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Wednesday 4 December 2019 11:34
Labour have suggested Downing Street may have “advised” Donald Trump on what to say about the NHS during his two-day trip to the UK. Shadow trade secretary Barry Gardiner said: “Maybe his visit to No 10 … schooled him in what he ought to say.”
It comes as video emerged of Justin Trudeau and other Nato leaders appearing to mock Mr Trump at a Buckingham Palace drinks reception. A huddle, which included Boris Johnson and Princess Anne, was filmed apparently gossiping about the US president.
A Conservative election candidate, meanwhile, has said the prime minister was “wrong” to politicise the government response to the London Bridge terrorist attack.
McDonnell: ‘Are we really living up to the values of Christianity?’
Labour’s John McDonnell said the level of inequality in Britain was not reflective of a country with Christian roots.
Speaking in Birmingham, the shadow chancellor said the recent Channel 4 Dispatches programme on child poverty had shocked him. “On Tuesday a new Shelter report found 135,000 children will be without a home this Christmas,” he said. “On the same day an analysis by the Equality Trust showed the UK’s six richest people control as much wealth as the poorest 13 million.
“It’s three weeks to Christmas. The celebration of the birth of Jesus. Children going hungry and homeless in the fifth largest economy in the world begs the question: are we really living up to the values of Christianity – or any other of our religions or beliefs for that matter?
“We don’t believe it’s enough to offer people a hand-up out of poverty. We want to abolish poverty. That’s why we committed in our manifesto to abolishing in-work poverty within five years.”
McDonnell also accused Boris Johnson of lying about the Hillsborough disaster.
“I remember the Hillsborough tragedy like it was yesterday. I remember the brave campaigners who have fought for justice ever since. I remember how my best friend, Jeremy Corbyn, one of the bravest of politicians, stood up for them, fighting for justice for those denied it.
“Those killed and then lied about at Hillsborough – including by the prime minister in his days as a journalist. People need to remember what the Conservatives have done to us over the decades.”
In a widely-condemned article for The Spectator, Johnson wrote of Liverpudlians: “They see themselves whenever possible as victims, and resent their victim status; yet at the same time they wallow in it.”
Tory election ads banned from Youtube
Two Tory election videos have been banned from YouTube following complaints from the BBC.
The widely criticised videos – already removed from Facebook – took footage of BBC news presenters and edited them to suggest the journalists were agreeing with Conservative propaganda.
The videos had been seen as many as a million times, according to YouTube’s ad library, and the party had spent as much as €30,000 on promoting them.
Our technology editor has the details:
BBC haven’t heard ‘a sausage’ from Tories about Andrew Neil interview
Rob Burley, the editor of the BBC’s live political programmes, has been tweeting about the failure to pin Boris Johnson down over his Andrew Neil interview.
He said that “at no stage did we tell any other party that a date for Boris Johnson was confirmed, whatever you may have read”, and quoted the BBC’s news director Fran Unsworth claim that “the logistics of pinning down party leaders is highly complex”.
Burley said there was “still time” to do the interview. But Neil himself tweeted yesterday that they have been waiting for the Tories to confirm a time and date for several weeks. “So far – not a sausage.”
Swinson stung by Extinction Rebellion ‘bees’
Jo Swinson has been speaking to the Extinction Rebellion protesters dressed as bees – one of whom has glued himself to the front of the party’s campaign bus.
She “thanked” them for coming and expressing their views, but one of the activists said he found her words “a little bit patronising”.
He told her: “We’re not campaigning – we’re in active rebellion against government.”
The Lib Dems have been pointing out their bus is electric. But the Extinction Rebellion group have reportedly said they are protesting against the Lib Dems’ target of getting the country carbon neutral by 2045, arguing it should be 2025.
Patients should pay for NHS care, PM previously argued
Boris Johnson once argued some patients should be charged for using the NHS to stop health service being “abused,” a newly unearthed column has shown.
