Markus Andrews

Metropolitan Police have said they will not investigate allegations that Covid restrictions were broken at a party at 10 Downing Street on 18 December 2020.In a statement, Scotland Yard said the decision was taken on the basis of the “absence of evidence” that rules were broken and in line with Met policy not to investigate historical allegations of breaches of Covid regulations.But the police said that cabinet secretary Simon Case will pass on any further evidence which emerges as a result of the internal inquiry which Boris Johnson today ordered him to conduct into the allegations.The statement said that police had received “a significant amount of correspondence” relating to allegations reported in the media that Downing Street staff held a Christmas party at a time when London was under strict Tier 3 controls which barred indoor gatherings for non-work purposes.The correspondence was considered in detail by detectives, who also viewed leaked video footage showing Allegra Stratton and other No 10 aides joking about a party four days after it allegedly took place.But the Met said: “The correspondence and footage does not provide evidence of a breach of the health protection regulations but restates allegations made in the media.“Based on the absence of evidence and in line with our policy not to investigate retrospective breaches of such regulations, the Met will not commence investigation.”Referring to Mr Case’s inquiry, the statement said: “If any evidence is found as a result of that investigation, it will be passed to the Met for further consideration.”Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner called on Mr Case to look into the allegations as long as six days ago, and urged him to pass any evidence of lockdown breaches to the police for possible prosecutions.And Sir Keir Starmer today secured an assurance from Mr Johnson at prime minister’s questions in the Commons that any such evidence would be handed over to the Met. More

Boris Johnson’s government has changed the rules for contacts of Covid omicron variant cases, saying people can take daily tests to avoid 10 days of self-isolation.The prime minister announced the move to so-called ‘plan B’ measures in England on Wednesday – bringing back work from home guidance and reintroducing Covid passes for nightclubs and big events.Mr Johnson also revealed a relaxation in the rules for omicron contacts in a bid to avoid another “pingdemic” in which millions of Britons could potentially be told to stay at home.“As omicron spreads in the community, we will also introduce daily tests for contacts instead of isolation, so we keep people safe while minimising disruption to daily life,” Mr Johnson told a Downing Street press conference.In November the government changed the rules so that contacts of people identified as a suspected or confirmed case of the omicron variant must stay at home and isolate for 10 days.Tory MP Mark Harper – chair of the Covid Research Group (CRG) of lockdown sceptics – had warned of “big damage” to the economy if the expected rise in omicron cases caused a new pingdemic among contacts.The prime minister set out the changes at a press conference announcing plan B curbs, warning that the government cannot yet assume omicron is less severe than previous variants.“While the picture may get better, and I sincerely hope that it will, we know that the remorseless logic of exponential growth could lead to a big rise in hospitalisations and therefore, sadly, in deaths,” he said.Mr Johnson said his plan B curbs were the “proportionate and responsible” in a bid to “slow the spread of the virus, buy ourselves the time to get yet more boosters into arms”.As well as asking people across England to work from home from Monday, masks will be made mandatory inside theatres and cinemas from Friday as part of plan B.Mandatory vaccine “passports” are also being brought back for larger events and nightclubs in seven days time. A negative lateral flow test will also be sufficient proof, Mr Johnson said.Venues include those indoors that are unseated with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor venues with more than 4,000 people and any venue hosting more than 10,000 people.Announcing the plan B curbs in the Commons, health secretary Sajid Javid there are now “probably” up to 10,000 people in the UK infected with the new omicron variant.England’s chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty said there was an “incredibly steep” increase in cases in South Africa, where omicron was first detected – pointing to data suggesting “around about a 300% increase in hospitalisations over the last week”.Prof Whitty told the press conference that the data in the UK was clear that omicron cases here were also going up “incredibly fast now” – with a doubling rate between two and three days.The top adviser warned: “That is an extraordinarily fast rate and you, therefore, can get with very small numbers to very large numbers really quite quickly.” More

