Markus Andrews

Boris Johnson’s government went to ground on Wednesday morning following the release of a video showing No.10 officials joking about a banned Christmas party. In a highly unusual turn of events no government minister was made available to broadcasters on Wednesday morning to defend Downing Street’s record, despite invitations.All Britain’s main national broadcasters empty-chaired the government as the political storm broke. It is understood that Sajid Javid, the health secretary, was due to appear on the BBC, ITV, and Sky News at breakfast time – but withdrew from the regular slot following the release of the video.The dynamite footage, obtained by ITV News, shows the prime minister’s then spokesperson laughing and joking with other officials about the Christmas party – which No.10 insists did not happen despite mounting evidence. She jokingly suggests referring to the bash as a “business meeting” or “cheese and wine” to get around the rules.Amid fury over the footage no alternative minister was offered to broadcasters by the government to represent its position – prompting speculation that the administration was unable to muster anyone willing to go on air and defend it.The Independent understands that even allies of the prime minister were shocked by the footage and believe it is indefensible.Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, presenter Nick Robinson said: “We were expected to speak to the Health Secretary. That invitation was kept open after the video emerged last night, but the government chose to withdraw that interview with Sajid Javid.”Viewers on BBC Breakfast television were meanwhile told: “Usually at this time here on Breakfast we would be able to put your questions to a government minister as part of a slot we’ve had on the programme at 7.30am pretty much every morning since the start of the pandemic. “We had been hoping to speak to the health secretary Sajid Javid … but this morning no one has been available to speak to us. So this is the shot of the Westminster studio that we would normally show to you this time most mornings of the week. As you can see there’s nobody there today, and that’s every unusual. The camera’s ready, the seat’s there, we can take an interview at any moment.”The presenters of ITV’s Good Morning Britain said they were “still waiting for somebody from the government to turn up today”, and issued a challenge”:“If any Conservative MP, anybody connected to the government is watching and you would like to take your duty and answer to those people who lost family members, there is a Westminster seat available for a government minister this morning. “We’ll take anyone. Anybody from the Conservative party, any MP who feels that it is their duty to address the nation, address their constituents, address the 140,000 people who lost family members in hospitals, followed the rules, couldn’t attend funerals, couldn’t be at hospital bedside while people partied in Downing Street.”And on Sky, presenter Kay Burley said: “Normally we’d ask a government minister about this. We were told originally that it was going to be the health secretary Sajid Javid because of course it’s the first anniversary of the first vaccine being administered. But sadly now we’ve been told that nobody’s accepted our invitation. We’ve not even had a proper RSVP.”Boris Johnson is due to be grilled by Labour leader Keir Starmer and other MPs at a session of prime ministers questions later on Wednesday.Polls conducted before the release of the video showed a large majority of people want Mr Johnson to apologise, believe that the party happened, and that it could not have happened within the rules at the time.Speaking on the BBC on Wednesday morning, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said: “Why would it be acceptable for the Prime Minister and his staff to pick up a drink and gather, and for everybody else not to be able to? “It the staff of the Today programme had done this, you would have breached the rules. And like other journalists that breached the rules at the time, you would be under tremendous pressure in your job if you had done that. “Why is there one rule for the Prime Minister and his staff and another rule for other people? Why have we got the Prime Minister spokesperson being frivolous and humorous about this fact?”Mr Lammy said his party leader Sir Keir would “ask questions on behalf of the British people” at PMQs and also called for “a proper police investigation”.Further footage emerged in the early hours of Wednesday morning of Tory Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg also joking about the unlawful government event.In a bizarre stand-up routine for a crowd at a right-wing think-tank the Tory MP can be heard telling an audience, to laughter: “This party is not going to be investigated by the police in a year’s time.” More

