London Calling is a weekly rundown of the top ten emerging issues from the past seven days shaping US-UK commercial relations.
London Calling is for global communication strategists and C-Suite executives.
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Memo: London Calling | Edition 13 | April 28, 2021
1. The Electoral Commission has begun a formal investigation into the refurbishment of Boris Johnson's Downing Street flat, warning that there are "reasonable grounds" to suspect an offense has occurred.
The announcement from the political spending watchdog has increased the pressure on Johnson to explain the funding of work on the apartment at 11 Downing Street, where he lives with his fiancée, Carrie Symonds.
2. Sleaze returns to haunt the Conservatives: William Hague in The Times writes Tories have to clean up their relationship with business if they're to avoid the fate of the Major government in the 1990s.
3. Borris Johnson and Dominic Cummings were as tight-knit as Mafiosi once, but neither godfather can win this uncivil war: Tim Shipman in The Times writes Johnson and Cummings are the two most determined men Tim Shipman has ever met. An understanding of power and the need to win flows through their veins; it is their oxygen. They will both think they can win. The sad truth for their political family is that they may both already have lost in terms of the project they jointly authored.
4. Downing Street scraps plans for White House-style press briefings: The prime minister's media chief Allegra Stratton - who had been due to front the briefings - has confirmed the move to the BBC. Stratton is to become the spokeswoman for the COP26 climate summit instead. The government was criticized for spending £2.6m on new facilities to host the PM and officials' briefings.
5. Scottish independence: Tony Blair has insisted that an SNP majority at next week's Holyrood election should not automatically trigger a new Scottish independence referendum.
Data from Panelbase has the pro-independence parties (Alba, the SNP, and Greens) possibly winning a combined 80 of the 129 MSP seats at Holyrood.
6. Today, the BBC is airing a special day of coverage on the deepening coronavirus crisis in India.
BBC will have reports, interviews, and analysis across BBC TV, radio, and online throughout the day.
+ The first supplies of ventilators and oxygen from the UK have arrived in India.
+ No. 10 said the UK does not have a surplus of vaccines to send to India.
7. Good news: More than 38 million people in England live in areas that are recording virtually no new cases of COVID, an analysis by The Times has shown.
8. Scotland and Wales reopened restaurants, cafes, and nonessential shops, marking the next phase of a gradual relaxation of coronavirus restrictions that have been in place for months.
9. 'Big battle' looms over the EU's coronavirus travel certificates: Politico reports the European Parliament aims to set rules for coronavirus "green certificates" aimed at lifting travel restrictions and reviving tourism.
10. Westminster polling intention:
Con: 44% (+1 from 13-14 April)
Lab: 34% (+5)
Green: 7% (-1)
Lib Dem: 5% (-3)
SNP: 5% (n/c)
Reform UK: 2% (-1)
-- YouGov (21-22 April
