Inside Politics: Boris Johnson to reveal reopening of cinemas and museums

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

Time plays tricks on the memory when you’ve been inside too long. Interviewing each other over Zoom, Friends’ stars Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow struggled to remember old episodes – but they’re still excited about meeting up for a special reunion show soon. Those in England who have been shielding ever since March will get their own special reunion soon. They will be allowed to meet up with loved ones from 6 July, the government has announced. And it looks like culture vultures sick of watching old Friends episodes will be able to visit cinemas, galleries and museums from early next month. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing.

Inside the bubble

Our chief political commentator John Rentoul on what to look out for today:

All eyes on the prime minister’s big announcement in the Commons on a cut in the two-metre social distancing guidelines. That will be followed by a statement by home secretary Priti Patel on Windrush. Finally MPs are expected to vote to set up an independent panel to hear complaints of bullying, harassment or sexual harassment against them. Meanwhile, the Lords’ science and tech committee will be hearing from Sarah Gilbert, the Oxford scientist working on a coronavirus vaccine.

Daily briefing

GIVEN HALF A CHANCE: Boris Johnson is all set to announce pubs, restaurants and hotels in England can reopen on 4 July – and cinemas, museums and galleries can resume business on the same date. The two-metre rule in England will be halved to one (with some conditions), and the PM is also expected to reveal some expansion in “support bubbles” when he speaks in the Commons at 12.30pm. Health secretary Matt Hancock announced that the 2.2 million people who have been self-isolating in England will be able to meet up outdoors with up to five others and form support bubbles with other households from 6 July. And from 1 August, the shielding will be over. The British Beer and Pub Association said ditching the two-metre rule would be “a phenomenal move”, while one government official told the Financial Times that “ministers might take the lead by heading to the pub”.

SPIT OR GET OFF THE POT: Trials have begun on a new coronavirus test which allows people to gather their own sample at home by spitting into a pot, with 14,000 key workers and people they live with taking part. Hancock said it could make testing “even easier”. The health secretary pointed to a series of encouraging figures – including the fact the number of people getting hospital treatment for Covid-19 has fallen below 5,000. The UK recorded the lowest number of daily coronavirus cases (958) and lowest number of daily deaths (15) since lockdown began. The minister also said he was would soon publish details of the countries willing to establish “air corridors” with the UK. According to The Times, the government is close to forging agreements with 10 countries – including France and Spain.

NO DEAL BREAKERS: Brexit rears its ugly head. Japan has offered the UK only six weeks to agree a post-Brexit trade deal since the county’s parliament would have to ratify it in the autumn, according to the FT. Elsewhere, the government has been warned UK drug exports to the EU would slump by more than a fifth if the transition period ends without a deal. It came as experts from Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) have also warned that a no-deal scenario may have a more severe impact on Britain’s food supplies than the coronavirus. The Lib Dems and the European Movement campaign group demanded ministers reveal which risks remain from no deal – and whether the pandemic has inflated them – since the “no deal readiness report” has not been updated since last autumn.

KOMPROMAT COMMITTEE: The government is close to re-establishing the intelligence and security committee, according to the BBC. No 10 still needs to approve the new members of the powerful committee, which has not met for over six months and is due to publish the long-delayed report into alleged Russian meddling in the UK. Speaking of controversial re-starts, education secretary Gavin Williamson told MPs next year’s A-levels and GCSEs could be delayed until later in the summer to allow for more teaching time. The under-pressure minister will present plans for a “full return” to schools in the autumn next week. Ex-chancellor Sajid Javid is also thinking ahead. He is warning against any return to austerity in a new Centre for Policy Studies report. Javid said emergency spending measures could carry on until April 2021.

TEDDY BEAR THE BRUNT: Donald Trump is not happy that a statue of former US president Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt is to be removed from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Showing Roosevelt flanked by an African man and Native American man, New York mayor Bill de Blasio said it “explicitly depicts black and indigenous people as subjugated and racially inferior”. Trump tweeted: “Ridiculous: don’t do it.” Meanwhile, Democratic congressman Bennie G Thompson has launched an investigation into the decision to allow Nigel Farage entry to the US to attend a Trump rally at a time when travel from the UK is banned. Thompson said it raised “troubling questions” and asked for all the paperwork.

NEXT YEAR WILL BE OUR YEAR: The French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi SA has said it expects to get approval for the potential coronavirus vaccine it is developing with the UK’s GlaxoSmithKline by the first half of 2021 – faster than previously anticipated. The company told a virtual research conference it would be available in the second half of 2021 if successful. Elsewhere, the director general of the World Health Organisation has said “the lack of global solidarity and global leadership” is the greatest threat the world faces in attempting to defeat the virus. “We cannot defeat this pandemic with a divided world,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a video conference.

On the record

“Infections are falling, the NHS is restoring and the virus is in retreat.”

Health secretary Matt Hancock hails encouraging signs.

From the Twitterati

“Stanley Johnson: applies for a French passport to ensure his grandchildren reap the rewards of the EU ... But they want to make sure YOUR (grand) children reap ZERO rewards of the EU.”

Dr Jennifer Cassidy isn’t happy about the reported reasons for Stanley’s recent application…

“Boris Johnson’s father Stanley has applied for a French passport. Given that he’s a staunch Remainer and has French family links, why not?”

….but right-wing radio host Julia Hartley-Brewer has no problem with it.

Essential reading

Jess Phillips, The Independent: A man faces prison for threatening my life – MP abuse has got to stop

Sean O’Grady, The Independent: Trump let Farage break travel rules in the ‘national interest’. Whose interests are those?

Stephen Bush, New Statesman: Why we should deny the Reading attacker the prominence he seeks

Niall Stanage, The Hill: Trump’s path to re-election is getting steeper and steeper

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