Markus Andrews

Boris Johnson is set to be forced to rely on Labour votes to put his Christmas Covid restrictions into law, as a slew of Tory rebels spoke out against his plan for vaccine passes.Labour support means no threat of defeat for the prime minister in the key vote next Tuesday, but a record revolt would represent a further indication of waning confidence in his leadership, already reeling over the Downing Street Christmas party scandal.Rebels were confident of topping the tally of 40 needed to neutralise Mr Johnson’s 79-seat majority, and there were expectations that the revolt could surpass the 49 Tories who opposed the extension of lockdown measures in June with some Tories branding the new restrictions “authoritarian”.The upswell of anger came as Downing Street assured MPs that new domestic restrictions will be reviewed by 5 January at the latest – and earlier if emerging scientific data suggests that the omicron variant of Covid-19 does not threaten to overwhelm the NHS.Among those considering voting against the package is ex-cabinet minister Liam Fox – a former shadow health secretary – who told The Independent that he would wait to see whether the wording of Tuesday’s motion allows him to oppose vaccine certification for entry to venues while backing the relaxation of isolation rules proposed by Mr Johnson.Within 24 hours of the announcement of new plan B restrictions, at least 23 Tory MPs had gone public with their opposition to the mandatory use of passes showing double-jab status or a recent negative test to gain entry to nightclubs, indoor unseated venues with a capacity of more than 500, outdoor unseated venues holding 4,000 or any sporting or music event for 10,000 or more.At least a dozen of those saying they would not back the measure did not take part in the June rebellion, many of them younger Red Wall Tories of the 2019 intake, in a signal that next week’s revolt could be the largest yet against Covid restrictions.And there was fury over Mr Johnson’s hint in a press conference on Wednesday that he was ready to consider mandatory vaccination as part of a “national conversation” about how to defend Britain from future Covid threats.Backbencher Marcus Fysh told The Independent that any compulsory jab proposal from the PM would be “totally unacceptable” and would split the party, warning: “I don’t think the Conservative party  would survive in its current form.”Mr Fysh said he had never felt such “animosity towards the government and our ministers” from the Tory benches as was expressed by MPs in a debate on the new restrictions on Wednesday.“Everyone is perfectly prepared to be considerate towards others over the use of face-coverings, but there is a line you do not cross into authoritarianism,” he said.Among Tories declaring they will not support the certification scheme were 2019 intake members including Darren Henry of Broxtowe, Simon Fell of Barrow and Furness, Dehenna Davison of Bishop Auckland and Christian Wakeford of Bury South.Stroud’s Siobhan Baillie said she saw “no evidence” that vaccine passports had stopped the spread of Covid, Anthony Mangnall of Totnes said they were “farcical, unnecessary and impractical” and Danny Kruger of Devizes said: “We must not go down this road.”Runnymede and Weybridge MP Ben Spencer – another member of the 2019 intake – said: “I have grave concerns over any form of Covid passport and the inequality they create.“I don’t want to live in a society that excludes or segregates people based on their medical status or beliefs and therefore will not be supporting these measures next week.“And as to a ‘national conversation’ on compulsory vaccination? Simply: No. No. No.”Veteran Tory MP and vocal lockdown sceptics Sir Desmond Swayne said he will vote against plan B measures.He told The Independent: “The Adam Smith Institute estimates the economic cost of the measures as £800m per week. We have delivered an intolerable situation of tailoring social and economic activity to accommodate hospital admissions.” More

Pressure on Boris Johnson over Downing Street parties has been stepped up after it emerged that his top communications adviser handed out awards to staff on the night of an alleged Christmas do. No 10 head of communications Jack Doyle gave a thank you speech to press office workers on 18 December last year, the date of a party with alcohol food and a secret Santa believed to have been attended by as many as 50 people in breach of Covid restrictions.Labour said that Mr Doyle’s presence, first reported by ITV News, exposed the investigation being carried out by Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, as “a sham” and showed that Mr Johnson was “unfit to lead”.The development raises questions over the information issued to journalists by Downing Street spokespeople, who have previously insisted that no party took place on that date. And it will inevitably spark questions about who gave Mr Johnson the assurances, which he mentioned in the House of Commons on Wednesday, that “there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken”.Downing Street declined to comment on the ITV report, with the prime minister’s official spokesperson telling The Independent that “We are not commenting further while the cabinet secretary Simon Case is doing his fact-finding work.”The Independent understands that Doyle – who at the time was deputy comms chief in No 10 – gave a short thank you speech to members of his team who had been working on the Covid response.He is understood to have handed out awards to staff for their work, which a source familiar with the situation said was done regularly each week.It is not yet known whether food or alcohol was being consumed, or other party activities were under way, at the time he was present.Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said the report indicated that Mr Johnson was “unfit to lead”.“As more details emerge about the Downing Street Christmas party, the government’s internal investigation has been exposed as the sham it is,” said Ms Rayner. “The investigation has only just published its terms of reference and we are already seeing more details from the media than the Cabinet Office about the parties.“We all know there was a party that broke the rules. The Conservatives think it’s one rule for them, and another for everyone else.“The prime minister is unfit to lead.”The row came as the latest voting intention poll, by Survation, gave Labour its biggest lead since Mr Johnson took power in 2019, with a six-point advantage on 40 per cent to the Conservatives’ 34.The development came as the investigation ordered by the prime minister into allegations of pre-Christmas parties in government buildings was widened to cover a separate gathering reportedly hosted in No 10 on 27 November and a festive event at the Department for Education (DfE) on 10 December.Mr Johnson ordered his most senior civil servant to conduct the probe in response to a leaked video showing government officials joking about a festive party, which led to the resignation on Wednesday of the prime minister’s former press secretary Allegra Stratton.Updating MPs, Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis said the cabinet secretary will be tasked with establishing “swiftly a general understanding of the nature of the gatherings, including attendance, the setting and the purpose”. “If required, the investigation will establish whether individual disciplinary action is warranted,” he insisted, adding that all ministers, special advisers and civil servants will be expected to cooperate.However, there was no reference to an allegation made by Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s former senior adviser, of a separate party held in the Downing Street flat on 13 November.Posting on social media on Wednesday, Mr Cummings said: “Will the CABSEC [cabinet secretary] also be asked to investigate the *flat* party on Fri 13 Nov, the other flat parties, & the flat’s ‘bubble’ policy…”.The date identified by Mr Cummings was the same day he left Downing Street after losing a power struggle and just eight days after the prime minister imposed England’s second national lockdown in response to surging Covid rates.Elsewhere, Mr Ellis confirmed that if any evidence emerges of behaviour that is a potential criminal offence, “the matter will be referred to the police and the Cabinet Office’s work may be paused.He said: “I must emphasise that the matters relating to adherence to the law are properly for the police to investigate and the Cabinet Office will liaise with the police as appropriate”Speaking about the investigation, Labour shadow Cabinet Office minister, Fleur Anderson, said: “I don’t think we need to call them alleged parties, they are the parties”.The extent to which the party scandal has shaken Tory support for Mr Johnson’s leadership was laid bare in an interview in which a “Red Wall” MP repeatedly declined to say whether he had confidence in the PM.Chris Green, MP for Bolton West, suggested the prime minister had only imposed plan B Covid restrictions on Wednesday to distract from the furore over last year’s parties.Asked on BBC Radio Manchester if he still had confidence in Mr Johnson, Mr Green paused for six second before saying: “I’m very concerned about what the prime minister is doing.”Challenged again, he waited another five seconds before saying the government would find it difficult to pass Covid rules in the Commons.And asked once more whether he still had confidence in the PM, the Tory backbencher paused for eight seconds, before admitting: “I think the silence does speak volumes.” More

