Inside Politics: Boris Johnson plays it ice cool over TV no shows

Sign up here to receive this daily briefing in your email inbox every morning

There are only 13 days until we go to the polls

Satirists have revealed the finalists of the Turnip Prize – a spoof on the Turner Prize designed to reward people who “created something crap … using the least amount of effort possible”. The nominees include an egg box, a pair knickers with a burnt hole, and Thomas the Tank Engine stuck in a saucepan. Maybe we could squeeze Boris Johnson’s 2019 election campaign onto the list? It’s certainly been full of crap, and delivered with the least amount of effort possible – with the PM appearing keen to avoid TV appearances wherever possible. Perhaps the ice sculptures that stood in for Johnson and Nigel Farage at last night’s C4 climate change debate should win some kind of proper art prize? They were the star performers, after all. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing.

Inside the bubble

Our Europe correspondent Jon Stone on what to look out for on the campaign trail today:

Twenty-three and a half hours. That’s how long election debate fans will have had to wait from the end of Channel 4 climate debate until the start of the BBC’s 7-way debate. Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn will be both swerving Friday night’s outing: sending frontbenchers Rishi Sunak and Rebecca Long-Bailey in their places. They’ll be joined by Jo Swinson, Nicola Sturgeon, the Greens’ Caroline Lucas, Plaid’s Adam Price and Richard Tice from the Brexit Party (unlike Channel 4, the BBC seems to have no qualms about non-leaders). Labour, meanwhile, is launching a series of regional manifestos today, hoping to shore up support in its heartlands, while the Tories are announcing plans to reform school inspections and offering a £10m funding boost for Ofsted.

Daily briefing

ICE ICE BABY: The £950 ice sculptures dripping in for Johnson and Farage were a “visual metaphor,” Channel 4 News’ editor Ben de Pear told us (thanks Ben, I think we got it). In truth the stunt – and Michael Gove’s “storming” of the studios with his own video crew – made sure none of the headlines about last night’s debate were actually about climate change. Like a posh student half-heartedly trying to argue his way past the nightclub bouncers, Gove demanded he be allowed on TV to argue the Tories’ case. To add to the madness, Stanley Johnson turned up asking to be let on as well. “They were lovely and charming but neither are the leader,” said De Pear. Afterwards the Tories wrote to Ofcom to complain, accusing C4 of “conspiring with Jeremy Corbyn” – and even threatened to review the broadcaster’s remit. A Conservative source told BuzzFeed News: “If we are re-elected, we will have to review Channel 4’s public service broadcasting obligations.”

AUNTIE ANTAGONISED: We have another fracas involving the Tories and the fourth estate this morning. BBC bosses – accused of pro-Conservative bias almost every second of the day on Twitter – have written to the party chairman James Cleverly to complain about its latest online ad and demand it gets removed. The 15-second Conservative video features a montage of Beeb broadcasters – including Laura Kuenssberg and Huw Edwards – using phrases such as “pointless delay to Brexit” and “another Brexit delay”. The BBC said it “distorts our output”. The antagonists are still at loggerheads over Johnson’s refusal to agree a date for his Andrew Neil interview – which looks increasingly unlikely to happen. It emerged the PM has offered to appear on the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday instead. It’s pretty obvious he’d prefer a less fearsome inquisitor than Neil.

PARKING THE BUS: Remember when Labour had a “99 per cent” strategy – determined to fight almost every seat in the land? Yeah, well, they’re not doing that anymore. A retreat to more Jose Mourinho-style defensive tactics appears to be well under way following the bombshell YouGov poll predicting a collapse of the “red wall” in the north and Midlands. According to The Times, party chairman Ian Lavery and other Leave supporters will be given a more visible role in the campaign as they try to cling on to as many pro-Brexit voters as possible. Labour sources told the newspaper no-one had a clear list of target seats. “They don’t seem to know which parts are safe and where to send people.” Labour’s Barry Gardiner is hoping for rain and complacency among Tory voters next month. “I hope this [YouGov] poll gives them great comfort, they sit back and they say, ‘I don’t need to go out and vote on polling day because it’s wet and it’s windy’,” he told Sky News.

GONE, SOON TO BE FORGOTTEN: Tories may be angry Channel 4 decided to “empty chair” the PM, but several of the parties are struggling with absence. There are now four separate constituencies in Scotland where either Labour, the Tories or the SNP lack a candidate to support. The SNP has axed Neale Hanvey for a key target seat of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath after alleged antisemitism. Hanvey apologised for sharing a post with an image of George Soros as a puppet master, but also said: “I do not in any way consider myself antisemitic.” Labour dropped its candidate Safia Ali in Falkirk for the same thing – allegedly antisemitic behaviour on social media. The Tories have suspended two candidates – in Aberdeen North and Glasgow Central – over alleged Islamophobia. Since it’s too late for any of them to be removed from the ballot papers, they effectively become independent candidates.

GIVE ME AN N: On a lighter note – spelling mishaps! The Tory candidate for Wansbeck is involved in a polite row over who is responsible for getting his name wrong on the ballot papers. Jack Gebhard’s middle name Alexander is missing an “n”. Doh! “I am 26 years old, I have been spelling my name for 26 years and it is not the case that I have misspelled my own name,” said Jakc, sorry Jack. “It could be the council made a typo when they were lifting it from the form.” The council, however, claimed it was spelled the way it was submitted on the nomination papers. Meanwhile, the eagle-eyed perusers of election leaflets have noticed Ed Miliband is coming over all Leaver-ish on his pamphlets in Doncaster. “We need to sort Brexit. I voted 9 times in parliament for a deal to do that.”

On the record

“I’m very happy to submit to all manner of scrutiny, all manner of debates.”

Boris Johnson insists he loves media engagements, whenever they can be arranged.

From the Twitterati

“Gove turning up with his own film crew & his scripted lines to package it as though the Tories are being censored is so basic b**** CCHQ 101 that it’s frankly embarrassing, as well as totally bats***. And yet somehow some people will still fall for it.”

The Guardian’s Hannah Jane Parkinson is amazed at the cheapness of Gove’s stunt...

“Classic Vote Leave tactics this whole “Gove turns up” while CCHQ complains to regulator Ofcom about Ch4 barring him.”

...while Robert Peston thinks he knows where Gove’s tricks were forged.

Essential reading

Tom Peck, The Independent: Boris Johnson has threatened Channel 4 over his own absolute moral cowardice

Genevieve Roberts, The Independent: Boris Johnson is going to regret saying single mums like me are raising ‘ignorant, aggressive and ill-legitimate’ kids

Gary Younge, The Guardian: Given Britain’s history it’s no surprise that racism still infects our politics

Luke McGee, CNN: Jeremy Corbyn was once a radical outsider. Now he has the chance to transform the UK

Sign up here to receive this daily briefing in your email inbox every morning