Monday briefing: Full steam ahead for Johnson

Top story: Tories to push through policies as Labour leadership race heats up

Good morning, I’m Alison Rourke and welcome to this Monday briefing in what’s going to be another blockbuster week of politics.

Boris Johnson will tell his new Tory MPs that they have a responsibility to change the party for the better when they start arriving in Westminster today. He will also carry out a minor cabinet reshuffle after Alun Cairns’s resignation as Welsh secretary, Nicky Morgan’s exit from culture and Zac Goldsmith from environment. A much more substantial movement is expected in the new year. The PM also intends to accelerate plans for his Brexit bill this week. The party’s new members, who mostly represent northern and Midlands seats, will be sworn in on Tuesday and Wednesday before a Queen’s speech on Thursday, where much-touted NHS spending changes will top the bill. Johnson is also planning a huge shake-up of Whitehall, undoing many of Theresa May’s changes to the machinery of government.

Johnson also has the BBC in his sights, with Downing Street seriously considering decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee, while boycotting Radio 4’s Today programme. No 10 pulled ministers from Saturday’s edition and sources said it intended to “withdraw engagement” from the show in future.

Meanwhile, the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham (Labour), has urged urged new Tory voters in the north of England to be wary of Conservative promises to invest tens of billions in the region’s infrastructure. Johnson will tell his Tory recruits in the Midlands and the North that they must help him deliver for the voters in their areas.

On the Labour side of the ledger, the leadership race will heat up this week as recriminations over how things went so wrong intensify. You can see the Labour leadership runners and riders here and read a Q&A on how the contest will happen here. The party confirmed last night that Jeremy Corbyn had asked for a leadership process to elect his successor by the end of March, which means he will sit across the dispatch box from Johnson for another three months.

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‘Worse than Nixon’ – As Wednesday’s expected vote on whether to impeach President Trump approaches, both sides have been out in force pushing their cases. Adam Schiff, who chaired the House inquiry for the Democrats, said: “If anything this president’s conduct is far worse than anything Nixon did.” On the Republican side, Lindsay Graham led the president’s defence: “This thing will come to the Senate and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly.” A simple majority in the full House of Representatives is required for the impeachment to go ahead, most likely in January. Meanwhile, Trump himself threatened former FBI director James Comey with “years in jail” over his FBI Russia report.

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Flu vaccinations – Parents are being encouraged to vaccinate their children for flu, as the NHS faces a flood of cases. The number of patients booking doctor’s appointments with flu-like symptoms has increased by 24% in the past week, according to the latest data from Public Health England. The NHS national medical director has urged the 25 million Britons eligible for a free jab to get it now: “It might be the difference between a Christmas to remember, and one to forget,” Prof Stephen Powis said.

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House price rise – After a downbeat 2019, home prices are expected to rise in 2020 by an average of 2%, with northern regions doing better than the south. Rightmove, the UK’s biggest property website, predicts the election landslide is likely to deliver the boost, with an active spring market delivering 2-4% rises in the north, about 1% in the south, and a bottoming out of the London market.

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Greta hits back – Whoever does PR for the German rail firm that took a swipe at Greta Thunberg, for saying she took an overcrowded train back to Sweden, will likely be having second thoughts today. Deutsche Bahn said the teenage climate activist had been in first class and it would have been nice if she had tweeted about “how friendly and competently you were looked after by our team at your seat in the first class”. Thunberg hit back, saying she had only had a first-class seat for a few hours and it was “no problem” and she had never said it was, adding that “overcrowded trains is a great sign because it means the demand for train travel is high!”

Today in Focus podcast: The election fallout: what happens now

Guardian deputy opinion editor Sonia Sodha looks at what happens next for the Conservatives and the Labour party now Boris Johnson has won an 80-seat majority. And: Samanth Subramanian on the hidden cost of the home delivery revolution.

Lunchtime read: How to be hopeful after grief

After losing eight people she loved deeply in a decade, the author of Three Women, Lisa Taddeo, was feeling hopeless. Hypochondria took over her life: every dot or bump or tremor or throat pain or bone ache or eyelid flutter or numbness or dizziness she felt spelled doom. But then came a surprising respite from her fear of illness.

Sport

Ben Stokes was named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year as the annual awards ceremony in Aberdeen celebrated a strong year of sporting achievement. The broadcast, however, wasn’t to everyone’s liking, with Simon Burnton arguing that some presenters who thought the occasion itself was sport’s top highlight detracted from the viewing experience. After watching the Gunners lose heavily to Manchester City, Freddie Ljungberg urged the Arsenal hierarchy to make a decision sooner rather than later over the identity of the club’s next permanent manager. Duncan Ferguson has made an impact as Everton’s interim boss, but his stirring triumphalism could be difficult to sustain against less pliant sides than Manchester United. In boxing, Tyson Fury has split with his trainer, Ben Davison, less than two months before his rematch with Deontay Wilder. And finally in darts, women’s world champion Mikuru Suzuki came close to making history at the PDC World Darts Championship as she nearly ousted James Richardson.

Business

All eyes will be on the business and economic measures being rolled out by the new government in the Queen’s speech this week. With new Tory MPs smashing through Labour’s so-called “red wall”, the Conservatives will need to turn on the spending taps in the north now, says the Guardian’s Larry Elliot.

Internationally, the “phase one” US-China trade deal will nearly double US exports to China over the next two years and is “totally done” despite the need for translation and revisions to its text, Washington’s trade representative Robert Lighthizer said yesterday.

The pound is stronger off the back of the election, buying €1.203 and $1.339.

The papers

Many of the papers feature a large picture of Ben Stokes, who won Sports Personality of the Year last night.

The fallout from the election continues to lead many papers’ coverage today. Focusing on the future of the Labour party is the Daily Telegraph, saying: “Labour war as ‘stupid’ voters get the blame”, the Guardian reports: “Rivals poised as battle for Labour’s future begins”, and the i’s lead is: “Labour MPs attack Corbyn as battle for the party’s future begins”. Whereas other papers focus on what the prime minister will do next, including the Mail: “Blueprint for Boris’s Britain”, the Times: “Johnson to take aim at MoD over wasted cash”, and the Express: “Boris war with BBC over TV licence fees”.

The FT reports: “UN talks on climate change break up in stalemate”, the Mirror has a story about an NHS worker donating a kidney to a toddler she didn’t know: “Gift of life from NHS superhero” and the Sun reports on a jewellery theft: “Tamara’s £50m jewels gone in 50 mins”.

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