The government plans to radically alter local government in England, replacing it with a single-tier mayoral-style system, according to a draft of the government’s levelling up white paper seen by The Independent.The document – marked “Official Sensitive” – states the government is setting out a “new devolution framework for England” based on a model of a directly elected leader “over a well-defined economic geography”. The ambition is to strip back layers of local government and replace them with a single-tier system, as in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, but the government is already braced for a backlash to the plans, according to one senior official. “Levelling up requires coherent local institutions,” the document reads. With local government split across county councils, district councils and unitary authorities there needs to be a more streamlined approach, it suggests. At present, across most of England there are two tiers of local government, county and district, which share responsibility for council services. The proposals would scrap those tiers and take an approach seen in London and other metropolitan areas where one single structure takes charge of all services.The plans proposed in the draft paper would mean a huge overhaul of local government, and either scrapping or merging England’s 181 district councils and 24 county councils. The step towards single tier local government would need to be under way by 2023 in order to coincide with changes in funding for regions. A new Local Growth Funding Roadmap detailing how this will work will be released in 2022, and then enforced in 2023, according to the paper.Boris Johnson’s government will also define its flagship levelling up agenda with a host of end-of-decade “missions” on crime, health and living standards.The document lays out 13 missions with which to “anchor” the agenda, which the prime minister has described as the central purpose of his administration, and all come with a 2030 deadline.The government’s white paper was promised before the end of the year, but last week it emerged the proposals would be delayed until 2022 as ministers grapple with controversies on multiple fronts and the increasing threat of Covid with the new omicron variant.The missions include targets from narrowing gaps in life expectancy to an undefined target to reduce the numbers of people renting “non-decent homes”.There are also commitments to have nationwide gigabit-capable broadband and 4G coverage, to increase the number of adults in training in low-skilled areas by 20 per cent, and to increase KS2 outcomes in the bottom third of local authority areas by more than a third by 2030.“By 2030, we will have a globally competitive city in every region and nation of the UK,” the paper reads. The proposals amount to “wholesale changes to information, incentives and institutions” which “underpin decision-making in the UK”.While the commitments are UK-wide, much of the paper focuses on what can be achieved within England, noting limits to Westminster’s powers to override existing devolved powers in the other nations of the UK. Each mission will be “a rolling 10-year endeavour”, and reviewed at each spending review by the Treasury and there is an additional document that sets out metrics for measuring progress on each. But the 2030 targets are likely to be seized on by opposition parties at Westminster amid the backdrop of imminent concerns over living standards this winter, the manifesto-flouting 1.25 percentage point increase to national insurance, and the unequal impact of the government’s social care reforms in different areas of the country.The white paper also aims to reform the collation and sharing of data across local government. Each of the levelling up missions will be measured against data dashboards, to make it easier to monitor progress. The metrics used to create these will be published alongside the government’s white paper.Several parts of the draft paper show that key decisions from the levelling up cabinet committee and the Treasury have yet to be signed off. A Treasury official told The Independent that this department would have the final call on economic policies laid out in the white paper.The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities declined to comment ahead of publication. More

Boris Johnson’s government is under fire after selecting leading Brexiteer Gisela Stuart to lead a commission responsible for making sure the civil service is politically impartial.Baroness Stuart – the Vote Leave chair who campaigned with Mr Johnson during the Brexit referendum – was revealed as the government’s preferred choice for the civil service commissioner job on Thursday.The former Labour MP and crossbench peer also urged Labour voters to switch allegiances to the Tories in the 2019 general election to help “get Brexit done”.Baroness Stuart said it was “a great honour” to be named in the top Whitehall role and said she vowed to “maintain the excellence and impartiality of our civil service.”But Labour condemned the choice saying it would be “deeply inappropriate” for someone who lead a divisive national political campaign to oversee political impartiality in Whitehall.