Welcome back to Blog 13 of my Weekly Digest politics roundup of all the big stories emanating from the N Ireland, UK and US political spheres. It’s my 13th blog, unbelievably, which may prove to be unlucky for some who have prompted my ire! So, let’s see what/who has attracted my critical eye this week, shall we?
As always, in the search for political, scandal, incompetence or farce, there is no more fertile ground and nowhere better to begin than N. Ireland. After last week’s farcical events in the NI Executive, I had hoped that a sudden bout of common sense would suddenly break out to allow us all to breathe a collective sigh of relief. (With masks on, obviously!) However, while we did eventually get some form of agreement within the Executive in relation to implementing further anti-Covid restrictions, it has still left many scratching their heads in bewilderment, particularly the business community, at just how convoluted, torturous and ultimately inept the whole process has been to get to this point!
As you may know already, the NI Executive was having a torrid time of it last week, trying to find some consensus on the way forward regarding the imposition of anti-Covid restrictions for NI. Such was the rancour and division within the Executive Committee that the DUP employed their veto to block what appeared to be broad agreement between the other four parties on the way forward. All the others favoured accepting the expert scientific and medical advice and adopting a stricter period of lockdown type measures to combat the inexorable, rising ‘R’ rate and critically high levels of hospital admissions. The DUP chose to oppose this view, based on their belief that the downsides of closing businesses for a further period would outweigh the positives gained from reducing community transmission of the virus. Some senior figures within the party have been vociferous in this belief from the outset.
Over two weeks ago, the Executive was presented with a paper from Health Minister Robin Swann setting out the Chief Medical Officer’s advice that the restrictions already in place had to be extended for two weeks or the NHS would be overwhelmed. The DUP and Sinn Féin refused to take a decision and instead spent the next few days drawing up an alternative plan to relax restrictions, before Sinn Féin reneged on that and then the DUP deployed its cross-community veto to block Mr Swann’s proposal.
Forward on to this week and we suddenly have the apparent mother of all u-turns by the DUP! Although, don’t let Arlene Foster hear you saying that! When that very assertion was put to her, Mrs Foster emphatically denied that she had performed a U-turn. With Trumpster levels of denial and implausibility, she said: “No, we didn’t have that information last week. Of course the new medical advice in terms of where the R number was at, of course the new information around our hospital numbers – that’s all new information and it’s in that context that we had to make the decision.”
Unfortunately for Mrs Foster, that does not remotely stand up to even the most basic scrutiny. SDLP minister, Nichola Mallon, conversely stated that Mrs Foster was misrepresenting what ministers had been told. Other Executive sources have agreed with Ms Mallon’s view. So, is Mrs Foster being economical with the truth, or just displaying worrying levels of delusion, along with a complete lack of self-awareness? Either way, it doesn’t look good for her!
The truth is, last Wednesday, the Executive was given a health paper (publicly available). It stated that the R number “has increased… and is around 0.8 and rising”. Therefore, it would be no great surprise to anyone in the Executive that it is now at 1, considered to be the critical tipping point. They were also told that there was a “major concern” around hospital capacity and that because the hospitals were full and community transmission was still widespread, “there is likely to be very limited headroom for relaxation without quickly reaching the point where the hospital system is at the point of being overwhelmed”. Gulp! 😳
Now, here’s the rub, because of last week’s DUP proposal, cafes and restaurants had ordered in perishable stock to re-open on Friday. And because principally the DUP and Sinn Féin left this decision until hours before the existing restrictions ran out, it would have been seen as highly unreasonable to tell them that they could not open the following day. Therefore, the Executive concluded that they would permit them to re-open for a week before everything is closed again! This will inevitably lead to a stampeding wildebeest rush to the shops this week, with all the increased transmission risk that this undoubtedly entails, as people try to cram all of their Christmas shopping into one week! How on earth did it come to this? 🤦🏻♂️
There is a feeling among many observers that all of this should have been dealt with weeks ago, but such was the level of disagreement, dysfunction, lack of collective responsibility, crippling indecision and ineptitude at the heart of our devolved government that a golden opportunity has been missed to get ahead of the curve regarding the virus before the all important pre-Christmas trading period. The measures, belatedly announced this week, are widely viewed as too little, too late for many small businesses. Add to that, the grindingly slow release of money from the financial support scheme, and it amounts to a calamitous, epic failure by Stormont on this issue!
Is it any wonder, then, that Justice Minister and Alliance Party leader, Naomi Long, has reiterated her belief that mandatory coalition is simply not working. She had even threatened to quit the Executive at one point last week! This would have precipitated a full on, existential crisis for Stormont!
