Inside Politics: No 10 ridicules EU’s red lines ahead of trade talks

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When the going gets tough, the tough get petty. Deontay Wilder has been ridiculed for blaming his heavyweight championship defeat on his hefty ring-walk costume – with the designer of Tyson Fury’s costume saying the size of outfits wouldn’t have made any difference. Boris Johnson’s pre-negotiation posturing with EU leaders is getting equally petty. Downing Street appears determined to taunt Brussels via the No 10 Twitter account, and both sides are threatening to walk away from the ring before the bell for the first round of talks. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s Inside Politics newsletter.

Inside the bubble

Our political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for at Westminster today:

Jeremy Corbyn will have an open goal at PMQs today. His visit to flood-hit parts of South Wales should allow him to criticise Boris Johnson’s refusal to put on his wellies. Tory MPs might take the opportunity, in public or private, to urge the prime minister not to break his promise not to raise fuel duty at the Budget. The Labour left, meanwhile, will be out in force at a “rally for socialism” in London – which might see further attempts to halt the bandwagon of Keir Starmer, frontrunner in the race to become Corbyn’s successor.

Daily briefing

INSANE IN THE MEMBRANE: Whatever happened to compromise? It looks like someone’s red lines will have to turn pink, or we’re headed for a no-deal disaster at the end of 2020. EU ministers have signed off on a 46-page mandate for trade talks beginning next week – and chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the UK must agree to a “level playing field” on rules and regulations or there won’t be any deal. “We will not conclude an agreement at any price,” he said. No 10 decided to issue a response in five tweets. Which was essentially a single finger the air. Downing Street demanded “autonomy” to set its own rules and claimed the EU had forged a deal with the US “without the kind of level playing field commitments ... they have put in today’s mandate.” Meanwhile, the National Farmers Union (NFU) said our government would be “insane” to agree a trade deal with the US allowing the import of food illegal to produce here in the UK – such as chlorinated chicken. NFU president Minette Batters said it “would not only be morally bankrupt, it would be the work of the insane.” Batters ain’t holding back.

TUCKER’S RETURN? Still six weeks to go before the Labour leadership contest ends. We’ll see winter end, a few icebergs melt and Liverpool win the league before it’s finally all over. Anyway, frontrunner Keir Starmer thinks it’s time to let Alastair Campbell back into the party (he was kicked out for telling everyone he voted Lib Dem). Arguing the New Labour figure had made a “huge contribution to the party”, Starmer said he’d like “anybody who wants to be in our party to be in the party” – apart from antisemites and other racists of course. He also had a sly dig at John McDonnell for offering such staunch support to Julian Assange. Those who believe the extradition case is “all a big conspiracy” are impugning our legal system, Starmer suggested. Perhaps conspiratorial thinking could be taught at Richard Burgon’s new university? The leftist deputy leadership candidate wants to set up something called the “Tony Benn University of Political Education”. People must be better instructed, sorry, informed, Burgon argued. He said Labour has “failed miserably in relation to political education ... I think people would really like it.”

PLAGUE UPON BOTH HOUSES: The findings of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse proved utterly damning for Westminster’s political institutions, with the report concluding parties “regularly put their own reputations or political interests before child protection”. Lord Steel has quit the Lib Dems and will retire from the Lords after he was criticised for “turning a blind eye” and failing to pass on allegations the late MP Cyril Smith had abused children. The report also identified how Margaret Thatcher was aware of rumours about Tory MP Peter Morrison having “a penchant for small boys” but did nothing about it. The former Labour minister Patricia Hewitt and others in the the National Council for Civil Liberties were told to accept responsibility for the “foolish and misguided support” offered to the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) in the 1970s and 1980s.

HONEY I SHRUNK THE ARMY: It looks like Dominic Cummings has claimed another Whitehall victory: the government’s foreign policy and defence review will finish up by the autumn. It means it will happen in time for the comprehensive spending review, allowing for the possibility of some pretty big changes. According to The Times, a reduction in the size of the army is under serious consideration after previous Conservative commitments to retain 82,000 personnel were dropped. Yet the Ministry of Defence is expected to win an overall funding boost after No 10 sources indicated the review exercise would not necessarily be “cost neutral”. Some of the extra money is set to go into stuff like boosting cyber capabilities and “space technology”. Whatever that is.

WHEN GRUNDY DROPPED HIS UNDIES: The new Conservative MP James Grundy, who took Leigh for the party in December, is facing calls to resign after he was found to have exposed himself at a pub in Wigan. Footage from 2007, obtained by LBC, showed Grundy pulling down his trousers and lifting his shirt to show his genitals – after a woman told him to do so. Grundy, who had already run unsuccessfully for the Tories at council level at the time, said: “I apologise for my actions and for any offence caused.” A flash in the pan, perhaps? His constituents don’t seem in the mood to laugh about it. One local resident said he should consider his position. “It’s unacceptable ... Hopefully something gets done about it.” Another said: “He shouldn’t be an MP – certainly not here, thank you.”

On the record

“I wish to avoid any such turmoil in my party and to prevent further distress to my family.”

Lord Steel quits after the inquiry into child sexual abuse found he failed to pass on claims about Cyril Smith.

From the Twitterati

“David Davis tells the FT ... that the EU will give Britain a good deal because of German car manufacturers.”

The ipaper’s Hugo Gye on the latest remarks by the ex-Brexit secretary...

“What is the point of Brexit commentary? Sisyphus every day rolled a boulder uphill, for it to fall back it time ... Such tasks are nothing, to explaining German car manufacturers are not coming to save us.”

...causing despair from legal commentator David Allen Green.