A leaked video that shows staff members in British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office joking about holding a lockdown-breaching Christmas party is adding fuel to allegations that government officials flouted coronavirus rules they imposed on everyone else.For days, the prime minister’s office has been trying to rebut reports that Johnson’s staff held a December 2020 office party – complete with wine, food, games and a festive gift exchange – when pandemic regulations banned most social gatherings. According to multiple British media outlets, the party took place on Dec. 18, when restrictions in London prohibited indoor gatherings, and a day before Johnson tightened the rules even further, ruling out family Christmases for millions of people.In response to the footage, aired late Tuesday by broadcaster ITV, the prime minister’s office said: “There was no Christmas party. COVID rules have been followed at all times.” The video, recorded on Dec. 22, 2020, shows then-press secretary Allegra Stratton appearing to joke about an illicit party at the prime minister’s Downing Street office.The recording appears to be a mock press conference, held as a rehearsal for televised daily government media briefings.Another aide, playing a journalist, says: “I’ve just seen reports on Twitter that there was a Downing Street Christmas party on Friday night, do you recognize those reports?” As laughter is heard, Stratton, the press secretary, says: “I went home” and asks colleagues: “What’s the answer?” Another voice can be heard saying: “It wasn’t a party, it was cheese and wine”. “Is cheese and wine all right? It was a business meeting,” Stratton says, laughing.Thousands of people in Britain have been fined since early 2020 for breaking restrictions by holding illegal gatherings. London’s Metropolitan Police force said officers were reviewing the leaked video in relation to “alleged breaches” of coronavirus regulations.Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said the prime minister should “come clean and apologize.”“People across the country followed the rules even when that meant being separated from their families, locked down and — tragically for many — unable to say goodbye to their loved ones,” Starmer said. “They had a right to expect that the government was doing the same. To lie and to laugh about those lies is shameful.” The Christmas party allegations are the latest in a string of allegations of rule-breaking and ethics violations by Johnson’s Conservative government. More

Olaf Scholz is set to take office Wednesday as Germany’s ninth post-World War II chancellor, succeeding Angela Merkel after her heralded 16-year tenure. Scholz’s government takes office with high hopes of modernizing the European Union s most populous nation and combating climate change, but faces the immediate challenge of handling Germany’s toughest phase yet of the coronavirus pandemic.The 63-year-old, Germany’s vice chancellor and finance minister since 2018, brings a wealth of experience and discipline to an untried coalition of his center-left Social Democrats the environmentalist Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats. The three parties are portraying the combination of former rivals as a progressive alliance that will bring new energy to the country after Merkel’s near-record time in office.Scholz will need the support of at least 369 lawmakers in the 736-seat lower house of parliament to be elected as chancellor. The coalition partners have 416 seats between them, so he should be assured of a comfortable majority.“We are venturing a new departure, one that takes up the major challenges of this decade and well beyond that,” Scholz said Tuesday, adding that if they succeed, “that is a mandate to be re-elected together at the next election.”The new government aims to step up efforts against climate change, expanding the use of renewable energy and bringing Germany s exit from coal-fired power forward from 2038, “ideally” to 2030. It also wants to do more to modernize the country, including improving its notoriously poor cellphone and internet networks. It also plans more liberal social policies, including legalizing the sale of cannabis for recreational purposes and easing the path to German citizenship, while pledging greater efforts to deport immigrants who don’t win asylum. The coalition partners want to cut the voting age in national elections from 18 to 16.There will be an increase in the minimum wage to 12 euros ($13.50) per hour from the current 9.60 euros, which Scholz has said “means a wage increase for 10 million.” And the coalition also aims to get 400,000 new apartments per year built in an effort to curb rising rental prices.Scholz has signaled continuity in foreign policy, saying the government will stand up for a strong European Union and nurture the trans-Atlantic alliance.The alliance brings both opportunities and risks for all the participants, perhaps most of all the Greens. After 16 years in opposition, they will have to prove that they can achieve their overarching aim of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in a three-way alliance with partners who may have other priorities.Green co-leader Robert Habeck will be