1995 article for The Spectator, Johnson wrote that free health care should be reserved only for “those who are genuinely sick, and for the elderly”.
He wrote: “If NHS services continue to be free in this way, they will continue to be abused, like any free service.”
Johnson also remarked that “it seems reasonable that the middle classes should be required to stump up for non-essential services they can well afford”.
The PM recently complained that some of his old writings were being “stripped of context”.
Extinction Rebellion ‘bees’ glue themselves to Lib Dem bus
A group of Extinction Rebellion protesters dressed as bees have been “buzzing” around the Lib Dem campaign bus. One activist appeared to glued himself to the windscreen of the vehicle.
Another could be heard saying “we want climate action now” and he mimicked a bee.
Johnson wants Nato alliance to ‘stay together’
We have the first photos of Boris Johnson and Trump shaking hands at the Nato meeting at The Grove country house hotel outside Watford. So what exactly will they and the others be discussing today?
The prime minister is urging the alliance to remain united. However, simmering divisions were on display on Tuesday after Trump and Emmanuel Macron clashed over the French president’s suggestion the alliance was experiencing a “brain death”.
Macron insisted he stood by the remarks prompted by Turkey’s offensive against the Kurds of northern Syria – seen as key allies of the West in the fight against Isis – after it was effectively given the green light by Trump.
The ensuing row has led Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to threaten to block Nato plans to expand the defence of the Baltic states and Poland in the face of the growing threat from Russia.
“Clearly it is very important that the alliance stays together, but there is far, far more that unites us than divides us,” Johnson told reporters as he arrived.
Trump touches down outside of Watford
Donald Trump has arrived at the Nato summit, after his helicopter touched down somewhere just outside of Watford. He has also tweeted about his one-on-one meeting with Boris Johnson on Tuesday evening. The president said he “enjoyed” the discussion about Nato and trade.
Johnson earlier said he had a “very good” bilateral session with the president – and denied trying to dodge having his photo taken alongside Trump.
“I’m going to be photographed with every possible leader of Nato and we’re having a very successful meeting.”
Proxy voting deadline looming at 5pm
Jeremy Corbyn has reminded everyone about a new deadline: for proxy votes. You can get someone else to vote in your place if you can’t get to the polling station on 12 December – so long as you register by 5pm today.
The Labour leader claims: “The Conservatives don’t want you to vote. So make sure you can.”
Lib Dems claims Melania Trump sending ‘coded message’
According to Sam Gyimah, the former Tory standing for the Lib Dems in Kensington, Melania Trump was sending you a message to vote for Jo Swinon’s party by wearing yellow to a Downing Street reception. He / the party is joking. Probably.
US health firms believe Brexit will make it easier to hike NHS drug prices, document reveals
US health firms are confident it will be easier to gain access to the NHS and hike the price of medicines after Brexit, a newly-revealed document shows.
The prospectus sets out how pharmaceutical companies will demand new rules that “prohibit discrimination” against foreign suppliers and end “restrictions on the number of suppliers”.
Written by the US Chamber of Commerce last month, it notes the failed effort to strike a deal with the EU, which collapsed partly because of fears over opening up public health services.
And, crucially, it states: “Concerns about potential impacts on Britain’s National Health Service are being aired.
“It should prove easier to overcome these challenges with the UK as an individual negotiating partner.”
More details here:
Labour suggest No 10 ‘schooled’ Trump on what to say about NHS
Labour have suggested Downing Street may have advised Donald Trump what to say about the NHS during his two-day trip to the UK.
Shadow trade secretary Barry Gardiner said: “Whilst President Trump has now back-tracked on what he said previously about everything’s on the table in a trade negotiation, he appears to be saying, ‘No, no – it’s not’. I wondered where he’s got that advice from? Maybe his visit to No 10 earlier in the day schooled him in what he ought to say.”
One Trump’s denial he was interested in the NHS, and the Tories’ insistence the health service is not for sale, Gardiner later told BBC Breakfast: “I’m sorry, I don’t believe what President Trump is saying.”