This entire episode also raises serious questions about Arlene Foster’s leadership within the DUP! She was clearly being guided down the anti-Covid restrictions path by the more hardline and outspoken elements within the party, like Sammy Wilson, Edwin Poots and Ian Paisley, before flipping a complete u-turn, presumably when the scientific evidence and description of a health service on the precipice, became so compelling! Even Arlene might not have enough Teflon to get out of this one!
Speaking of Teflon politicians, what about the Home Secretary, Priti Patel? Talk about a politician with nine lives! A report into allegations of bullying against the Home Secretary, which Boris Johnson has sat on for months, has found Priti Patel “shouted and swore” at staff in actions “that can be described as bullying.” If true, this should have very serious implications for Ms Patel, as the Ministerial Code says “Ministers should be professional in their working relationships with the Civil Service and treat all those with whom they come into contact with consideration and respect.”
The long-awaited report by the Prime Minister’s adviser on Ministerial Standards, Sir Alex Allan, found the Home Secretary broke the Ministerial Code “even if unintentionally”. How do you ‘unintentionally’ bully someone? That’s like saying – “All of those items unintentionally ended up in my bag!”, when caught shoplifting! Even worse, for Patel and Boris, Sir Alex Allan has now resigned after Johnson unilaterally overturned his findings, deciding Ms Patel didn’t break the Code after all and then refused to sack her or discipline her in any way. Furthermore, Downing Street is refusing to publish the full report in a move Labour has criticised as a “prime ministerial cover-up”.
Of course, this is not the first time Priti Patel has courted controversy as a Minister. She was previously sacked by David Cameron when International Development Secretary for separate breaches of Ministerial Protocol! For all her faults, Boris remains a staunch defender of her, for some reason, even sending out the clarion call to the rest of the cabinet to “form square around the Pritster!” This poses the obvious question – what does she have on Boris? The controversy also just adds to the growing criticism of Boris Johnson as a Prime Minister who is prepared to ride roughshod over existing protocols, conventions and even laws in pursuance of his political agenda.
A key part of Boris Johnson’s ‘Global Britain‘ agenda was revealed this week. Controversially, Britain’s Armed Forces will be given a four-year budget deal worth £16.5bn. This is a significant increase in defence expenditure, coming after years of defence cuts. Undoubtedly, this is seen as a key part of asserting the UK’s continuing role as a key player at the top table of world affairs, post-Brexit. However, questions do arise about the affordability of and justification for this decision, given that the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has also just announced a 3 year freeze on public sector pay amid record levels of government debt because of the pandemic. People may well be entitled to ask why there is money for planes and missiles but not for a hard earned pay rise for nurses, for example, or for free school meals during the holidays, or, considering the record numbers of people relying on food banks! I suppose it depends on your priorities, doesn’t it?
In the same week that the Grenfell Inquiry revealed that the company that had supplied the supposedly fire retardant exterior panels for the ill-fated tower had faked the results of the fire resistance tests, Boris Johnson was dealt a triple defeat in the Lords over the nation’s response to the fire.
Peers voted 269-250 to implement a number of recommendations from the first phase of the public inquiry – after complaining progress was too slow. They also backed a landmark new law that would ban building owners from making residents pay for remedial fire safety work. Finally, they also backed a law to create a public register of fire risk assessments – so flat-hunters will know if they’re buying a “death trap”. All three amendments to the Fire Safety Bill passed after Labour and Lib Dem peers teamed up in the House of Lords.
The Government has also come under intense criticism for handing out billions of pounds worth of Covid-19 contracts without following normal accountability and transparency rules. The public spending watchdog found ministers had secured £18bn worth of supplies and services in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic which bypassed usual standards for procurement.
The findings were published as the Government faced pressure to explain its decision-making process amid accusations a so-called “cronyvirus” culture, due to allegations key Covid-19 jobs and contracts have been awarded to people closely linked to the Conservative party. The report found that, by the end of July, more than 8,600 contracts with a value of £18bn had been awarded and the majority of these (£10.5bn worth) had been done so without any competition process.
The spending watchdog acknowledged the pandemic required acting with “extreme urgency” and the Public Contracts Regulations allowed an emergency response, including awarding deals directly without a formal competition.
Meg Hillier, Labour MP and chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said the failings uncovered in report may be the “tip of the iceberg” and urged ministers to “come clean” and publish all information about Covid-19 contracts awarded. “The Government overlooked a serious conflict of interest, paid consultants for months before giving them contracts and purchased masks it knew weren’t up to scratch,” she said.
