Johnson began prime Ministers Questions with a tacit admission of defeat against the Covid 19 threat as yet another Member of the Chamber has now tested positive for the virus. All he could say was, “I know the thoughts of the whole House will be with the hon. Member for Bolton South East (Yasmin Qureshi). I am sure Members from across the House will want to join me in wishing her a speedy recovery.” It was not a great start! Labour MP Catherine West associated herself with the PMs sympathies, but then appealed, “My constituents are reeling from the 9% contraction of the economy since March this year. Unemployment has sky-rocketed and joblessness in Haringey is the highest in the capital. Unfortunately, we are at the same time facing the idea that there could be a congestion tax forced on an extra 4 million Londoners by this Government. These Londoners are already facing the double whammy of covid and financial ruin. Will the Prime Minister please immediately stop the imposition of this dreadful plan? I look forward to his answer.”
It was to become the hallmark of this session of PMQs, former London Mayor Boris Johnson slagging off the current Labour Mayor during this weekly Tory Party Political Broadcast, where the PM gets to spew fabricated statistics and lies unchallenged on a regular televised event. He started spouting his fanciful web of lies saying, “I must respectfully inform the hon. Lady that the current Mayor of London had effectively bankrupted TfL before coronavirus had even hit and left a massive black hole in its finances. Any need to make up that deficit is entirely down to him. It is entirely his responsibility. Any expansion of the congestion charge or any other measure taken to improve the finances of TfL are entirely the responsibility of the bankrupt current Labour Mayor of London.” This statement was rapidly debunked as inaccurate during later analysis, but shallow liar Johnson is just targeting the rapid soundbite!
Tory Rob Butler said, “People the length and breadth of the country have made many sacrifices over the last few months to try to suppress covid-19, but infection rates are increasing fast and Buckinghamshire may soon find itself in tier 2. Can my right hon. Friend tell the people of my Aylesbury constituency how long we would be expected to stay there, what additional help there would be for local businesses, and, crucially, what the route out would be?” A recurrent theme; the PM replied, “I hope I can reassure my hon. Friend by telling him that the incidence in the Vale of Aylesbury is in fact less than half the England average. The way forward for constituents in the Vale of Aylesbury and everywhere else is for everyone to keep following the guidance, observing the new restrictions and, obviously, washing hands, wearing a face covering in enclosed spaces and keeping a sensible distance.”
Keir Starmer was to the point, saying “I thank the Prime Minister for his remarks about my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton South East (Yasmin Qureshi). Prime Minister, how does an area which goes into tier 3 restrictions get out of those restrictions?” The PMs reply was equally brief as he said, “The simplest and most effective way for areas to get out of those restrictions is, of course, to get the R down to 1 or below, and I am very pleased to say that some areas are already having a considerable effect with the measures that they are taking.” Starmer did not attempt more than to just ask for a further clarification that he should have known would not be forthcoming, he said, “Can I press the Prime Minister on that answer? If the infection rate, R, in a tier 3 area has not come below 1, will it be possible in any circumstances for that area to come out of tier 3, if the R has not come below 1?” This was a wasted opportunity, dithering over the same worthless rebuttal to score points perhaps, but this is not robust opposition!
The PM must have felt relaxed with this easy deniability question as he chose to meander all over the place with his response. He said, “Obviously, the R is one of the measures that we look at. We take a decision based on a number of things including the R—also, of course, rates of infection, rates of admission to hospital and other data. But the most important thing is for areas that do go into tier 3—and I am very grateful to local leadership in the areas that have gone into tier 3, because it is the right thing for them to do, the right thing for their constituents, the right thing to save lives—when they are able to make progress, then, of course, they will come out of tier 3. As the right hon. and learned Gentleman knows full well, the measures that are put in place are reviewed every 28 days.” The question successfully remained unanswered cloaked in superfluous waffle to disguise the deviation.