“The NHS is not a building, not a piece of real estate that one sells … it’s a series of services, and you sell the ability to sell those services. And if that is privatise companies, American health care companies, American drug companies that are providing those services, then the profit is being sucked out of the system.
“It’s an undermining by stealth that is going on here – but we need to understand it.”
Trudeau caught gossiping about Trump at Buckingham Palace
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and other Nato leaders appeared to mock Donald Trump at a Buckingham Palace drinks reception on Tuesday evening.
A huddle which included Boris Johnson and Princess Anne was filmed apparently gossiping about the US president’s unorthodox style, although Trump is not mentioned by name.
During the casual chat, as the leaders sipped drinks, Johnson can be heard asking French President Emmanuel Macron: “Is that why you were late?”
Trudeau says: “He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top.”
Later in the conversation Mr Trudeau adds: “You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor.”
A video clip of the chat, filmed as world leaders met ahead of a summit to mark Nato’s 70th anniversary, has been viewed almost four million times since it was posted online.
PM was ‘wrong’ to politicise terror attack, says Tory candidate
A Tory election candidate has said Boris Johnson was “wrong” to use the language he did in response to the London Bridge attack.
Fay Jones, speaking on the BBC Wales Live election debate on Tuesday night, said: “I don’t think the prime minister or anybody should be using this as a political exercise.”
Asked if the prime minister was wrong to have spoken the way he did about sentencing and prisoner release, the candidate for Brecon & Radnorshire: “Yes, he was.”
The Lib Dem candidate Steffan John also condemned the PM. “It was clear that Boris did play games on this and he saw an advantage,” he said on the live debate.
“We have people risking their lives and showing their bravery and he’s essentially dodging questions and avoiding stepping up to the plate and answering interviews.”
Former Tory health secretary denies NHS drug prices ‘on the table’ with US
The Tory leadership contender Jeremy Hunt has insisted he was not aware of any talks between UK and US politicians while he was health secretary on NHS drugs pricing.
Hunt, the former health secretary who left his post as foreign secretary when Boris Johnson became PM, said: “When I was health secretary, I wasn’t aware of any talks going on with the United States at all.”
Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he added: “In so far as there have been preliminary discussions between officials on both sides, not between politicians, we have made absolutely clear that NHS drugs prices are not on the table.”
He continued: “I’m afraid this is the traditional scare story. What would really damage the NHS are economic policies that destroy jobs in the economy and destroy the tax base that the NHS depends on.
“We have at the moment a very, very radical economic platform from John McDonnell which would do immense damage to our tax base and therefore our ability to fund the NHS.”
One-on-one meeting with Trump ‘very good,’ says Johnson
Arriving for the 70th anniversary meeting of Nato leaders near Watford on Wednesday morning, Boris Johnson said Britain’s commitment to the alliance remained “rock solid”.
“Clearly it is very important that the alliance stays together, but there is far, far more that unites us than divides us,” he said.
Johnson said he had a “very good” bilateral meeting with Donald Trump on Tuesday evening.
“We discussed the future of Nato, we discussed what is going on in Syria and various other matters,” he said.
Johnson risks Trump rift as he pushes tax on US tech giants
Boris Johnson has risked clashing with Donald Trump during the president’s visit to London by insisting he will press ahead with a new tax on US tech giants.
The prime minister firms such as Google, Amazon and Facebook “need to make a fairer contribution” – and suggested he “deplores” Washington’s retaliatory action against France for imposing a similar levy.
Trump has threatened to slap import tariffs worth almost £2bn annually on French goods including cheese, champagne and handbags after the introduction of a digital services which the US says will penalise tech firms.
The president addressed it on Tuesday by saying: “Look, I’m not in love with those companies – Facebook, Google and all of them. But they are American companies.”
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the general election campaign, with only eight days to go until we go to the polls.
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