BORIS ON TOUR: Boris Johnson will travel to the West Midlands this afternoon, accompanied by new Home Secretary Priti Patel, to promote his plans to recruit 20,000 new police officers. He will do a walkabout, meet the chief constable and speak to the regional media. He is also due to give another speech outside London on Saturday, and will reportedly travel to Glasgow on Monday with a team of ministers. Domestic policy announcements, regional visits — it all adds to the sense Team Boris is on a general election footing.
First thing’s first: Before heading north, Johnson will dish out the remaining ministerial spoils. The big jobs have gone, but rising stars and loyalists should make sure their phones are fully charged and in range of a phone mast.
Not going to plan: Johnson’s brutal telegram data reshuffle, which enters its third day today, hit its first major hurdle last night. Steve Baker, an influential and organizing figure in the European Research Group, refused to take a role in the Brexit department, claiming he could not repeat the “experience of powerlessness” he had as a junior Brexit minister under Theresa May. Watch him being ambushed following his meeting with Johnson. Given no-deal preparations have been handed to Michael Gove’s Cabinet Office and Johnson will presumably be in charge of negotiations, he might have a point about the influence of the role he was offered. The prediction by a Tory MP to HuffPost’s Arj Singh on Tuesday — “[Johnson’s] got to shaft someone, and I hope it’s Baker” — now looks rather prescient.
Incidentally … Baker did tell a few journalists at the leadership election announcement on Tuesday that his dream job was actually to be a sky diving instructor.
