The prime minister held off announcing new Covid restrictions following a meeting of the cabinet. He said that the decisions for and against further restrictions are 'finely balanced' but that the government 'won’t hesitate to take action' to protect public health and the NHS. Asked about the photo from the garden at No 10 during the 2020 lockdown, Johnson said the people in it were working
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‘It’s a stretch’: Starmer on No 10’s wine and cheese work meeting – video
The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has said it was 'a bit of a stretch' to suggest a photograph in which the prime minister, Boris Johnson, and his staff are seen sharing wine and cheese platters in the gardens of Downing Street in May 2020 was a work meeting. No 10 has denied anything social took place and the deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, said no Covid rules had been broken
Continue reading...Raab says PM and staff’s garden gathering was within lockdown rules
Minister says other offices would have been doing the same, in defence that appears to differ from No 10’s line
A photograph of Boris Johnson, his wife and up to 17 staff in the Downing Street garden during the first lockdown shows people “having a drink after a busy set of work meetings” and acting entirely within the rules of the time, Dominic Raab has said.
Other workplaces would have done the same during this period and this would not have breached any rules, the justice secretary argued.
Continue reading...Women stage global fast to pressure UK over Nazanin Zagari-Ratcliffe
Participants in women’s fasting relay will demand Boris Johnson repay £400m to Iran for 1970s arms deal
Women around the world will take turns to fast for 24 hours in an attempt to put pressure on the UK government to secure the freedom of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from detention in Iran.
The campaign by FiLiA, a female-led volunteer organisation working for the liberation of women, follows the 21-day hunger strike Nazanin’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, mounted outside the Foreign Office in London until mid-November.
Continue reading...Covid live: UK reports 82,886 new cases in huge weekly jump; Omicron dominant in Ireland
Latest UK daily cases show a 72% jump on the 48,071 new infections recorded last Sunday; Irish officials say 52% of cases estimated to be new variant
- UK PM and staff pictured with wine in Downing St garden in May 2020
- UK health secretary refuses to rule out further curbs before Christmas
- The science case for more Covid restrictions is overwhelming
- Mass rapid tests in Liverpool cut hospital stays by a third
- See all our coronavirus coverage
The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has been talking about the potential for serious acts of political violence coming from the country’s anti-vaccine movement, in which organised far right activists are increasingly involved in some regions.
Thomas Haldenwang, the president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, said in an interview with journalists from the Funke media group: “It is true that there is a difference between talking about violence and committing it,”
Continue reading...Boris Johnson and staff pictured with wine in Downing Street garden in May 2020
Exclusive: photograph raises fresh questions for No 10 after denial of a social event at time of Covid restrictions
Boris Johnson has been pictured with wine and cheese alongside his wife and up to 17 staff in the Downing Street garden during lockdown, raising questions over No 10’s insistence it constituted a “work meeting”.
The photograph was shared with the Guardian following No 10’s denial last week that there was a social event on Friday 15 May 2020 including wine, spirits and pizza inside and outside the building. Johnson’s spokesman said Downing Street staff were working in the garden in the afternoon and evening.
Continue reading...Liz Truss to take on Brexit brief after David Frost resignation
The foreign secretary is assuming responsibility for the UK’s relationship with the EU, says Downing Street
The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, is to take over responsibility for the UK’s relationship with the EU after the Brexit minister Lord Frost’s resignation, Downing Street has said.
She will be adding ministerial responsibility to her foreign portfolio with immediate effect.
Continue reading...‘All bets are off now’: a torrid week when Johnson’s balloon was burst
Last week’s byelection result laid bare the growing anger felt towards the PM – both from outside and within his own party
Shortly after Owen Paterson resigned as the Tory MP for North Shropshire in early November, Helen Morgan, who had been trounced when she stood as Liberal Democrat candidate at the last general election, rang her party’s HQ in London with a message that took senior officials by surprise.
“She told us that we really had a chance in the byelection, that we had to throw everything at it. Initially there was a lot of scepticism,” said a party official. “Nobody really believed it.”
Continue reading...Brexit minister’s shock resignation leaves Boris Johnson reeling
Lord Frost’s frustrated exit is yet another blow for PM struggling for control of his government
Boris Johnson was dealt another major blow to his leadership on Saturday night as it emerged that the man overseeing Brexit was resigning from the cabinet.
With Tory MPs already warning the prime minister that he would have to regain control of the government to survive as leader until the next election, it emerged that Lord Frost is to leave the government after frustrations over Brexit negotiations and broader concerns over the government’s Covid policies and tax increases.
Continue reading...It’s beginning to look a lot like last Christmas: why the UK has Covid deja vu
Omicron cases are soaring, experts want curbs and Boris Johnson is dithering. Sound familiar?
That old adage of Marx insists that historical events occur first as tragedy, then as farce. The government’s handling of the pandemic in the UK long ago undermined that progression: tragedy and farce have, since the very beginning of the crisis, always been a double act.
The clashing tone of current events feels like a dispiriting festive repeat of all-too-familiar dramas. A week that began with the exposed scandal of Downing Street lockdown parties, and ended with chief civil servant Simon Case stepping down as investigator of those scandals, because of a party in his own office, was also yet another week in which the alarming progress of the virus outpaced government rhetoric and claimed another thousand lives.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson’s zeal to return Parthenon marbles revealed in 1986 article
Unearthed Oxford Union article by prime minister made passionate case for sculptures’ repatriation to Athens
The extent of Boris Johnson’s U-turn on the Parthenon marbles has been laid bare in a 1986 article unearthed in an Oxford library in which the then classics student argued passionately for their return to Athens.