Brexit negotiations were halted this week after an EU negotiator tested positive for Covid-19. High-level negotiations were “suspended for a short period”, by agreement between EU chief Michel Barnier and the UK’s David Frost. The unwanted development comes with the negotiations at a critical point. The need for any deal to be approved by the European Parliament and member states means there is precious time left for negotiations. The major issues in the talks remain access to UK fishing waters, the “level playing field” designed to prevent unfair competition on issues including state subsidies and the governance arrangements for any agreement. It’s certainly not seeming as ‘oven ready’ as we were led to believe by Boris Johnson at the last election, that’s for sure!
Meanwhile, the Labour leader continues to have his own difficulties. The internal strife within the Labour Party has rumbled on this week, as ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn was re-admitted to the party after his recent suspension regarding the anti-semitism row. However, controversially for some, he still has the Labour Party whip withdrawn in parliament. The decision not to restore the whip to Mr Corbyn was made by Sir Keir Starmer as party leader and the chief whip, Nick Brown.
Mr Corbyn’s supporters had insisted party rules meant he should be automatically readmitted. The simmering civil war between Labour’s new leadership and allies of Mr Corbyn is now likely to intensify as a result. Mr Starmer said he would not restore the Labour whip to Mr Corbyn because of a lack of confidence in the party’s disciplinary processes. However, the decision was praised by some Jewish groups, with the Board of Deputies of British Jews saying Mr Starmer had made the “appropriate leadership decision”.
After it was finally established that Trump did indeed lose Georgia to Joe Biden by around 13,000 votes via an expensive and time consuming manual recount, the Republican Secretary of State in Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, has surprisingly emerged as one of the few Republican officials who has aggressively disputed Trump’s baseless claims of electoral fraud. Raffensperger has stuck his head above the parapet and is now being fired at by Trump and Georgia’s two Republican Senators, who have called on him to resign.
Raffensperger continued to push back on the attacks against him and his office, saying Trump’s loss in the state – previously regarded as a Republican certainty – was his own fault. “I’m a conservative Republican. Yes, I wanted President Trump to win. But as Secretary of State we have to do our job,” he said in an interview. It’s just a pity there aren’t very many more politicians on the Republican side of the divide in the US with the same honesty and integrity right now!
Donald Trump could face legal action when he is officially evicted from the White House in January. After his defeat to Joe Biden in the presidential election, Trump may need to stop focusing on overturning the election results in the courts and turn his attention to his own personal legal woes, because in January he will lose the protections the US legal system affords to a sitting president. There are at least five different lawsuits either in process or waiting in the wings, on topics or charges ranging from fraud and tax evasion to defamation and even one allegation of rape! Whatever happens after he leaves office in January, and he will be leaving office, we won’t have seen the last of the news headlines featuring Donald J Trump!
If you were wondering just what the increasingly unhinged Donald Trump might be capable of before he physically has to leave office in January, then a report in this week’s New York Times will be deeply troubling!
Donald Trump sought “options” for attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities but was dissuaded by advisers warning it could escalate into a larger conflict, according to the well respected newspaper. The president was reportedly told by vice president Mike Pence and secretary of state Mike Pompeo that such action could jeopardise the final weeks of his presidency. A source was quoted as saying- “A range of senior advisers dissuaded the president from moving ahead with a military strike!” The subject was apparently raised after international inspectors reported a large increase in the theocratic state’s stockpile of nuclear material. Mercifully, there appear to be some adults left in the room, as they say! I wonder did it dawn on anyone present that, perhaps, this may have been the result of Donald Trump deciding to arbitrarily pull out of the Iran nuclear deal that had been painstakingly brokered by his predecessor, Barack Obama? Probably not! It sure is comforting to know that the orange man baby still has access to the nuclear codes for the next few weeks! 😳
The outgoing President may not start any wars or nuclear conflagrations but there are plenty of other ways to spitefully cause mischief and mayhem for the incoming Biden administration, and he seems determined to explore as many of these options as he can! Trump even seems to find amusement in creating trouble for the incoming Biden administration. He has already decided to hastily withdraw troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, which means Biden will have to carry the can if the Afghan government falls or Shiite militias are emboldened in Iraq. He has imposed new sanctions on Iran, which will make it more difficult for his successor to revive the abandoned nuclear deal. Stoking tensions with China could be next. A Trump administration official openly admitted to a CNN reporter this week that the idea is to create so many fires that Biden cannot put them all out. I think that tells you all you need to know about any lingering prospects for a smooth or dignified transition of power! Joe will have his work cut out, it seems!
I’m afraid that’s all I’ve got time for this week, folks! Those A level Politics essays won’t mark themselves, unfortunately! So, until next week, I will bid you farewell. Stay tuned in, stay informed and stay safe out there! Adios! 👋🏻
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