Scholz’s vice chancellor, heading a revamped economy and climate ministry. The government’s No. 3 official will be Christian Lindner, the finance minister and leader of the Free Democrats, who insisted that the coalition reject tax hikes and looser curbs on running up debt.The incoming government is portraying itself as a departure in both style and substance from the “grand coalitions” of Germany’s traditional big parties that Merkel led for all but four years of her tenure, with the Social Democrats as junior partners. In those tense alliances, the partners sometimes seemed preoccupied mostly with blocking each other’s plans. Merkel’s final term saw frequent infighting, some of it within her own center-right Union bloc, until the pandemic hit. She departs with a legacy defined largely by her acclaimed handling of a series of crises, rather than any grand visions for Germany.Scholz told his party last weekend that “it was difficult” governing with Merkel’s bloc, which his Social Democrats narrowly beat in Germany’s September election. He criticized the bloc’s “this-far-and-no-further conservatism.”The agreement to form a coalition government between three parties that had significant differences before the election was reached relatively quickly and in unexpected harmony.“If the good cooperation that worked while we were forming the government continues to work, it will be a very, very good time for the tasks that lie ahead of us,” Scholz said. He acknowledged that dealing with the pandemic “will demand all our strength and energy.”German federal and state leaders last week announced tough new restrictions that largely target unvaccinated people. In a longer-term move, parliament will consider a general vaccine mandate. Germany has seen daily COVID-19 infections rise to record levels this fall, though they may now be stabilizing, and hospitals are feeling the strain. The country has seen over 103,000 COVID-19 deaths in the pandemic so far.Merkel has said she won’t seek another political role after shepherding Germany through a turbulent era. The 67-year-old hasn’t disclosed any future plans, but said earlier this year that she will take time to read and sleep, “and then let’s see where I show up.”___Follow AP’s coverage of Germany’s transition to a new government at https://apnews.com/hub/germany-election.___Follow all AP stories on climate change issues at https://apnews.com/hub/Climate. More

Former journalist Allegra Stratton is to be the face of the government’s new daily press conferences. If Boris Johnson’s new regime goes to plan, she’ll become a familiar face across the nation. But just who is she?Stratton 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 clearly comes with bucketloads of broadcast experience – a must for what’s likely to be a difficult job.Just as crucially, Stratton has already proven her loyalty to the Conservative government. In April she left journalism to do public relations for the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, as his strategic communications director. He may be nonplussed at having to find a replacement after just six months.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 current boss Rishi Sunak was the best man at the pair’s wedding.Stratton’s 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.The new televised press conferences Stratton will lead are to partly replace an untelevised but on-the-record briefing for Westminster journalists in parliament. The government sees the change as a way to communicate directly with the public, unmediated by the press – with one eye on the high-profile White House briefings of US presidents.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. ’She’ll start the new role in the middle of one of the greatest peacetime crises since the Second World War, with a likely economic crisis about to unfold over the coming months and years. With politics as divisive as ever, and as the public face of this government, Stratton’s experience dealing with controversy will probably stand her in good stead.  More

Delays to cross-Channel trade are still worsening almost a year after Brexit checks came in, says a study also highlighting rising costs and key staff shunning the UK.No less than 79 per cent of firms trading with France reported hold-ups in the three months to September – crucially, 6 per cent more than in the second quarter of the year.The delays are also lengthening, with 42 per cent of businesses taking an additional two to three weeks to import goods compared to 28 per cent in the April-June period.Some 82 per cent of firms say logistic costs have risen for imports and 43 per cent for exports, the survey by the French Chamber of Great Britain found.And 30 per cent cut staff “directly as a result of Brexit” – some reporting problems in “attracting European talent to the UK”, following the divorce from the EU.Boris Johnson claimed they were just “teething problems” when traders hit trouble at the start of 2021, but the French Chamber has warned of “potentially serious supply chain issues” that threaten Christmas deliveries.