Starmer replied, “I am now confused by the Prime Minister’s answer. If it is not the R rate under 1, what is it? Millions of people want to know the answer to that question. Millions of them are in tier 3 and millions more are likely to go into tier 3. They really need to know. On Friday, the chief scientific officer said that tier 3 on its own certainly is not enough to get the R rate below 1. On the same day, the Prime Minister himself said that there was only a chance of getting infection rates down.” Eyes were glazing over; where was this going? Starmer rambled on, “That goes to the heart of the issue in Greater Manchester and elsewhere. The widespread fear is that tier 3 is the worst of all worlds: it brings significant economic harm without getting the virus sufficiently under control to exit tier 3. So instead of being a solution, tier 3 is a gateway to weeks and weeks, or more likely months and months, of agony from which there is no likely exit. Can the Prime Minister not see the problem if there is not a clear exit?”
The PM must have been really pleased with his great distraction ploy as it was working so well, he said “I am sorry, but I have made it absolutely clear that a part of the country going into tier 3 is in there only for 28 days; we will review it after 28 days. Areas that have gone into tier 3 are, I believe, already making progress, and areas where there are restrictions in place are also showing signs of progress. We are pursuing a local—a regional—approach, which is the sensible approach for this country. That is what the epidemiology supports. It is what the deputy chief medical officer supported last night. Again, I want to thank local leadership in Merseyside, in Lancashire, actually in London, in the west midlands and elsewhere for what they are doing. It is a bit incoherent of the right hon. and learned Gentleman to attack local lockdowns when he wants to plunge the whole country back into a damaging lockdown for weeks on end, and he has no clue about how he would propose to get the country out of that—does he?”
Starmer had swallowed the distraction bait, hook, line and sinker; he meandered on, “I appreciate that there will be a review every 28 days, but if the R rate has not come below 1, then the infection rate is still going up, the numbers are going up, the admissions are going up, the numbers in hospital are going up and the deaths are going up. Is the Prime Minister seriously saying that he would take a tier 3 area out of tier 3 with the R above 1? I do not think so. Let me spell out what that means. On Friday, thousands of people in Greater Manchester, taxi drivers, pub and hospitality workers, people working in betting shops, the self-employed and freelancers, will either be out of work or face significant pay cuts. That is the reality on Friday in Greater Manchester. But their rent and their mortgage will not be lower; their food and their heating bills will not be lower, and that could last for months. Why can the Prime Minister and the Chancellor not understand that? They should stop bargaining with people’s lives, stop dividing communities and provide the support that is needed in Manchester.”
The PM began to brag, “I am very proud that this Government have already given Greater Manchester £1.1 billion in support for business, £200 million in extra un-ring-fenced funding, £50 million to tackle infections in care homes, £20 million for Test and Trace, and another £22 million for the local response that we announced yesterday. Yesterday, the Mayor of Greater Manchester was offered a further £60 million, which he turned down, having had no encouragement to support it, I may say, from the right hon. and learned Gentleman. I can tell the House today that that cash will be distributed to the boroughs of Greater Manchester. I thank right hon. and hon. Members across the House, including my hon. Friends the Members for Heywood and Middleton (Chris Clarkson), for Bolton West (Chris Green), for Bolton North East (Mark Logan), for Bury South (Christian Wakeford), for Bury North (James Daly), for Cheadle (Mary Robinson), for Leigh (James Grundy), for Altrincham and Sale West (Sir Graham Brady) and for Hazel Grove (Mr Wragg) for the support that they have given in this matter.”
A bit late to start trying to shame the Teflon PM but Starmer gave it a whirl, “This is a Prime Minister who can pay £7,000 a day for consultants on Track and Trace, which is not working; who can find £43 million for a garden bridge that was never built; but who cannot find £5 million for the people of Greater Manchester. I really think the Prime Minister has crossed a Rubicon here, not just in the miserly way that he has treated Greater Manchester, but in the grubby take-it-or-leave-it way that these local deals are being done. It is corrosive to public trust to pit region against region, mayor against mayor, council against council and ask them to trade away their businesses and jobs. We need a one nation approach to replace these endless local battles with clear national criteria and proper support for jobs. Labour’s motion this afternoon would do that. Why will the Prime Minister not support it?”
