Inside Politics: Floods crisis flows into election campaign, as PM condemned for biblical insult

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There are 29 days until the 2019 general election

Boris Johnson used to give a standard after-dinner speech in which he claimed his political hero was the mayor from Jaws. Johnson would claim how much he admired the optimism of Amity Island’s leader. Despite all the gloomsters and doomsters, “he kept the beaches open!” The prime minister is now finding out how difficult it is to manage a real-life crisis involving lots and lots of water. The flooding in the north of England is threatening to make him look a bit out of his depth. Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson are sounding the alarm about the severity of the damage, scratching the chalkboard like Jaws’ grizzled old sea dog Quint. Will Johnson try to chortle his way out of this one, or can he rise to the challenge of an emergency? I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing.

Inside the bubble