“What this data reveals is that supply chain issues between France and the UK don’t seem to be getting any better since the start of the year,” said Marilise Saghbini, its director.“What we’re most concerned about are the reduced numbers of young people having access to career opportunities on both side of the Channel – youth mobility is a critical issue to get right as we build beyond Brexit in 2022.”The report was seized on by the UK Trade and Business Commission of cross-party MPs and industry groups, which urged the government to step in.It comes just weeks before the long-delayed introduction of post-Brexit border controls on imports to the UK, which it is feared will hit trade harder.Naomi Smith, chief executive of the Best for Britain group, which helped set up the Commission, said: “What the government once called teething problems have now become a chronic condition, as their failure to reduce barriers and streamline processes they created has made delays worse than when we first left the EU.”Tamara Cincik, chief executive of Fashion Roundtable, a member, said: “With new checks in a matter of weeks, and less than a quarter of small businesses ready, the government must step up support for small businesses, who will face even more costly red tape and administrative burden.”The report by the Chamber, which represents 400 companies that import from and export to France, is the latest evidence of the trading damage from leaving the single market and customs union.The Office for National Statistics found a 23.1 per cent plunge in goods trade between the UK and the EU in the first quarter of 2021, compared with the same period of 2018, while trade with other countries remained stable.The National Audit Office then found that cost UK exporters £17bn – while firms filled in an extraordinary 48 million customs declarations and 140,000 export health certificates in just 8 months.The French Chamber says total trade in goods and services between the UK and France fell from £74.2bn in the year to June 2020 to £64.1bn a year later. More

Senior Downing Street staff recorded themselves joking about holding a banned Christmas party in No 10, leaked footage shows.In the video from last December obtained by ITV News, Boris Johnson’s then spokesperson Allegra Stratton joked that the party was “was not socially distanced” and suggested passing it off as “a business meeting”.The footage was recorded as a rehearsal for planned televised press briefings, with mock questions posted by the prime minister’s special adviser Ed Oldfield and other staff.Mr Oldfield can be heard to mockingly ask Ms Stratton: “I’ve just seen reports on Twitter that there was a Downing Street party on Friday night. Do you recognise those reports?”The spokesperson says: “I went home,” before laughing. The video, dating from 22 December, was recorded just four days after the Christmas party took place – on Friday 18 December. At a key moment in the video another staff member in the room says: “It wasn’t a party, it was cheese and wine.” Another, apparently seriously, chimes in: “Just to be clear, it’s not a party.”At this point Ms Stratton quietly mouths “this is recorded” to the other No 10 staff, and switches to referring to the party as “fictional”.It comes after a week of anger over the reported Downing Street bash, which is said to have taken place despite lockdown rules.Labour leader Keir Starmer said it was “shameful” for the government to “lie and laugh about those lies”.He added: “The prime minister now needs to come clean, and apologise. It cannot be one rule for the Conservatives and another for everyone else.”The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford meanwhile said the video was “damning and leaves the prime minister with a lot to answer for”.He added: “If this is true, then the prime minister’s position is untenable and he must remove himself from office immediately.”And one source who was aware of the party in Downing Street told ITV News: “We all know someone who died from Covid and after seeing this all in the papers I couldn’t not say anything. I’m so angry about it all, the way it is being denied.”Boris Johnson insisted on Tuesday that No 10 staff followed all Covid rules, while chancellor Rishi Sunak denied attending the bash.The 18 December gathering reportedly featured an email invitation and secret Santa gifts.The event, the existence of which emerged nearly a year after it happened, took place at a time when parties were banned under lockdown rules.Asked in the Commons on Tuesday morning to “categorically deny” that “he or any of his officials or special advisers attended any of the Downing Street Christmas parties”, Mr Sunak said: “No, I did not attend any parties.” He made no comment on whether his officials or advisers had attended.Speaking later in the day during a visit to HM Prison Isis in London, Boris Johnson said: “What I can tell you is that all the guidelines were observed, continue to be observed.”Asked if he had investigated the incident personally, Mr Johnson said: “I am satisfied myself that the guidelines were followed at all times.”In a statement the Metropolitan Police said the footage would inform its decision about whether to launch an investigation into the party.