“Baroness Stuart has had an admirable career, but she is a former elected politician and chaired a national political campaign,” said the shadow Cabinet Office minister Fleur Anderson MP.She said: “There are huge questions marks over whether she can uphold the independence and integrity of this role and my Labour colleagues believe this is a deeply inappropriate appointment.”Referring to the investigation into Downing Street Christmas parties, Ms Anderson added: “On a day when junior civil servants are being hung out to dry, the neutrality of this position is more important than ever.”The government argued Baroness Stuart has contributed to public life in “non-partisan roles”, such as at the Royal Mint and the Cabinet Office.A statement on her selection also noted that she now sits as a crossbencher in the Lords, operating “independently, outside of a party-political framework”.But Alex Thomas, who leads the Institute for Government think tank’s work on the civil service, raised concerns over the appointment of a politician to the role – saying it had not been done since 1909.“Asking a politician to do it is problematic. The very essence of the job is to safeguard the impartiality of the civil service,” he said. “It makes it difficult to discharge that function credibly.”Mr Thomas said the view was nothing to do with Baroness Stuart having served as the chair of Vote Leave, arguing that “there’s nothing wrong with that” – but that appointing any politician could raise concerns.Cabinet Office minister Steve Barclay said: “Baroness Stuart has all the attributes, experience and independence of judgment needed to lead the Civil Service commission highly effectively.”She is expected to appear before the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee before the government considers the MPs’ views and decides whether to approve her appointment. More

People in Scotland have been urged by the country’s public health authority to cancel Christmas parties amid rising concerns about the spread of omicron variant of Covid.Public Health Scotland has asked Scots to “defer” their plans for festive gatherings after a series of coronavirus outbreaks linked to parties.“To help minimise the further spread of Covid-19, and omicron in particular, I would strongly urge people to defer their Christmas parties to another time,” said Dr Nick Phin, director of public health science at Public Health Scotland.It comes as Boris Johnson comes under pressure over Christmas parties held at Downing Street during last year’s lockdown restrictions – with Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon calling on the PM to resign over the scandal.Mr Johnson has brought in plan B measures for England asking people to work from home again – but he has encouraged people south of the border to carry on with their Christmas parties.In his plea to Christmas revellers in Scotland, Dr Phin said: “We still need to learn more about the severity of disease caused by Omicron and the effectiveness of vaccines, but there are important things that we can do to help protect ourselves and our families now.”The Scottish health chief added: “I appreciate that everyone is keen to celebrate this festive season, particularly after the pressures of the last 20 months, but by postponing some plans we can all do our bit to protect ourselves and our loved ones.”The UK is going to see a “really rather large wave of Omicron” and deaths in the next few months, a scientist advising government said on Thursday. Prof John Edmunds said: “We’re getting large numbers of cases and that will result in a large number of hospitalisations and, unfortunately, it will result in a large number of deaths.”Responding to plan B measures for England – including work for home guidance and Covid passports for many venues – Ms Sturgeon said “all these protections are already in place in Scotland and have helped us get Delta cases down”.Raising the prospect of further restrictions for Scots, the SNP leader said on Thursday that the “tough question we all face in period ahead is whether these protections will be strong enough against a rapidly spreading Omicron variant”.Under plan B people in England are being told to work from home if they can from next week – but Mr Johnson said it was still possible for employees to attend Christmas parties. Some have pointed out that guidance would not stop colleagues gathering at a pub to do their jobs.Meanwhile, Ms Sturgeon has urged the PM to support temporarily waive intellectual property rights for coronavirus jabs in a move she said would boost the number given out in poorer countries.In a letter to Mr Johnson, she said the move would better support developing countries in their battle against Covid, and would mean the UK joining more than 100 other countries in supporting the temporary rights suspension. More