Boris Johnson has announced the government will implement its “plan B” for England with the introduction of Covid passports for large venues and guidance for the public to work from home from Monday.The prime minister’s decision to ramp up restrictions — after a meeting of the government’s Covid operations committee — comes in response to concerns over the transmissibility of the omicron variant and spread around the world.He also announced the mandatory wearing of face masks will be extended to cinemas and theatres after they were reintroduced a fortnight ago for public transport and shops, but exemptions will be included for eating, drinking and exercising.However, in a move that risked sparking confusion with work from home guidance, Mr Johnson reiterated his previous stance that Christmas parties should not be cancelled and urged everyone to “exercise due caution”, including testing before such events.Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday evening, Mr Johnson said: “We will reintroduce the guidance to work from home.“Employers should use the rest of the week to discuss working arrangements with their employees but from Monday you should work from home if you can. Go to work if you must but work from home if you can.“I know this will be hard for many people but by reducing your contacts in the workplace, you will help slow transmission.”The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) stressed the measure had played an “important role in preventing sustained epidemic growth” in the months before Covid restrictions were released.In a move that will dismay some Conservative MPs, Mr Johnson also told the public that the NHS Covid pass will be made mandatory in England in a week’s time for entry into nightclubs and venues where large crowds gather.These will include unseated indoor venues with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor venues with more than 4,000 people and any venue with more than 10,000 people.“The NHS Covid pass can still be obtained with two doses but we will keep this under review as the boosters roll out,” the prime minister said.“And having taken clinical advice since the emergence of Omicron, a negative lateral flow test will also be sufficient.“As we set out in plan B, we will give businesses a week’s notice, so this will come into force in a week’s time, helping to keep these events and venues open at full capacity while giving everyone who attends them confidence that those around them have done the responsible thing to minimise risk to others.”In a sign of the backlash the prime minister faces, immediately after his announcement, the Scottish Tory leader, Douglas Ross, posted on social media: “There is no evidence that vaccine passports stop the spread of Covid. I didn’t vote for them at Holyrood and I won’t be voting for them at Westminster.”On the spread of the virus, the prime minister added: “It has become increasingly clear that omicron is growing much faster than the previous Delta variant and is spreading rapidly all around the world.”While 568 cases had been confirmed in the UK “the true number is certain to be much higher”.“Most worryingly, there is evidence that the doubling time of omicron could currently be between two and three days.” More

Boris Johnson will hold a press conference at 6pm amid expectations he will announce the implementation of tighter Covid restrictions, No 10 has confirmed.It is anticipated the press minister will announce whether the government has decided to press ahead with “plan B” measures — first outlined in the summer — which includes work from home guidance and Covid vaccine status certificates for certain venues.It comes after a meeting of the government’s Covid operations committee on Wednesday to discuss the restrictions after a leading scientist said cases of the new omicron variant were “doubling every two to three days”.The total number of UK omicron cases so far stands at 437, after 101 more were reported on Tuesday, while the the country recorded its highest number of weekly cases since January on Monday and a further 51,342 on Wednesday.According to the government’s Covid autumn and winter plan, published in September, the plan B strategy would “only be enacted if the data suggests further measures are necessary to protect the NHS”.It stated the measures include a mandatory vaccine-only Covid status certification in certain settings, such as nightclubs and indoor crowded venues with 500 or more attendees likely to be in close proximity with other households.It also proposed the return of work from home guidance, with the Sage committee stressing the measure had played an “important role in preventing sustained epidemic growth” in the months before Covid restrictions were released.Another key tenant of “plan B” is to legally mandate face coverings in certain settings — a measure that has already been adopted by the prime minister a fortnight ago for public transport and shops, but could be extended to further settings.It comes after a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) today said that a UK-wide lockdown to deal with the threat of omicron cannot be ruled out.Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, whose data was instrumental to the UK going into lockdown in March 2020, said the variant is concerning but it is still unknown what its impact will be on severe disease.News of the press conference, however, was also greeted with scepticism by Westminster insiders earlier on Wednesday, who suspected that the timing may have been calculated to distract attention from damaging headlines over a Christmas party at 10 Downing Street last year.Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s former chief adviser at No 10, described the move towards plan B as a “dead cat” strategy. More

