Boris Johnson news – live: Tories and Labour tied for first time since 2019 as Starmer demands Covid Cobra meeting

Exclusive: Pilots’ union furious as Dominic Raab shuns BA in favour of United Airlines

The head of the leading pilots’ union has criticised Dominic Raab’s choice of airline after the foreign secretary flew from Washington to the UK with United Airlines rather than British Airways.

Attention was drawn to Mr Raab’s trip when it was revealed that his police protection officer had been suspended from duties after leaving his gun on a plane at Heathrow.

“Maybe it’s too much to expect but I would like to see our foreign secretary travelling with a British airline rather than spending taxpayers money on an American one,” Brian Strutton, general secretary of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa), told The Independent.

“There were alternative British flights available so what’s the excuse? It’s about time the UK government started showing a bit of support for UK aviation.”

Our travel correspondent, Simon Calder, has the full story below:

Opinion: ‘Politicians are using ‘strategic lies’ to grab attention – and it’s working’

Politicians are using so-called “strategic lies” to shift discussion onto favourable territory and promote their policy goals, a professor of political journalism has said.

Writing for The Independent, Ivor Gaber says politicians have been using lies which can be easily rebutted to get helpful subject matters onto the news agenda.

Mr Gaber writes:

“The effectiveness of the strategic lie is greatly enhanced by the fact that all the political psychology research indicates that once an idea is planted in the public mind in an impactful way, it is difficult to shift it. Being forced to accept facts that run against our prejudices induces cognitive dissonance, something we all seek to avoid.

“Indeed, among partisans the more rebuttals they encounter, the more they are reinforced in their belief in the original claim – the so-called Backfire Effect.”

You can find his full article below:

EU Brexit group chairman still ‘deeply concerned’ by Internal Market Bill

A key figure in the Brexit talks between the UK government and the EU has said he is “deeply concerned” over the state of the negotiations.

David McAllister, a German MEP and chairman of the UK Co-ordination Group in the European Parliament, said trust in the UK had been “damaged” by the introduction of the Internal Market Bill, which seeks to override key parts of the Withdrawal Agreement.

“This bill came out of the blue and, across party lines in the European Parliament, we are deeply concerned,” Mr McAllister told Sky News on Friday.

“Not just about the lack of progress in negotiations, but also about this bill. It clearly breaches the withdrawal agreement, including on the very sensitive protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland.”

He added: “We will not ratify a future deal with the United Kingdom if there is a threat to the Withdrawal Agreement. This has to be withdrawn.”

The MEP also indicated that the EU would not be satisfied by the amendment put forward by Conservative MP Sir Bob Neill, which would require a Commons vote before allowing the government to break international law with the agreement.

Nicola Sturgeon calls again for emergency Cobra meeting with UK government

Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has called again for Boris Johnson to hold an emergency Cobra meeting to discuss the rising number of coronavirus cases in the UK.

“Given [the] serious situation across [the] UK, I have also asked again that a 4 nations COBR meeting takes place over [the] next 48 hours,” Ms Sturgeon said in a tweet.

“While each of the four UK nations will reach our own decisions – rightly and properly – it makes sense to seek as much coordination and alignment as possible.”

Opinion: ‘Coronavirus has saved Keir Starmer from a fractious Labour conference’

The coronavirus pandemic has helped Sir Keir Starmer to avoid confrontation from supporters of former leader Jeremy Corbyn at this year’s Labour conference, according to our columnist John Rentoul.

Like other political parties, Labour was forced to cancel its in-person event earlier this year due to Covid-19 and is instead holding a virtual event this weekend, with speeches broadcast online.

John writes:

“With Labour conference reduced to a few speeches on Zoom – no one can heckle, or walk out, or hold up a placard – Starmer’s allies can concentrate on the postal ballot for seats on the party’s national executive. For the first time this year, they are being allocated by proportional representation to the rival slates, and ‘Labour to Win’, the Starmer-loyalist slate, is likely to secure at least three of the nine seats representing grassroots party members.”

You can find his full piece below:

Starmer pays tribute to ‘champion of justice’ Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Boris Johnson’s friends believe he is worried about affording a nanny after taking pay cut

Friends of Boris Johnson have suggested the prime minister is worried about how to afford a nanny after taking a government salary of about £150,000 a year.

Mr Johnson is understood to have taken a significant pay cut to become the PM as he reportedly earned more than £350,000 a year as a newspaper columnist, speaker and backbench MP.

“He doesn’t have a housekeeper, he has a single cleaner and they’re worried about being able to afford a nanny. He’s stuck in the flat and Downing Street is not a nice place to live,” an ally of the Conservative leader told The Times.

Our Whitehall editor, Kate Devlin, has the full story below:

Starmer reiterates call for living wage for care workers

Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer has reiterated his party’s call for care workers to be paid at least the living wage following the coronavirus crisis.

“We stood on our doorsteps every Thursday at the start of the pandemic and clapped care workers,” Sir Keir said.

“But appreciation isn’t enough, it doesn’t pay the bills and it doesn’t put food on the table.

“We need a plan for social care, where all care workers are paid at least the living wage.”

Johnson urged to act ‘sooner rather than later’ on coronavirus spike

Boris Johnson needs to act “sooner rather than later” to control the recent surge in coronavirus cases and prevent further deaths, a leading scientist has warned.

Professor Neil Ferguson, whose modelling informed lockdown plans in March, said the UK was facing a “perfect storm” following the easing of restrictions over the summer.

“Right now we are at about the levels of infection we were seeing in this country in late February,” Professor Ferguson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“If we leave it another two to four weeks we will be back at levels we were seeing more like mid-March. That’s clearly going to cause deaths because people will be hospitalised.”

He added: “I think some additional measures are likely to be needed sooner rather than later.

“We have in some sense a perfect storm right now of people, as they have been told to, getting back to normal, schools reopening, a surge in cases, so therefore the testing system is under strain.

“So unfortunately we do have to roll the relaxation of measures back a little bit and get contacts down in the population.”

UK devolved leaders join forces to demand ‘urgent intervention’ to save aerospace sector

The leaders of the UK’s devolved nations have joined forces to demand “urgent intervention” from the UK government to help the struggling aerospace sector.

Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon, Wales’ first minister Mark Drakeford and Northern Ireland’s Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill have written to Boris Johnson urging him to set up a specialist task force to help the industry during the coronavirus pandemic.

Such a move would show “all our governments remain committed to working together in order to preserve this sector”, the letter said.

“Urgent intervention is now required to preserve capability and avert further damaging losses,” the leaders added.

The proposed task force would include “active participation” from the governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as unions and companies working in the sector.

“As we approach the closure of the furlough scheme at the end of October, there is a real possibility of significant job losses across the UK,” Ms Sturgeon said.

“We have repeatedly called for the UK government to reconsider its position and to extend the scheme, especially for sectors that have been particularly hard-hit like aerospace.

“Recognising where key economic powers lie, we need to see sector-specific approaches for these parts of the economy from the UK government or the long-term impact will be severe.”

A UK government spokesperson said the aviation and aerospace sector remained a “critical part” of the UK economy.

“The UK government is supporting the aerospace and aviation sectors with over £8.5bn in grants, loans and export guarantees,” they said.

“Through major R&D investment of nearly £2bn to 2026, we are also developing new tech to make air travel safer and greener while creating new, well-paid green jobs for decades to come.”