Inside Politics: Top Tories call for delay to GCSE results

Boris Johnson is off on holiday at a secret location in Scotland this week, and is said to be keen on glamping outdoors for a couple of days. The PM may wish to put his luxury tent up somewhere he can’t get a mobile phone reception – safely out of reach of calls from his hapless education minister. Gavin Williamson will be stuck in London, taking the flak for yet another exam disaster when GCSE results arrive later this week. The last disaster, the A-level fiasco, is still unfolding, as pupils take to the streets in protest and parents take the government to court.

Our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn on what to look out for today:

Labour is demanding Boris Johnson addresses the country today over the exam result shambles, despite being on holiday. Deputy leader Angela Rayner is insisting the PM must explain how he “will end this this historic injustice”. The seventh round of UK-EU future relationship talks get under way in Brussels. And expect Matt Hancock, the health secretary, to face further questions over reported plans to axe Public Health England.

MOCK AND BULL STORY: Ofqual and Gavin Williamson are thought to be at odds on the best way of tidying up the almighty A-level mess. Board members of the regulator now want to “ditch” their hated algorithm and allow teachers’ assessments to stand, but the education is adamant there will be no U-turn, according to The Telegraph. It follows a farcical weekend in which Ofqual pulled its own guidance on how pupils should appeal only hours after publishing – so it’s still unclear how mock exam results are supposed to be assessed by universities. Hundreds of students protested in Parliament Square, while lawyers from Leigh Day and the Good Law Project have launched legal challenges. Lord Kenneth Baker, former education secretary, called for GCSE results on Thursday to be postponed. “If you are in a hole stop digging,” he said. Tory MP Robert Halfon suggested the “huge mess” meant a delay might now be necessary.

RIP IT UP AND START AGAIN: Matt Hancock appears set to scrap Public Health England (PHE). The health secretary will announce the creation of a new replacement body modelled on Germany’s Robert Koch Institute this week, according to The Telegraph. It’s hard to find passionate defenders of PHE’s performance during the pandemic – but some said a big change now was unwise. “You don’t deal with the problem of an over-centralised, dysfunctional organisation by creating another … You don’t change horses mid-stream,” said John Ashton, former regional public health director. Lib Dem leadership candidate Layla Moran said it smacked of a government “attempting to pass the buck for its own failings”. The new body is expected to merge with NHS Test and Trace and become “effective” in September.

BE NOT AFRAID: This government loves a good digital, radio and billboard advertising campaign. It’s all set to launch another in an attempt to persuade parents it’s safe to send their children back to school. Keir Starmer would seem to be fully on board. The Labour leader risked angering the unions (still wary about the September return) by writing in The Mail: “I don’t just want all children back at school next month, I expect them back at school. No ifs, no buts.” He also warned the PM it was his “moral responsibility” to ensure all schools reopen. Can parents be reassured the virus is under control? The UK recorded 1,040 new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday – the sixth day in a row there’s been over 1,000 infections. The Times reports this morning that British travellers in Croatia and Greece could soon be hit by the 14-day quarantine.

POT MEET KETTLE: Priti Patel appears to have put fragile cooperation with the French at risk, after she reportedly claimed migrants were crossing the Channel to escape a “racist country”. The home secretary’s comments were made in a conference call with a group of 40 Tory MPs. One told The Sunday Times: “She was calling them racist and she is right. They are more racist than us.” French politicians are said to be pretty upset at the comments. Dan O’Mahoney, supreme commander of the high seas (or whatever it is he’s called), is heading to Paris this week for further talks. Good luck Dan. Meanwhile, trade secretary Liz Truss criticised US tariffs on Scotch whisky. She promised to fight to consign “these unfair tariffs to the bin of history” – while accusing the EU of failing to protect British (and Scottish) interests.

PIPPED BY THE POST? The US Postal Service is dominating American politics at the moment. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday she is calling the House back into session this week to vote on a bill prohibiting the USPS from implementing any changes to operations. It comes amid growing concerns that the White House is trying to undermine the independence of the agency, as states try to expand mail-in voting ahead of the November election. Pelosi accused Donald Trump of a “campaign to sabotage the election”. Meanwhile Joe Biden offered his condolences to Trump after his younger brother Robert died at the weekend. The president responded by sharing a video on Twitter making fun of the Democrat for his stutter. Real classy.

PUSHED FOR TIME: Trump was roundly mocked for suggesting the election could be pushed back. But some votes are being delayed. New Zealand’s popular PM Jacinda Ardern has postponed the country’s general election by one month to 17 October, as Auckland struggles to contain a coronavirus outbreak. Ardern bowed to pressure after parties complained they could not campaign properly with nearly a third of the population under lockdown. The PM ruled out any further delay, however, with her Labour Party maintaining a strong lead in the polls. “We are all in the same boat. We are all campaigning in the same environment,” she said. Deputy PM Winston Peters, who had called for a delay, said “common sense has prevailed”.

“Unless the Government and Ofqual can sort out the appeal system … there will be no option sadly but to adopt the Scottish position in allowing teachers’ predicted grades to stand.”

Tory MP Robert Halfon, education committee chair, suggests a U-turn might very soon be necessary.

“Keir Starmer has written a piece for The Daily Mail demanding all children return to school next month. He isn’t fit to lace Jeremy Corbyn’s boots.”

The Left Wing Society offers a lacerating attack…

“I just worry about how Keir Starmer will cope now that he has lost the support of several hundred cranks whose toxic politics made his party appear insane to the wider electorate.”

…but journalist James O’Malley thinks Starmer might just get through it.

John Rentoul, The Independent: Keir Starmer is doing ‘opposition by numbers’ and it’s working

Alexis Paton, The Independent: This is everything we’ll lose once Public Health England is gone

Isabel Hardman, The Guardian: Tory MPs have given their leaders the benefit of the doubt, until now

Alex Thompson, Politico: What Obama really thought about Biden