The outsourcing firm Capita has been handed the job of running the replacement for the Erasmus study exchange scheme, raising fresh fears about its future.The British Council launched the Turing Scheme – already under fire for being less generous and offering fewer opportunities – reflecting its long experience arranging student placements abroad.But the contract has now been awarded to Capita, which is believed to have undercut the British Council, sparking suspicions that the move is a cost-cutting exercise.The company will take over, until December 2023, despite criticism of failings in its projects overseeing army recruitment and NHS England administration.Matt Western, Labour’s universities spokesperson, said: “The Conservatives’ plan to farm out the Turing Scheme to the private firm Capita risks selling students short.“With the firm’s history of mismanaged contracts, students will clearly fear this government does not have their interests at heart.“Ministers must now guard against providers profiting off students’ aspirations.”The Department for Education (DfE) said: “The government has committed to funding the programme for a further three years, including with £110m for the next academic year.”Before Brexit was completed, Boris Johnson pledged in the House of Commons that there was “no threat” to the popular Erasmus scheme.But he then pulled the plug – triggering accusations that he was crushing the hopes of students who want to live, study and travel abroad.The Turing Scheme was announced, named after the legendary Second World War codebreaker Alan Turing, but the details suggested far less financial support for many students,And, most significantly, free studies in any EU country, plus some others in Europe, has been replaced by pressure on universities and colleges to strike deals.It is understood that Capita will be helped by organisations such as the Association of Colleges, the Sutton Trust and the Association of Commonwealth Universities, which has experience administering student scholarship schemes.But the tender document says Capita will be the “single legal entity” to enter into a contract, suggesting they will have a limited role.And the document warns funding could go down, requiring an ability to “manage a higher or lower budget for the future Turing Scheme”.It is understood that Capita will be helped by organisations such as the Association of Colleges, the Sutton Trust and the Association of Commonwealth Universities, which has experience administering student scholarship schemes.But the tender documents says Capita will be the “single legal entity” to enter into a contract, suggesting they will have a limited role.And the document warns funding could go down, requiring an ability to “manage a higher or lower budget for the future Turing Scheme”.The British Council said: “We are proud to have launched the Turing scheme in February 2021 and supported £98.5m of grant funding in the inaugural year of the Turing scheme, including 41,024 participants, of which 48% are identified as coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.”The DfE added: “The Turing Scheme is creating life-changing opportunities for over 40,000 students to work and study across the globe this academic year – with nearly half of all placements going to those from disadvantaged backgrounds.” More

Former journalist Allegra Stratton has resigned as an aide to Boris Johnsonf after widespread anger over a video of her joking about the illegal No.10 lockdown Christmas party.Stratton first made her name in Westminster as a political correspondent at The Guardian, before moving to become political editor of the BBC’s Newsnight programme, with a further stint at ITV News.She originally jointed government as Rishi Sunak’s communications director, and was then poached by Downing Street to become the prime minister’s new spokesperson.Stratton, who had ample broadcast experience, was handpicked by No.10 to lead planned daily televised press conferences – and was expected to become a well-known face of the governemnt.It was in rehearsals for this role that the infamous video was shot – with colleagues asking her mock questions about the party.But plans for the press conference were canned, and Stratton was moved to a lower-profile job spinning for the government’s climate summit. The Mail on Sunday reported at the time that some members of No.10 staff had “reservations” about making her the face of the government – perhaps based on the now infamous rehearsals.The Guardian may not be the most obvious former employer for a Tory government spokesperson, but Stratton has long moved in Conservative circles. She is married to James Forsyth, the political editor of The Spectator magazine – which the prime minister famously used to edit.Her connections to the Tory establishment don’t end there: her ex-boss Rishi Sunak was the best man at the pair’s wedding.Stratton’s journalistic career has been one of a news reporter rather than a comment writer – so it’s hard to say for sure what her exact political opinions are. One clue however comes from her stint as political editor of Newsnight, when she provoked outrage with a report on the government’s proposed cuts to welfare benefits.The government line at the time was that benefits needed to be cut because unemployed people were living on benefit as a “lifestyle choice”. Stratton lined up an interviewee to illustrate the supposed problem, grilling an east London single mother who received help with her housing costs and portraying her as an unemployed burden. The report however failed to mention that the mother actually had a job, rather undermining the thrust of Stratton’s framing.To make matters worse, Private Eye magazine reported at the time that the future Tory spokesperson had dismissed several other interviewees offered by Tower Hamlets council, including a couple with four children who had lost their jobs and faced having to leave London. The magazine reported her as telling council officials: “You must have got people living on benefits as a lifestyle choice!” before adding: “People should think about whether they can afford kids before they have them!”The incident provoked an outcry and led to headlines like “How Newsnight humiliated single mother Shanene Thorpe”, and “How Newsnight demonised a single mother”, with The Independent’s own columnist Laurie Penny opining that “Shame has become our stick for beating the poor.” The programme issued an apology after 50,000 people signed a petition.Stratton, who was educated at the Latymer Upper School, a public school in Hammersmith, before attending Emmanuel College Cambridge, was widely considered an obvious frontrunner for the job of No.10 spokesperson. She was due to start the new role in the middle of one of the greatest peacetime crises since the Second World War, with politics as divisive as ever.But the televised press conference plan never went ahead – its only significant legacy a little-used briefing room in Downing Street, and this week’s leaked video. More

