Inside Politics: Boris Johnson tells world leaders it’s ‘time to grow up’

The prime minister wants his counterparts to be ‘awesome’ at next month’s climate summit, writes Adam Forrest

Boris Johnson addresses UN assembly in New York (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Joy to the world! Harry and Meghan are thinking about bringing Archie and Lilibet home for Christmas in the hope of repairing the big family rift, according to the royal watchers. Unfortunately, the nation’s political rifts look unrepairable. Boris Johnson was hoping to strike a post-Brexit deal with the US, but it looks like he and Joe Biden have irreconcilable differences when it comes to trade. The prime minister has also managed to harm ties with France with some silly jibes in Franglais, as if cross-Channel relations weren’t bad enough.

Inside the bubble

Political correspondent Jon Stone on what to look out for today:

Foreign secretary Liz Truss is in Mexico to win support for Britain’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Elsewhere, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales will give evidence to MPs on the Online Safety Bill this morning.

Daily briefing

THE DREAM IS OVER: Joe Biden appears immune to Boris Johnson’s charms. The PM admitted the Biden administration “is not doing free trade deals around the world right now” so the UK will have to make do with “incremental steps”. Johnson claimed the lifting of the longstanding US ban on British lamb imports was one such step. Our PM also called on world leaders to be “awesome” in a speech to the UN ahead of the Cop26 climate summit. “It’s time for humanity to grow up,” he said – before making a joke about the Kermit the Frog song Not Easy Being Green. Very mature. Meanwhile, No 10 played down the idea of the UK joining the USMCA trade pact between the US, Canada and Mexico. Perhaps foreign secretary Liz Truss can shed some light on the matter. She visits Mexico today for talks with her counterpart.

DONNEZ-MOI STRENGTH: Emmanuel Macron is another leader who finds it difficult to warm to Boris Johnson. The PM antagonised the French president by telling him to “donnez-moi un break” and get over the new military pact between the UK, US and Australia. In full smirk mode, Johnson said it was time for “some of our dearest friends” to “prenez un grip”. Macron’s government is still livid about Australia pulling out of a deal for French submarines to join the Aukus pact to build nuclear-powered subs. But Johnson denied the English-speaking countries had ganged up against the French. “It’s not trying to shoulder anybody out.” Former UK ambassador to France Peter Ricketts said Johnson’s flippant remarks in phrase-book French were likely to annoy Paris further. “How is mocking the French going to help anything?”

IT’S A GAS, GAS, GAS: The energy crisis goes from bad to worse. Avro Energy and Green both collapsed on Wednesday, with 830,000 Green customers affected. It means nine UK suppliers have gone bust this year (hitting 1.5 million households). Green’s chief executive Peter McGirr predicted a “tsunami” of more collapses to come. Ofgem boss Jonathan Brearley called the crisis “unprecedented” – telling MPs the gas price rise was “something not seen before” and warning that more firms would fold. But business Kwasi Kwarteng insisted that the government would not ditch the energy price cap. “I have absolutely rebuffed that. I’ve said the price cap is here to stay,” the minister told MPs on the business committee. Kwarteng didn’t rule out a windfall tax on those profiting from the crisis, like the one Spain has introduced. “We’re looking at all options.”

VERY, VERY LONG READ: Keir Starmer’s magnus opus think piece is finally here. The Labour leader has set out his vision in a 14,000-word essay. The short version? He says he wants his party to be “Britain’s bricks and mortar” and reward people who “work hard and play by the rules”. Can the vague 35-page plan heal Labour’s latest internal feud? Probably not. Starmer has been trying to persuade the unions it would be wise to back an “electoral college” system for Labour leadership contests, rather leave the decision up to members alone. It would give the unions one third on the vote, and MPs another third. The Independent understands union chiefs are not persuaded. It appears likely the proposal will not go to the upcoming party conference. Sharon Graham, the new Unite boss, said Starmer must “think again”. Corbynistas have made clear they hate it. John McDonnell claimed Starmer was pursing “internal factional pursuits”.

STOCK AROUND THE CLOCK: Tesco has told the government the shortage of lorry drivers will lead to panic-buying in the run up to Christmas without urgent action. In a meeting organised by the Cabinet Office, Tesco bosses called on ministers to make it easier to bring in workers from abroad. The supermarket made clear that the panic buying ahead could be “far worse” than at the start of the pandemic, according to The Grocer. Tesco chairman John Allan told ITV’s Peston there could be “mid-single digit increases” to food prices. Logistics UK has asked the government to provide 10,000 temporary visas to plug the worker gap. In a letter to Boris Johnson, co-signed by 12 food and drink bodies warned: “More shelves will go empty and consumers will panic-buy to try and get through the winter.”

COLONIALISM? NOT BOTHERED MATE… Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch said she doesn’t “care” about colonialism, according to newly-revealed WhatsApp messages. The Tory MP said those who lost out most when the European powers controlled Africa were “old elites” rather than ordinary people, the leaked messages revealed. Taken from private chats with the Conservative Friends of Nigeria group and shared with Vice News, Badenoch said: “I don’t care about colonialism because (I) know what we were doing before colonialism got there. They came in and just made a different bunch of winners and losers.” The remarks were pounced on by Labour. MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said Badenoch’s comments were “crass, divisive and painfully inaccurate”.

On the record

“A worker on the minimum wage would need to work an extra 50 days to pay for a single night at his favourite resort [in Crete].”

Angela Rayner won’t let up on Dominic Raab’s summer holiday.

From the Twitterati

“Boris Johnson tells the French to ‘Donnez moi un break’, wow what language skills, don’t tell me, he also knows ‘voulez vous cochez avec moi’.”

Juliet Meyers is not impressed by the PM’s French skills…

“Words fail me. How is mocking the French going to help anything?”

…while Peter Ricketts is not impressed by the PM’s diplomatic skills.

Essential reading

Andrew Grice, The Independent: Boris Johnson’s ambitions have been dealt a blow by Biden

John Rentoul, The Independent: Starmer could learn from Rayner’s approach to PMQs

Stephen Bush, New Statesman: What Liz Truss learned from Jeremy Corbyn

Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic: Democrats may be on the verge of climate disaster

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