“We are aware of footage obtained by ITV News relating to alleged breaches of the Health Protection Regulations at a government building in December 2020,” the force said.“It is our policy not to routinely investigate retrospective breaches of the Covid 19 regulations, however the footage will form part of our considerations.”Meanwhile, the Department for Education admitted on Tuesday to having held a Christmas “gathering” last December, when London was under Tier 2 coronavirus rules.The department said the party took place in its office building, at a time social mixing between households was banned and the number of people in one indoor space was limited to six by law.The admission came after former education secretary Gavin Williamson was reported by The Mirror to have thrown a party and delivered a short speech at the event on 10 December last year.A DfE spokeswoman said: “On December 10 2020 a gathering of colleagues who were already present at the office – and who had worked together throughout the pandemic, as they couldn’t work from home – took place in the DfE office building in London at a time when the city was subject to Tier 2 restrictions.“The gathering was used to thank those staff for their efforts during the pandemic.“Drinks and snacks were brought by those attending and no outside guests or supporting staff were invited or present.“While this was work-related, looking back we accept it would have been better not to have gathered in this way at that particular time.”No 10 had previously claimed that no rules were broken during Matt Hancock’s affair with his aide and Dominic Cummings’s trip to Barnard Castle – two events which ended in high-profile resignations.A poll by Savanta ComRes released on Tuesday found two-thirds of the public believe Mr Johnson should apologise for holding the festive events, at least one of which he is reported to have been present at.Three-quarters of people have heard of the story – a relatively high cut-through rate for Westminster affairs.Three in five say they understand that the party could not have taken place at the time without breaking Covid rules, while 72 per cent believe there is one rule for the government and one for the public.This latter belief extends to 2019 Tory voters, 56 per cent of whom agree with the statement.Just one in six voters say No 10 staff deserved a Christmas party.Asked about the leaked video, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “There was no Christmas party. Covid rules have been followed at all times.” The Independent has approached Ms Stratton for comment. More

A government department has admitted it held a Christmas “gathering” last December, when London was under Tier 2 coronavirus rules. The Department for Education said the party took place in its office building, at a time social mixing between households was banned and the number of people in one indoor space was limited to six by law. The department’s admission came after former education secretary Gavin Williamson was reported by The Mirror to have thrown a party and delivered a short speech at the event on 10 December last year.A DfE spokeswoman said: “On December 10 2020 a gathering of colleagues who were already present at the office – and who had worked together throughout the pandemic, as they couldn’t work from home – took place in the DfE office building in London at a time when the city was subject to Tier 2 restrictions.“The gathering was used to thank those staff for their efforts during the pandemic.“Drinks and snacks were brought by those attending and no outside guests or supporting staff were invited or present.“While this was work-related, looking back we accept it would have been better not to have gathered in this way at that particular time.”The DfE’s statement came hours after a leaked video was aired by ITV showing Downing Street staff joking about holding a banned Christmas party a few days prior, one they later denied having. In the video from last December, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s then spokesperson Allegra Stratton said that the party in Downing Street “was not socially distanced” and added: “It wasn’t a party, it was just cheese and wine.” On Tuesday, Downing Street insisted again that there was no Christmas party and that Covid rules had been followed at all times.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged Mr Johnson to “come clean and apologise”.He added that for aides “to lie and to laugh about those lies is shameful”.The footage obtained by ITV News showed Ms Stratton answering a question from fellow special adviser Ed Oldfield at a mock press conference on 22 December last year about a Downing Street Christmas party the previous Friday.Mr Oldfield asked her: “I’ve just seen reports on Twitter that there was a Downing Street Christmas party on Friday night, do you recognise those reports?”Ms Stratton replied “I went home” before appearing to consider what the correct answer should be.Mr Oldfield then asked: “Would the Prime Minister condone having a Christmas party?”Ms Stratton asked “what’s the answer” and staff in the press room appeared to suggest ideas, with one saying “it wasn’t a party, it was cheese and wine”.