It was time for more untrammelled bragging and downright lies, as Johnson replied, “I am proud of the one nation Conservative support that we have given to the entire country: £200 billion in support for jobs and livelihoods across the whole of the country already, and a further £9.9 billion now for the job support scheme. It is this Government who have cut VAT for business and deferred business rates. There is no other country in Europe where so much support and so much help has been given to the population to get through this crisis, and we will continue to do that. It is the height of absurdity that the right hon. and learned Gentleman stands up and attacks the economic consequences of the measures we are obliged to take across some parts of the country when he wants to turn the lights out with a full national lockdown, taking kids…” Closing schools would halt the spread. “That was his policy last week anyway, wasn’t it? Perhaps he could confirm that that is still his policy. Is that what he wants to do?”
Starmer rolled out the stats while cautiously avoided mentioning any school transmission data, “At his press conference yesterday, the Prime Minister produced heat maps across the country showing that the infection rate was up in all ages and across all regions, and particularly showing regions that have been in the equivalent of tier 2 restrictions for weeks, if not months, moving into tier 3. If they are moving into tier 3, tier 2 has not worked, because if tier 2 had worked, they should be going into tier 1. So tier 2 goes to tier 3, and tier 3 has no end, because there is no prospect or confidence in the R rate coming below 1, and I do not believe that a tier 3 region will come out of those restrictions unless R is below 1 and while the numbers are still going up. So we now have a stark choice. By the way, Prime Minister, Cornwall is the only place, possibly with the Isle of Wight, where the infection rate today is less than it was in Greater Manchester when it went into local restrictions, so this idea that some areas are immune is wrong.”
Without much conviction, he droned on, “there is a stark choice: carry on with the Prime Minister’s approach, which will lead to weeks and weeks and months and months of prolonged agony in everyone’s constituencies for millions of people in tiers 2 and 3, with no exit; or put in place a two to three week time-limited circuit break to break the cycle and bring the virus back under control. Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, in part, have chosen that path. With half term starting this Friday, this may be the last opportunity for the Prime Minister to put in place an effective circuit break. The Prime Minister was too slow in the first phase of the pandemic; he is being too slow again. We cannot repeat this mistake. Will he act in the public interest and take the opportunity to put in place a circuit break this Friday?” Johnson would now pounce on the opportunity to rant against more lockdown not less…
The PM could now pretend he was battling against a belligerent, intransigent opposition who wanted to inflict greater restrictions on the whole country, oblivious to the fact that this was a SAGE recommendation he was himself ignoring. He ranted, “We will do whatever it takes to get this country through the crisis, with or without the support of the right hon. and learned Gentleman. I have explained why I do not believe that his policy is the right one for the country, because it would involve closing schools and shuttering businesses, with all the psychological and emotional damage that a lockdown of that kind brings. He cannot say how many circuit breakers he thinks would be necessary. He cannot say how long they would go on. He cannot say how much damage they would do to the UK economy and to people’s mental health.”
Pretending to take the moral high ground Johnson prattled on, “We, on the other hand, want to go on with our common-sensical approach, which is a local and regional approach, keeping kids in school and keeping our economy moving, because that is the way to get the whole of our country through this crisis together so that all the regions of the country, particularly those regions that are now, alas, under tier 3 restrictions, bounce back strongly together.” What the PM and Starmer both refuse to acknowledge is that the infection rate in our schools is the major factor driving the second wave of infection with asymptomatic children acting as vectors to pass the virus on to vulnerable elderly in multigenerational household living together in overcrowded accommodation. This is the main priority target group for the next phase of a planned Tory cull of the ‘economically inactive.’ This Covicide requires the Labour Party to ignore Teachers Union advice and support keeping children in school while they keep the statistics hidden.
The SNP’s Ian Blackford said, “My thoughts are very much with the hon. Member for Bolton South East (Yasmin Qureshi). I hope she makes a speedy recovery.” He then asked, “Next week, just as the pandemic is worsening, the Tory Government will scrap the furlough scheme in a move that will cause a wave of mass redundancies across the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, behind closed doors the Prime Minister is complaining that he cannot get by on his £150,000 salary. If the Prime Minister is finding life such a struggle, how on earth does he expect many workers to get by on just £5.84 an hour when the Tory cuts to furlough sink in?” Few are talking about it but the MP are about to get another above inflation pay rise so they have no concept of this level of poverty.”