Senior Conservative Party officials have ordered the party’s North Shropshire by-election candidate not to speak to media amid concerns he knows so little about the area, insiders say.Birmingham barrister Neil Shastri-Hurst has been parachuted in to fight the safe seat after its previous MP Owen Paterson resigned amid a sleaze scandal.But local party members reckon the new man has so little understanding of the rural issues faced in the sprawling agricultural constituency that he has been told to avoid press interviews for fear he will damage his own campaign.He has done almost no media appearances since he was selected as the Tories’ candidate on 13 November. Requests to speak him have been ignored by both Dr Shastri-Hurst himself and Matthew Follows, the party’s regional press officer for the West Midlands.“He’s a nice bloke and will no doubt be a quick learner if he’s elected but it’s embarrassing that a Tory in North Shropshire is essentially hiding away,” one local party member told The Independent.“They’re not letting him speak because they know that any journalist worth their salt would expose his lack of understanding within about three questions.”The revelation comes amid growing consternation among regional Tories that the lawyer was selected in the first place.Mark Whittle, the Conservative deputy mayor of Market Drayton, has quit the party in protest, while campaigners said Dr Shastri-Hurst’s unfamiliarity with the area was being repeatedly brought up on the doorstep by voters feeling taken for granted.Although he has taken part in a number of hustings, some Tories fear his soundbites have appeared too generalised to impress.He is also said to have appeared nervous around animals at a livestock market, while his early campaign calls to reopen the long-closed Gobowen to Oswestry railway line have suggested a fundamental lack of knowledge about the constituency’s geography. The A5 bypass now runs across the old line meaning that reopening the two-mile stretch of line would require a tunnel costing hundreds of millions of pounds.“I took him around Market Drayton a couple of days after he was selected and he knew absolutely zilch about the area,” said Mr Whittle. “In a city, I’m sure he’d be a fine MP but, here in the sticks, as you’d call it, he hasn’t a clue.”Ben Wood, the Labour candidate from Oswestry, said: “If the Conservative Party are trying to impose a candidate with no real local connection, they should at least have the decency not to lock him up for the duration of the campaign. Yet again, this is the Tories taking the people of North Shropshire for granted.”It is not the first time the party has stopped by-election candidates speaking to the media. In both the Hartlepool and Batley and Spen by-elections this year, they used a similar playbook.In Hartlepool, the tactic worked with Jill Mortimer romping to victory. In Batley and Spen, it did not. Despite being expected to take the seat from Labour, Ryan Stephenson lost out to Kim Leadbeater.Dr Shastri-Hurst – a trained surgeon – did not respond to request for comment.Mr Follows called the claims “absolute rubbish” and added: “He is doing multiple election hustings, including one organised by the BBC, and he is out speaking to people in North Shropshire every day.” More

Boris Johnson’s new Covid rules mean shoppers could remove their masks in supermarkets so long as they walk around the store singing.Under the prime minister’s plan B measures compulsory face coverings will be extended to most indoor venues from Friday – including cinemas, theatres and places of worship.Mr Johnson said that there was an exemption for singing, mainly aimed at places of worship where a mask should be worn during the service but could be removed to sing hymns.But government officials confirmed on Thursday this singing exemption would also be applicable to other indoor settings.Asked whether a shopper could remove their mask in Tesco to sing, it was confirmed it would be within the rules – though officials stressed there needed to be a “reasonable excuse”.Downing Street has said it would be “hard to justify” shoppers having a “reasonable excuse” to remove their masks to sing in supermarkets under the new plan B rules.“We were absolutely clear there is a reasonable excuse required for someone who is seeking to do that,” Mr Johnson’s official spokesman said.“Whilst it wouldn’t be for me to say, I think it would be hard to justify. These rules are set to be balanced and proportionate, we’ve seen how the public are responsible … and we’re confident they will continue to be so.”The exemption is another example of how the new measures appear to have some striking idiosyncrasies. Under plan B people are being told to work from home if they can from next week – but Mr Johnson said it was still possible for employees to attend Christmas parties.Some have pointed out that guidance would not stop colleagues gathering at a pub to do their jobs.Officials confirmed there was nothing within the rules to stop colleagues meeting at a pub to work, with the focus being on reducing the transmission risk from the commute and within the workplace.It would be up to employers and employees to decide how to interpret the new guidance. But the advice is that if a worker does not need to go into the office, they should work from home, in order to slow the spread of the omicron variant.The PM’s official spokesman said: “Obviously, we have, sadly, been in this position before and employers and employee … have demonstrated that they’re able to work together and come up with an agreement recognising both business need and also the needs of individuals and personal life circumstances.” More