“Is cheese and wine all right? It was a business meeting,” Ms Stratton replied, to laughter in the room.Ms Stratton then noted “this is recorded”, adding: “This fictional party was a business meeting … and it was not socially distanced.”London and much of the south-east were put under stricter Tier 4 rules a day after the mock press conference in 9 Downing Street’s media room, which was refurbished at a cost of £2.6 million in preparation for televised Covid updates before the project was abandoned.In Tier 4 areas, residents were only be allowed to celebrate Christmas with members of their own household and support bubbles, and were not allowed to travel to other areas to see family and friends.The Metropolitan Police has confirmed officers are reviewing the leaked video in relation to “alleged breaches” of coronavirus regulations.In response to ITV’s report, a Downing Street spokesman said: “There was no Christmas party. Covid rules have been followed at all times.” More

MPs have voted down a bid by parliament’s human rights committee to make it illegal for immigration officers to attempt to “push back” migrant boats in the English Channel in a way which would endanger lives.The pushback proposal, which would involve Border Force boats physically turning back dinghies heading from France to the UK, is one of a set of hardline measures in Priti Patel’s Nationality and Borders Bill designed to make it tougher for asylum seekers to make their claims in Britain.Efforts by MPs to tone down the bill failed on Tuesday evening, and it is now set to complete its passage through the House of Commons on Wednesday.An amendment banning the use of maritime enforcement powers “in a manner that would endanger lives at sea”, tabled by the chair of the human rights committee Harriet Harman, was defeated by a margin of 235 votes to 313. Only two Tory MPs – Simon Hoare and Caroline Nokes – broke ranks to back the change.And MPs rejected by 233-318 a second amendment which would have stopped Ms Patel from prosecuting and jailing for up to four years asylum seekers who arrive in the UK by illicit means.Other amendments were not put to a vote, including calls for safe routes for asylum seekers to reach the UK, to create a new “humanitarian visa” allowing them to enter Britain from France for the purpose of having their claims processed and to prevent the government from sending them to camps in foreign countries until a decision is made on whether they can stay.After clearing the Commons on Wednesday, the controversial bill – which also includes new powers to strip individuals of their British nationality without informing them – faces further challenge in the House of Lords.Urging the government to back down on pushback proposals and rule out their use against “unseaworthy vessels such as dinghies”, Ms Harman said Ms Patel should not “give new powers to the Border Force which then cost lives at sea”.She said that making it clear in the bill that immigration officers will not be allowed to put lives at risk would ensure that operations are safe and that British authorities do not breach international law.Meanwhile, Conservative former minister David Davis said that plans to “offshore” asylum claimants in other countries would be “eye-waveringly expensive” – increasing the annual bill from around £1.4bn to as much as £35bn.A similar scheme in Australia has been “seriously problematic on a humanitarian level”, he said, citing reports of “gut-wrenching sexual, physical and mental abuse that has pushed vulnerable children towards suicide”.In one case, he said “a 14-year-old girl held offshore for five years doused herself in petrol and tried to set herself alight”, adding “if this where to happen on our watch just imagine how the public would respond to harm, serious harm to a child nominally in our care”.Mr Davis was among 15 Conservative MPs who rebelled to support a proposal to scrap visa fees for foreign-born UK military veterans who want to remain in the country.Former defence minister Johnny Mercer said the change was backed by the Duke of Sussex. Prince Harry had said in a private conversation on Monday that it would be “morally right” to waive the charge for military veterans, the former army officer told the Commons.“He has contributed hugely to the veterans debate and I wanted his view,” said Mr Mercer.“He said to me it’s not only morally right but would mean so much to those who have given so much… They’re our brothers and sisters, they’ve served with us over many, many years.”However, the rebellion was not enough to force the change through, as Mr Mercer’s amendment was defeated by 251-296. More