POLITICO Sunday Crunch: ‘Farrago of nonsense?’ — Expectation management — Road to freedom

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By ANNABELLE DICKSON

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Good Sunday afternoon. This is Annabelle Dickson. Welcome to our new-look Sunday Crunch. I’ll be reading all the weekend papers, and following all the shows with the aim of getting you up to speed on the weekend’s biggest politics news, and briefed on the week ahead. Do let me know what you think at [email protected].

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4 THINGS TO KNOW

1. PRESSURE ON THE PM: Questions about how Boris Johnson funds his expensive lifestyle are continuing to mount, with the story showing little sign of going away. Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross added fuel to the fire this morning, telling the BBC the prime minister should resign if he is found to have broken the ministerial code (a question dodged by other colleagues.) “I think people expect the highest standards of those in the highest office of the land,” Ross told Andrew Marr.

First Lord of the Treasury latest: Tory sources quoted in a Sunday Times piece asking if Johnson can afford to be PM say there was a second invoice for the now infamous anti-John Lewis renovation which had been settled by a third party directly with a supplier — believed to be a Conservative donor. And the Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday have both been told a Tory donor was asked to foot the bill for a nanny for Boris Johnson’s son Wilfred. Asked about both claims a No. 10 spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister has covered the cost of all childcare.”

Raab dodge: Dominic Raab, who was the latest Cabinet minister sent out to dismiss the “tittle tattle,” insisted he didn’t want to “prejudice” three reviews set up to find answers to the mounting questions. The foreign secretary later told Times Radio he bought “plenty of stuff” from John Lewis.

Let’s get on with it: Former public accounts committee chairwoman and Labour MP Margret Hodge spoke for the SW1 press pack when she told Sky’s Sophy Ridge: “If there is nothing in it, come clean and then we can move on, but at the moment he is refusing to do that.” Former Commons Speaker John Bercow stuck the boot in too, telling LBC he does not think the PM treats parliament with respect.

**A message from Facebook: Working together is more important than ever in the fight against COVID-19. In Spain, the World Bank is using Facebook’s Disease Prevention Maps to forecast needs for COVID-19 testing and hospital beds. Learn more about how we’re collaborating to keep communities safe and informed at about.fb.com/europe.**

2. FARRAGO OF NONSENSE? The big question — whether the electorate actually cares — will be answered this week when loads of voters go to the polls for a bumper “Super Thursday” of elections. Worryingly for the PM, polls over the weekend show what was a whacking Tory lead now appears to be narrowing. The latest Opinium poll in the Observer saw the Conservative lead drop from 11 points to 5 points, while a YouGov poll for the Sunday Times puts Labour one point behind the Tories.

But, but, but: Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy was managing expectations this morning. She told Sky’s Sophy Ridge that while “something is shifting” on the doorstep, and people were understanding Labour is “under new management,” they were still likely to be “very difficult” elections for the party. Nandy later told Times Radio “anything is possible” when asked if Labour could lose the Hartlepool by-election and the West Midlands and Tees Valley mayoralties.

Ohhhh Jeremy Corbyn: The Mail on Sunday reckons the hard-left is planning to launch a coup against Labour leader Keir Starmer if things don’t go too well this week.

What the PM does want to talk about: In a piece for the Mail on Sunday Johnson said he wants to “bring the hammer down hard on the gangs” and set up a “pet theft task force.”

3. ROAD TO FREEDOM: Ahead of polling day on Thursday there are plenty of optimistic stories about the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions around. The limit on numbers attending funerals will be abolished from May 17, the Mail on Sunday splashes this morning. The Sunday Times leads with plans for secondary school children to be offered a jab by September.

Keep your freedom: The government has also announced a study looking at whether daily COVID-19 tests for the contacts of people who have tested positive for coronavirus could be brought in as an alternative to isolation. Peter Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), told the BBC the use of lateral flow tests was a “contentious point,” but was “sure lateral flow tests do have a place and, if we test repeatedly, I think you will find people who are going to be most prone to spreading disease.”

But, but, but: Raab told Marr there would still need to be “some safeguards in place” after June, which could including “distancing” and “maybe there will be something around masks.” The hospitality industry is already sounding the alarm about that one.

Aid to India: The U.K. has not had a request to provide vaccines to India, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC this morning. Nandy, who told Marr she had a close family member in hospital in India with COVID-19, rejected the idea of the rollout being paused in the U.K. to divert vaccines to India. She said:  “Nowhere is safe until everywhere is safe, but that includes the United Kingdom as well.”

