These are the details of Boris Johnson’s reopening road map as I understand it tonight...

:: Two households allowed to meet outside by early April

:: All schools in England (primary + secondary) open March 8...

:: BUT some schools may stagger classroom return given testing

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:: Social distancing rules (two metres) likely stay “for months”

:: ‘Rule of 6’ likely to return in some form as understood by public

:: Not guaranteed ‘don’t leave your local area’ rules will lift by April

:: Promises on summer holidays unlikely Monday given uncertainty
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Other things we’re hearing

:: Moving forward through the road map steps could well have some data requirements attached. (PM keeps stressing focus on data)

:: Likely there’ll be a gap b/w schools opening on Mar 8 and other big reopening steps in case there is a virus surge
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Ben Riley-Smith

@benrileysmith

17 Nov 20

Skimmed Obama’s new memoir for British references yesterday. There are some standout ones.

Says Cameron had “the easy confidence of someone who’d never been pressed too hard by life”. 1/
telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/1…

Obama on Gordon Brown: He “lacked the sparkly political gifts of his predecessor” Tony Blair. 👀

But also calls him “thoughtful” and “responsible”. 2/

Obama recounts the media reaction to Michelle touching the Queen’s shoulder during the 2009 G20 summit in Britain. Says the Queen “didn’t seem to mind”. 3/

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Ben Riley-Smith

@benrileysmith

11 Nov 20

As far as I can tell Trump campaign fraud claims fall into 4 buckets:
1) people voting who shouldn’t have (eg dead)
2) election official wrongdoing (eg rules broken)
3) their poll watchers not getting full access
4) complaints about mail ballots arriving after election day
But...

Number 4 questionable - allowed for military ballots, other rules were agreed before the vote

Number 3 a side issue - not an example of fraudulent votes and disputed in many places.

Examples given for 1 + 2 are v limited. Being looked into. Some circulating online disproved.

Remember Trump isn’t just claiming a few voting irregularities. He’s alleging a conspiracy to steal the election from him.

The Trump campaign therefore needs to provide evidence for a) widespread and systematic vote fraud b) Trump being the target.

That hasn’t happened yet.

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Ben Riley-Smith

@benrileysmith

6 Nov 20

The Republican backlash is now fully on

John Bolton:
"...All candidates are entitled to pursue appropriate election-law remedies if they have evidence supporting their claims. They should certainly not lie. The 1st Republican president was called 'Honest Abe' for a reason"
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Mitt Romney, Repub Utah senator, on Trump
"He is wrong to say the election was rigged, corrupt and stolen - doing so damages the cause of freedom here and around the world... and recklessly inflames destructive and dangerous passions."
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Pat Toomey, Repub Pennsylvania senator
“There’s simply no evidence anyone has shown me of any widespread corruption or fraud"
“The president’s speech last night was very disturbing to me because he made very, very serious allegations without any evidence to support it"
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