We have a week to go before election day and after the blip that was the Nato summit, the leaders are focused on the final sprint to the 12 December finish line. Boris Johnson has outlined his plan for his first 100 days in office (if he wins) and Labour will be talking education today. You really should follow our rolling political coverage here.
What’s going on?
The Nato circus has left town – some members earlier than planned – which means Johnson can resume campaigning today. The PM survived the summit relatively unscathed. There had been concerns among the Conservative camp that Johnson’s proximity to the US president might be damaging, stoking voter fears that the NHS might be on the table in US-UK trade deals. But he managed to avoid almost any public meetings with Donald Trump, though he was caught on camera apparently joking about Trump with other world leaders – something Johnson astonishingly professed no memory of. After the video of the interaction did the rounds, Trump called Justin Trudeau “two-faced” and then announced he was leaving early and would not be giving a press conference. Don’t miss Marina Hyde’s and John Crace’s take on events.
Now that all the Nato shenanigans are out of the way, normal programming can resume. Johnson has launched his hopes for his first 100 days in office. He says his main focus would be passing the withdrawal agreement to ensure Brexit happens on 31 January. Other priorities include bringing in legislation to end the automatic release of serious violent and sexual offenders at the halfway point of their sentence – the family of murdered student Jack Merritt have condemned this as kneejerk politicisation of the London Bridge terror attack – and increasing the amount that new immigrants pay to use the NHS.
Labour will be talking about education today as Jeremy Corbyn visits schools and the shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, pledges to recruit 20,000 more teachers, cap secondary class sizes at 30 and spend £7bn on repairs and upgrades to England’s crumbling school buildings. Labour will also promise free, healthy breakfasts for all primary-age children as part of a multibillion-pound plan to “poverty-proof” England’s schools.
At a glance
The Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson, has faced Andrew Neil and apologised for her party backing the coalition’s austerity policies including the bedroom tax and benefit cap.
Democracy campaigners have accused politicians of ignoring the issue of electoral reform, arguing that “the signs of democratic decay are all around us”.
Aditya Chakrabortty writes that Boris Johnson may be a clown but the threat he poses is deadly serious.
The latest instalment in our People and Power series heads to Camborne and Redruth where creating jobs is high on the agenda in one of Cornwall’s most deprived constituencies.
Caroline Lucas has written about the need to protect nature if we are to stand any chance of tackling climate chaos.
The day ahead
Boris Johnson will head to the Midlands where he will have a tour of a mill shop and inspect some knitwear.
Jeremy Corbyn will also be in the Midlands where he will visit several schools before hosting a rally in the evening.
Jo Swinson will visit a care home in Edinburgh before appearing at a rally alongside colleagues from the Scottish section of the party.
It’s Nigel Farage’s turn to face off against Andrew Neil. The interview will be broadcast at 7.30pm.
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Best of the rest
> George Zimmerman is launching a £100m lawsuit over his unsuccessful prosecution for shooting and killing Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman was acquitted over the 2012 shooting, which happened after he followed the unarmed Martin, 17, around a gated community in Florida, then shot him when they got into an altercation. In the lawsuit, Zimmerman claims his reputation was destroyed by the “malicious” and conspiratorial prosecution; that he was defamed in a book by Benjamin Crump, the attorney of Martin’s parents; and that he receives death threats. Crump responded by calling Zimmerman’s lawsuit shameless, callous, unfounded and reckless.
> An analysis has found 24,600 students disappeared from school rolls in 2018, fuelling concerns about “off-rolling” whereby difficult or low-achieving pupils are excluded so they are not included in GCSE results. The gap between disadvantaged pupils and their better-off peers in England was shown to be much wider than official estimates. Once school results were recalculated to take into account pupils who left before the end of year 11, when GCSEs are taken, researchers found the failure rate for disadvantaged pupils increased by more than double that of better-off pupils.
> The Star Wars actor John Boyega says he has met Americans who are not aware there are black people living in London, and believes the under-representation of the black British experience in popular culture fuels such ignorance.
Boyega made the comments in a Radio Times interview where he discussed his future plans to create work about black life in Britain, partly as a result of having to explain to Americans that black Londoners exist while promoting his 2011 breakthrough film Attack the Block. He said: “I’m black British and I’m from London. And that in itself is something that the world doesn’t know about yet. I met American people – civilians of a first-world country – who were confused that there were black people in London.”
Today in Focus podcast: Iran’s deadly protests
When Iran’s government announced it was raising the price of fuel by up to three times, thousands of Iranians took to the streets to protest. Michael Safi reports on what happened next. And: Jim Waterson on how social media has changed the way we consume news.
'They said I would be done for murder'
Lunchtime read: ‘They said I would be done for murder’
At 17, Amy Dunne was pregnant with a baby who had a fatal abnormality. She was given a pseudonym and became the focus of a landmark Irish legal case over whether she could have an abortion. Now she is reclaiming her story, as she tells Rory Carroll.
Sport
Liverpool treated their Merseyside foes with contempt, winning 5-2 in the Premier League and leaving behind the impression that for the Reds, rivalry with Everton is a matter of history, not current concern. The fallout from Anfield will likely carry on and on, with Marco Silva on borrowed time as Everton manager – and David Moyes lined up for a return to Goodison Park. Still on the Premier League, and José Mourinho’s return to Old Trafford was not an enjoyable one as a Marcus Rashford-inspired Manchester United recorded a 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
Bob Willis, the former England captain and fast bowler who died at the age of 70, inspired teammates with his excellence, writes Vic Marks. In rugby, Robert Kitson argues that the upcoming, truncated tour of South Africa removes the last vestige of romance from the British & Irish Lions. Back to football, and our countdown of the world’s top 100 female players continues – check out the talent in positions 100-41.
Business
Although global shares have lifted again in the last 24 hours on hopes of a US-China trade deal, the tensions underlying relations between the two superpowers were laid bare as Chinese tech giant Huawei said it would challenge the US decision to bar it from federal contracts because it posed a security threat. It comes as Boris Johnson suggested Huawei was a security threat. The FTSE100 is set for a modest rise this morning while the pound has held on to gains it made yesterday at $1.312 and €1.183.
The papers
The Times and the Telegraph both lead today with the PM’s tax pledge: “Johnson to offer tax cut after Brexit” in the former, and “Tax cuts for millions within days of Brexit” in the latter. The Sun presents Johnson’s “10 commandments” for his first 100 days, with the door of No 10 standing in for stone tablets.
“Trump leaves Nato talks after ridicule from allies” is the Guardian’s straightforward headline above the pic of Johnson, Macron, Trudeau, Rutte and Princess Anne in a chortling huddle. The Metro is out to have more fun with it: “Trump gets the hump”. The i leads on a doctor’s sad story of how “NHS cuts killed my mother”.
“As nurses use foodbanks, Boris is Mr Greedy” – that’s the Mirror castigating the PM for his £700,000 in outside earnings over the last year, more than any other MP. The Express is “Speechless!” because Jeremy Corbyn said he watches the Queen’s address on Christmas morning, when it doesn’t air until 3pm. The Mail likes that one too: “Corbyn caught out over Queen”. We’ll do our best to translate the FT headline which is “M&G halts trading in £2.5bn fund as high outflows spark sell-off fears”. So M&G is a property fund that owns shopping centres across the country, and it has banned withdrawals by investors – who have pulled nearly £1bn of their money out in the last year amid Brexit uncertainty and the retail downturn.
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