A furious Conservative party member has revealed she quit the party immediately after hearing Boris Johnson’s “barefaced lies” about the No 10 Christmas party.Melanie, a lifelong Tory, phoned to BBC Radio 5 Live to call for the prime minister to resign, saying: “I just cannot believe what he says anymore.”“I resigned five minutes into PMQs [prime minister’s questions], she told the show, adding – of Mr Johnson’s partial apology for the controversy – “It’s just bare faced lies.“He was there, backed into a corner. I am at the point I just think he needs to resign. I think he’s doing an injustice to anybody that’s ever voted Conservative.”Melanie said she had “always only voted Conservative”, saying: “I only became a member when Boris really came to the forefront. I really liked Boris“Over the last couple of weeks, I sort of began to doubt a lot of things,” she said, before the tipping point of his performance at a stormy prime minister’s questions.In the Commons, Mr Johnson apologised for the video of senior Downing Street staff joking about holding a lockdown-breaking party – after days of denying any party took place.He announced an investigation by the Cabinet Secretary, but still refused to admit there was a party and claimed he had been “assured’ that no Covid rules were broken if there was.In evidence that the controversy has cut through to the public – in a way that most political rows fail to do – a snap poll found 54 per cent of voters believe Mr Johnson should quit.The Conservatives are increasingly gloomy about the North Shropshire by-election next week, one senior Tory telling The Independent: “We wrote that off a week ago.”The Liberal Democrats are increasingly confident of pulling off a shock to dwarf even their triumph at Chesham and Amersham earlier this year, in a vote forced by the resignation of the disgraced Owen Paterson.The party reports the controversy is being raised by North Shropshire voters and that it has “put rocket boosters’ under their campaign. More

More than half of voters believe Boris Johnson should resign as prime minister over allegations of a lockdown-breaking Christmas party at 10 Downing Street, according to two separate polls conducted as the PM announced an inquiry into the claims.And in worrying results for the prime minister, one in three of those who voted Conservative at the last general election in 2019 said he should stand down.Some 54 per cent of voters – and 33 per cent of Tory supporters – taking part in a Savanta ComRes snap poll said the PM should quit, along with 53 per cent in an Opinium survey, including 35 per cent of Tory voters.Some 63 per cent of those in the Opinium poll said Mr Johnson was not telling the truth about what happened, against just 12 per cent who thought he was. Sixty-four per cent believe that the alleged 18 December party in No 10 took place, while only nine per cent continue to believe it did not.More than three-quarters of those taking part in the Savanta poll said the PM should apologise for the party (76 per cent). The figure was up 13 points since a similar question at the weekend and included more than two-thirds of Conservative voters (67 per cent). Some 79 per cent said the PM’s former press secretary Allegra Stratton should resign after being filmed laughing about the incident.And – on the day when Mr Johnson is thought likely to introduce tougher rules on crowded venues and new guidance to work from home – three in 10 (29 per cent) said they were less likely to follow government Covid restrictions as a result of the scandal.Answering questions in the House of Commons today, Mr Johnson apologised for any offence caused by a video of No 10 staff discussing an alleged party and the impression it might have given that they did not take Covid restrictions seriously.But he offered no apology for the gathering itself and declined to say whether he believed that it took place or not, telling MPs only that he had been assured it did not and had asked cabinet secretary Simon Case to establish the truth.Respondents to the Savanta ComRes poll were asked whether the PM should resign “now”, rather than depending on the outcome of the Case inquiry.The 54 per cent figure was higher than the 50 per cent who said he should quit over claims that he had said he was ready to see “bodies pile high” to avoid another lockdown.Some 83 per cent said that the public and those who had lost loved ones to Covid had been let down.Savanta ComRes political research director Chris Hopkins said: “As the prime minister continues to refuse to acknowledge the party or admit that there was a breach of Covid guidelines, it’s clear from this poll that the public are taking a dim view of the scandal, with an overwhelming majority saying that the government have let the public, the NHS and, crucially, those who have lost loved ones to Covid, down.“However, while many believe the PM and his former press secretary should apologise for their role in the story, far fewer feel he should resign and, interestingly, a sizable proportion of around two in five said that a fictional person, put into the poll as a control, should resign for their, ultimately non-existent, role in the story. “While the PM may have to add forgiveness to his Christmas wish list, he may still have time to do enough to avoid being on Santa’s naughty list this year – but it does seem to feel as though the PM’s rope is shortening after each governmental mishap.”Elsewhere in the poll, the vast majority (72 per cent) say that the Metropolitan Police should investigate any wrongdoing or illegal activity in reference to the alleged party.• Savanta ComRes interviewed 1,036 UK adults on 8 December 2021.Opinium carried out an online survey of 1,116 adults on 7 and 8 December. More