The PM deflected the question saying, “Actually, I am proud of what we have done to support people on low incomes throughout this period and, indeed, before. It was this Government who raised the living wage by record amounts, and we have just increased universal credit by around £1,000 a year. The right hon. Gentleman makes the point about furlough; as he knows, if universal credit is combined with the job support scheme that we have just announced, workers will be getting 80% of their existing salary. We will get this country through this crisis and we will continue to support people of low incomes throughout the period.” Johnson fails to mention the interminable wait just to get onto Universal Credit, pushing people into rent arears debt and releance on food banks, or the devastating hardship and misery this deliberately inflicts on the working poor.
Blackford persisted, “I am afraid the Prime Minister just does not get it. Yesterday, we saw his total disregard for the people of Greater Manchester, a Tory attitude that people in Scotland are all too familiar with. Millions of families are struggling to get by and this Tory Government want to cut their incomes in the middle of a pandemic. It is clear that the Prime Minister has made a deliberate decision to let unemployment soar, just like Thatcher did in the 1980s. Time is running out. With one week left, will the Prime Minister finally U-turn on his cuts to the furlough scheme and invest in our communities? Or will he leave millions of people on the scrap heap?” The PM was indignant saying, “I really must reject what the right hon. Gentleman has just said, because it bears no relation to the facts or the reality of what the Government are doing to support people throughout the country. It is not just the £200 billion investment in jobs and livelihoods; we are also engaged in and will continue to deliver a colossal investment in education, health, housing and infrastructure that will deliver jobs and growth throughout this United Kingdom for a generation.”
Tory Andrea Jenkins pitched a rallying cry in support of breaking a signed international agreement saying, “I congratulate the Prime Minister and his negotiating team on their strong stance in the negotiations with the EU. Does he agree that the EU’s position on fishing and the European Court of Justice demonstrates that it is not treating us as an independent state, that it is not acting in good faith to deliver a free trade agreement and that, in international law, the UK is therefore entitled to leave the withdrawal agreement and make its own arrangements regarding the UK’s internal market?” The PM was thrilled with this input supporting his lawlessness saying, “Whatever the effect of the withdrawal agreement, I can certainly assure my hon. Friend that the UK’s internal market, which I think everybody on both sides of the House values, is protected and upheld and by the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill, which is currently going through the other place. It also, of course, protects the Good Friday agreement.” Another lie!
There was another blistering Tory attack on the London Mayor “…£5.65 billion to keep TfL running…” with a snide comment about Unions, in reply to which Johnson lied by bragging of his sound record with TfL as Mayor! Then Labour’s Dr. Rupa Huq focused on the left behind, after acknowledging “Financial support packages, tackling homelessness… honouring Marcus Rashford,” saying beyond “what the Government have done on covid” she was concerned that “with winter set to bite and no end to the virus in sight, may I ask the Prime Minister to reconsider the arbitrary end to many of his schemes, which were set months ago when we knew so little? Three million self-employed people were completely left out of all of these measures, a number of whom are now set to face destitution when the minimum income floor ends next month. Furthermore, school dinners for 3,272 kids in his own seat and 2,016 in mine are in the balance. Can he start by voting with us tonight and make sure that that gong does not mean nothing?”
The PM feigned understanding and sympathy, but swerved off track emphasizing the priority to “keep kids in school if we possibly can…” This is key to the Tory Government strategy of utilizing the children as vectors to infect older family members living together in cramped multigenerational households. This targeting of the vulnerable was particularly effective in culling the working poor in ethnic minority communities as the PMs Eugenicists master had designed for this phase of the Covicide cull. His Trojan horse in Labour offered limp resistance; as long as Starmer maintained his stagnant opposition Johnson could remain on track. We need to derail this Tory juggernaut before it reaches the end of the track with crash-out Brexit. How dare the Tories bang on about ‘levelling up’ while refusing to fund free school meals. We must delegitimize these lies and fully investigate the Covert 2019 Rigged Election to remove this corrupt Tory Government from power ASAP, before more kids go hungry and more vulnerable die of Covid! DO NOT MOVE ON!