The Conservative Party has a reputation for ruthlessly disposing of its leaders when they have become surplus to requirements and are no longer viewed as electoral assets: i.e they can’t win a parliamentary majority.Even former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who is considered one of the party’s greatest-ever leaders, winning three landslide elections in the 70s and 80s, was ousted in 1990 amid concerns over her politically toxic poll tax among other issues.Conversations about Tory succession – and who might lead the troops into the next battle – are constant within the party and have been taking place long before recent scandals sent Boris Johnson’s approval ratings and poll lead tumbling.For the early part of the current prime minister’s tenure in No 10 Downing Street, it was perceived wisdom in Westminster that Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, would be next to ascend the Tory throne.Assured performances by the Richmond and North Yorkshire MP while delivering his first Budget to MPs in the Commons, and the competence he displayed in delivering furlough, eat out to help out and other pandemic schemes, saw Mr Sunak’s popularity surge and the chancellor quickly became the darling of the party’s grassroots.While Mr Sunak’s star has since fallen slightly over recent tax hikes, he is still the favourite of some bookies to become the next occupant of No 10. But who else is in the running?Lizz Truss, who has undergone somewhat of an epiphany over Brexit, has recently seen her approval ratings soar, with a Conservative Home poll published last month ranking her top among cabinet ministers. The survey is viewed as a good barometer of grassroots support and is keenly watched by those in government.Ms Truss’s Twitter feed in 2016 was home to disparaging comments about the Leave campaign’s economic arguments in the run-up to the referendum. “Leave cannot name one country we would get a better trade deal with if we left the EU,” one dated 21 June 2016 says.But a sudden change of heart after the Brexit result, and unwavering support for the PM, saw Ms Truss get promoted to international trade secretary, with one No 10 official saying she “did a brilliant job” in the role and “had been a fantastic representative for the UK around the world.”The free-market Conservative, who talks tough on “woke” Britain, was subsequently promoted to foreign secretary in the PM’s September reshuffle. The 3 November ConHome poll put Ms Truss’s approval rating at +85.6 – more than 10 points higher than second-placed de-facto Brexit minister, Lord Frost.Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the current international trade secretary, and Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, also ranked in the top five of the survey but neither has been strongly linked to the Tory leadership role.Michael Gove, the new levelling up and housing secretary and Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary and current chair of the Commons health committee, are invariably linked with the top job. Although both are viewed in Tory circles as competent and capable of successfully overseeing a brief, they have had tilts at the leadership and failed.Mr Gove famously stabbed the PM in the back during the 2016 contest, which was subsequently won by Theresa May. He announced his own campaign for the leadership while running Mr Johnson’s operation and was banished to the backbenches by Ms May for his very public act of disloyalty.Reflecting on the move while speaking in the Commons in October this year, Mr Gove described it as “political suicide”. “But as the former member for Kensington and Chelsea Sir Malcolm Rifkind pointed out, one of the things about committing political suicide is that you always live to regret it,” he jokingly added. That betrayal is unlikely to be forgotten in any future contest.Since losing to Mr Johnson in the 2019 contest Mr Hunt has played a smart game, being loyal through the pandemic while also offering constructive criticism. He repeatedly plays down speculation that he could once again throw his hat into the ring but you wouldn’t rule out another run.What do the punters think?”Following the calamitous week that Boris Johnson has had, we have seen plenty of action on the Betfair Exchange’s next prime minister market,” Betfair spokesman Sam Rosbottom tells The Independent.”Rishi Sunak is the 11/4 favourite take over at Number 10 after Johnson, while Liz Truss has been the biggest mover in the market. The foreign secretary has been backed in from 33/1 earlier in the year to 11/2 now.”Betfair says, over the past few days, the odds on Mr Johnson leaving his job by the end of 2021 have shortened from 149/1 to as low as 15/1. Mr Johnson leaving no 10 in 2022 is proving to be a popular choice too, the firm said, with the odds being slashed from 21/1 to 7/5 in the past seven days.Next Conservative leader after Boris JohnsonRishi Sunak 13/5Liz Truss 5/1Michael Gove 15/2Jeremy Hunt 11/1Sajid Javid 19/1Tom Tugendhat 22/1Ben Wallace 23/1Boris Johnson exit date2021 – 17/1 (was 149/1)2022 7/52023 7/22024 8/5 More