: JB: My

Oh dear. Appearing on BBC Two’s Politics Live this afternoon, Labour left winger Nadia Whittome refused to condemn the violent protesters in Bristol last night that left 20 policeman injured including two in a serious condition.  Despite being asked four times by presenter Jo Coburn, Whittome would only say ‘I’m not going to get into condemning protesters when we don’t know what’s happened yet. We need a full investigation into what has happened.’ It is worth noting that all four of Bristol’s Labour MPs and the city’s Labour mayor Marvin Rees have already criticised the actions of the protesters, with Rees claiming it was ‘selfish, self-indulgent, self-centred violence.’ Given that Whittome’s

Dominic Cummings today returned to face a select committee for the first time since his fiery clash with Andrew Tyrie five years ago. Cummings — who was found in contempt of parliament for refusing to appear in 2018 — is up this morning before the Science and Technology panel of MPs. It is the first time the former No. 10 adviser has made public comments about his time in Government since leaving Downing Street in November. The subject of discussion is ARIA — the new £800 million Advanced Research and Invention Agency he championed in government which aims to fund ‘high-risk, high-reward’ inventions. MPs broadly stuck to the issue in hand, allowing Cummings to explain the successes

Things are not going well for Labour’s Keir Starmer. After yesterday’s polling showed his first negative satisfaction ratings and a seven point Conservative lead, today brings news that Hartlepool MP Mike Hill has resigned from the Commons to trigger a by election deep in red wall territory. Given the suspension of last May’s mayoral and local elections, this will be the first time Boris Johnson’s popularity will be tested with the northern voters who gave him his majority in December 2019. While the timing of the contest is yet to be set, CCHQ will be licking their lips at Hill’s 3,595 majority. Ladbrokes have the party as odds-on favourites to win the Hartlepool

Sir Keir Starmer has launched Labour’s local elections campaign today, focusing on the need for a ‘proper pay rise’ for NHS staff. Of course, local government has nothing to do with the way NHS pay is set in England, but that’s by the by if you’re an opposition trying to turn every poll into a referendum on the government. Starmer’s call for Boris Johnson to give nurses and other health service workers a 2 per cent pay rise is in keeping with the approach he has taken over the past few months which is to look for a government problem and hitch a ride on that, rather than go on the

First there was the Union Unit, then there was the Internal Market Act. Now Mr Steerpike can reveal the latest weapon of Tory MPs to fight the Scottish Nationalists: Union Jack face masks. A number of the new 2019 intake have been seen proudly sporting the emblems in the chamber to counter SNP members wearing the St Andrews’ cross opposite. West Dorset MP Chris Loder is the man responsible, purchasing them from a shop near Waterloo station. He told Mr S: ‘I was looking across the benches sometimes and seeing these pretty ghastly masks from the opposition benches especially the SNP which are all about the politics of division. The one