4. ALSO WORTH KNOWING: Carphone Warehouse founder Charles Dunstone resigned as chair of Royal Museums Greenwich in protest over the government’s refusal to reappoint a trustee whose academic work advocates “decolonising” the curriculum, the FT reported.

Unification poll: Ahead of the centenary of Northern Ireland tomorrow, a poll in the Irish Independent on Saturday suggests two-thirds of people in the Republic of Ireland support unification of their island — but just 22 percent would pay for it.

Cry treason! Government plans to overhaul treason laws to make it easier to prosecute jihadists returning from Syria and Iraq, per Saturday’s Times.

Rule Britannia: The Telegraph’s Chris Hope reckons a new national flagship named after the Duke of Edinburgh that “will be seen as a successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia” will be announced within weeks.

Bonkbuster coming: Cleo Watson, the former Downing Street aide who left No.10 with Dominic Cummings, is writing what the Mail on Sunday describes as an “erotic political thriller.” One to watch.

WATCH OUT FOR THIS WEEK

SUPER THURSDAY: There is only going to be one story in town this week — the many election contests taking place across the country. Emilio Casalicchio has your must-read primer, with timings, TV coverage and some helpful punditry for those who want to sound in the know.

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FLEEING INDIA: Saturday’s Times had a harrowing interview with Adar Poonawalla, the boss of India’s vaccine-producing Serum Institute, about the threats he faces and why he fled to London before Britain banned travelers from India.

POSTCARD FROM BERLIN: “The mood is dour even by German standards. April showers bring May flowers? If only,” my POLITICO colleague Laurenz Gehrke documents the frustrations in Berlin as other nations open up while Germany stays closed.

LONDON’S STABBING EPIDEMIC: Gang violence has been in and out of the news — Mark Townsend’s special report for the Observer is a must-read for policymakers after the shooting and stabbing of a teenager in broad daylight in Canning Town on Monday.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING MEDIA ROUND

Ayesha Hazarika on Times Radio (Times Radio 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.): Former Senior CIA Intelligence Officer Michael Scheuer; Tory MSP Jamie Greene; Labour MSP candidate Daniel Johnson; Green MSP candidate Laura Moodie; Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain; SNP MP John Nicholson; Managing Director of Festival Republic Melvin Benn; DJ Katie Owen.

Westminster Hour: (BBC Radio 4, Sunday 10 p.m.): Vice Chair of the Conservative Party Lee Rowley; Shadow Employment Minister Seema Malhotra; SNP Foreign Affairs spokesperson Alyn Smith; Daily Telegraph Deputy Political Editor Lucy Fisher.

You can read the full transcripts from the Andrew Marr Show here.

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ALSO ON THIS WEEK 

MONDAY 

May Day bank holiday 

Anniversary: Centenary of Northern Ireland (The BBC has a good explanation of why the government settled on that particular date)

Foreign affairs: G7 foreign ministers to meet face to face in London. Raab will also meet India’s foreign minister, he told Ridge.

TUESDAY 

Foreign affairs:  G7 foreign ministers continue to hold talks. 

Indian talks: Prime Minister to hold a virtual meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Foreign Affairs: G20 tourism ministers to meet in Rome. 

Foreign Affairs: Former U.S. Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton and former U.K. Foreign Secretaries William Hague and Jeremy Hunt to at Chatham House event on the future of liberal democracies, 4 p.m.

WEDNESDAY 

Foreign Affairs: G7 foreign ministers continue to hold talks. 

Brexit: Director General of the CBI Tony Danker to speak at UK in a Changing Europe ‘Britain after Brexit event, 12.30 p.m.

Brexit: Former British diplomat Jonathan Powell to speak at EU|UK Forum event on making the Northern Ireland Protocol Work, 2 p.m.

THURSDAY 

Elections: Raft of elections to be held across the U.K., including the Hartlepool by-election, the Scottish and Welsh assembly elections and mayoralty elections.

Deadline: David Cameron and Rishi Sunak asked to respond to the Treasury committee questions on Greensill Capital by today.

Brexit: Provisional date for ONS report on early indicators of the impact of Brexit on services.

FRIDAY 

Elections: Many election results due to be counted.

Travel: List of green countries could be announced, according to the Mail on Sunday.

Sunday Crunch is compiled by Annabelle Dickson. I’d love to hear what you think. Drop me a note at [email protected]

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