Deploying language that would make campaigners proud, Johnson not only believed the fifth century BC antiquities should be displayed “where they belong”, but deplored how they had been “sawed and hacked” from the magisterial edifice they once adorned.
Continue reading...Furious response from DUP over Northern Ireland protocol
Lord Dodds says UK ‘falling into line’ with EU and retreating from commitment to trigger article 16
The government’s retreat from its hardline position in negotiations with the EU over Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland has elicited a furious response from the most senior unionist in the House of Lords.
Lord Dodds, the former deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist party, has issued a veiled threat of “action” unless it restores the option of pulling the plug on the Northern Ireland protocol by using the article 16 process.
Continue reading...UK unlikely to send troops if Russia invades Ukraine, says defence secretary
Minister’s comments come days after Boris Johnson warns Russia of ‘significant consequences’
It is highly unlikely that Britain or its allies will send troops to defend Ukraine if it is invaded by neighbouring Russia, the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said.
US intelligence claims that Russia has stationed about 70,000 troops near the border of Ukraine and has begun planning for a possible invasion as soon as early next year.
Continue reading...‘He’s in real trouble now’: Tory MPs are viewing Boris Johnson as the problem
Analysis: It’s not Downing Street, it’s him, says a minister, amid fears the PM’s strengths have become weaknesses
Asked on Friday whether he took personal responsibility for the disastrous North Shropshire byelection result, Boris Johnson suggested the problem was that everyone else was talking about the wrong issues. “My job as prime minister is to get the focus on to the things that matter for all of us,” he said.
Yet after weeks of self-inflicted crises and the drip, drip of stories about lockdown-busting parties at the heart of Downing Street, many of his MPs believe it is Johnson himself who is the real problem – and some are warning he is now on borrowed time.
Continue reading...No 10 parties raise questions about whether PM will follow Covid science
Analysis: After a steady stream of reports, how likely is it that Boris Johnson will take advice about imposing tougher restrictions?
• Boris Johnson joined No 10 party during May 2020 lockdown, say sources
Cast your minds back to 15 May 2020. Matt Hancock, the then health secretary before he quit for breaking restrictions by having an affair, was giving a press conference where he said people should be “staying at home as much as is possible”.
Social interaction was strictly limited to outdoors and one person at a time. It was the week when people were told they could meet one parent outside, in a socially distanced way, but not both of them together.
Continue reading...Don’t call it sleaze, call it corruption – why scandal haunts Boris Johnson’s government
From contracts for mates to flat makeovers and illicit parties, barely a day passes without a crisis at No 10. But using the tabloid language of the 90s doesn’t scratch the surface of this government’s sins
Think of bonking. Not the activity, but the word. As a shorthand for sex, it was popularised, if not invented, by the tabloid press in the 90s – back then, “Bonking Boris” referred to a former Wimbledon champion rather than a future prime minister. You can see why it appealed. “Bonking” slipped easily under the bar prohibiting expletives in family newspapers; it sounded fun rather than pornographic. It was clear and direct, yet had all the advantages of euphemism.
Now think of sleaze. As it happens, that word performed a similar role in the same period. It could be hurled at politicians – specifically the Conservative government of John Major – relatively free of legal risk. You could say an MP or minister was “mired in sleaze” without having to prove that they had broken a specific law. It was handy.
Continue reading...Housebound elderly people waiting weeks for Covid boosters
Charities say vulnerable older people ‘overlooked’ amid pressure to meet target of 1m top-up jabs a day
Housebound elderly people are having to wait weeks to get their booster vaccine, despite being a key priority group for top-up jabs, raising fears about them being left at risk.
Charities have warned that older people are being “overlooked” in the NHS’s rush to deliver the 1m boosters a day that Boris Johnson has ordered to reduce the threat posed by the Omicron variant.
Continue reading...Covid: people should cut down on socialising, warns Chris Whitty – video
Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, urged people not to 'mix with people you don't have to', amid mounting concern over the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. Whitty's comments were in stark contrast to messaging from Boris Johnson, who has previously said he does not want people to cancel Christmas parties
- UK Covid live
- Omicron likely biggest threat of Covid pandemic so far, says UK health chief
- Surge in hospitalisations a ‘nailed-on prospect’ as Covid cases hit record high
Canapes and party hats in CCHQ: Boris Johnson’s latest photo nightmare
Picture emerges showing Tory mayoral candidate, activists and a party donor crammed together during lockdown
As Christmas parties go, it may not be everyone’s idea of a good time: there are barely touched canapes, hotel buffet-style containers of hot food, a hand sanitiser dispenser visible in the background, and about 25 political activists, all crammed into a brightly lit basement in the middle of a pandemic.
Uninspiring though it might be, that is the scene captured by a photo taken at Conservative campaign headquarters (CCHQ) last December, which emerged in the Daily Mirror on Tuesday to create another political nightmare for Boris Johnson.
Continue reading...MPs back Covid passes in England amid large Tory rebellion
Measure comes into force on Wednesday and was passed despite many Tories voting against
Boris Johnson has suffered a humiliating rebellion over measures to slow the spread of the Omicron variant, with 99 Conservative MPs rejecting plans for vaccine certificates despite surging infections and personal lobbying by the prime minister.
Johnson had earlier warned his cabinet of a “huge spike” in cases but failed to convince many in his party to support plans to insist on a Covid certificate or negative lateral flow test to attend large venues.
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