UK Politics

Boris Johnson has been “able to get away with things that mere mortals can’t”, David Cameron has claimed, as the former Conservative leader suggested the prime minister shouldn’t “bypass the media”.Mr Cameron stressed it was important for a leader to “engage and to answer questions”, claiming he had “never sought to avoid” doing “important” interviews on the Today programme and Sunday programmes.Shortly after Mr Johnson’s general election victory in 2019, the government had faced accusations of using “Trumpian” tactics for a ministerial boycott of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme while a row broke out over selective briefings.Despite No 10 press conferences becoming a key feature of the early months of the Covid crisis, in recent days the prime minister also faced criticism of failing to outline whether any further restrictions will be needed after Christmas.Mr Johnson, however, confirmed to the country the government would not introduce any stricter measures before 25 December via an update on his official social media pages — without taking questions from the media.The comments from Mr Cameron, who led the country between 2010 and 2016, also follow scrutiny earlier this over Mr Johnson’s contentious decision to employ “vanity photographers” to document events at Downing Street.Reminded of his own unsuccessful attempt to have an official photographer on the public payroll, Mr Cameron told Sky News presenter Adam Boulton: “Well, Boris has always been able to get away with things that mere mortals can’t seem to.”Appearing to take a swipe at Mr Johnson, he added: “But, look, I think you shouldn’t do this to bypass the media. You go on having… whether it is press conferences or interviews or media events — this is important,” the former prime minister said.“And I always did. Yes, the press conferences were rather infrequent, but I never held back from going on the Today programme and coming on your show (All Out Politics). I mean, we were always available and keen to engage and to answer questions”.No 10 has previously defended the taxpayer-funded staff, saying they “record the activity” of the prime minister and the cabinet and make the images available for editorial use — despite media companies paying their own photographers.Questioned on whether the prime minister should always be available to the media, the former Conservative leader replied: “Yes — look, not every day because you have got a country to run.“But I think, you know, the important interviews — whether it is the BBC Sunday morning programme or the Today programme or Sky News, TV debates — these are important, and I never sought to avoid them. More

The public already have “clarity” over new Covid restrictions to tackle the omicron variant, the health secretary has said – amid uncertainty over what will happen after Christmas.Speaking on Thursday morning Sajid Javid said there would be no further announcements on restrictions this side of the holiday – but left the door open to measures going into the New Year.Mr Javid said government scientists were not yet clear on the extent to which omicron’s less severe disease compared to earlier Covid strains would mitigate against its increased transmissibility. “We know for example, if a much smaller percentage of people are at the risk of hospitalisation if that is a smaller percentage of a much larger number, there could be still significant hospitalisation,” he told reporters. The government has been reticent to introduce further restrictions, which have been brought in in some countries on the continent.Early modelling of the new omicron variant suggested there could be a huge surge in hospitalisations, but these findings have been tempered by new studies suggesting the disease could be less severe than feared.The latest data from Imperial College suggests people with Omicron are 15-20 per cent less likely to need hospital treatment compared with the previous Delta variant – and 40-45 per cent less likely to need to stay in hospital for one night or more. The UK health security agency is expected to release further findings on Thursday regarding the severity of disease caused by omicron. Asked when there would be clarity for people’s New Year plans, Mr Javid said: “We do have clarity: the government has taken action already, so-called plan-B, people behaving sensibly and much more cautiously since they’ve learned about this variant. “And as I said, we’re getting more data all the time, we’re clear that there’s no need for any kind of further restrictions of any type of before Christmas, but of course, we will keep the situation under review.”He added: “We’re not planning any further announcements this week. Despite the caution that we’re all taking, the sensible caution, people should enjoy their Christmases with their families and friends, of course, remain cautious and we will keep the situation under review. We’re learning more all the time as we have done from this new data and we will keep analysing that data. And if we need to do anything more, we will – but nothing more is going to happen before Christmas.”On Wednesday the UK reported 13,581 more omicron cases in the latest 24 hours, taking the total to 74,089. This represents a slight fall on Tuesday, which was 15,363. More

The failure to distribute vaccines to poorer countries is a “stain on our global soul” and one of the “greatest policy failures of our times”, former prime minister Gordon Brown has warned.His intervention comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that countries’ “blanket booster programmes” were likely to prolong the pandemic by diverting supplies to wealthier nations.Speaking to the BBC World Service, the former Labour prime minister said the uneven distribution of vaccines “is one of the greatest policy failures of our times” and predicted millions could die worldwide due to a lack of vaccine access.“It really is a stain on our global should and it affects us all — because I think people are beginning to realise that if we allow the disease to spread in poor countries and the virus mutates, it comes back to haunt even the fully-vaccinated,” Mr Brown said.Arguing it was an achievable task, he told the broadcaster: “We have the technology. We have the expertise and we’re producing 1.5 billion vaccines now a month. We could get them out to people and we will suffer if we don’t do this”.In a separate interview with CNN, Mr Brown, who was prime minister between 2007 and 2010, said: “We end the year with a huge pubic policy failure — a huge moral lapse on the part of the world.“Only three per cent are vaccinated in low income countries, only seven or eight per cent in Africa as a whole, and there are some countries where less than one per cent have been vaccinated.“It’s hardly surprising then that the disease spreads, that it mutates, that new variants emerge, and then these new variants as we’ve seen in the UK and around Europe and America now, this is coming back to haunt us now in the Western world.”Speaking on Wednesday, the WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added that “no country could booster its way out of the pandemic” as he criticised the inequitable distribution of vaccines worldwide.“Blanket booster programmes are likely to prolong the Covid-19 pandemic, rather than ending it, by diverting supply to countries that already have high levels of vaccination coverage, giving the virus more opportunity to spread and mutate,” he stressed.The organisation stressed the “global priority” must be to ensure all countries reach 40 per cent vaccine coverage “as quickly as possible and the 70 per cent target by the middle of this year”.He added: “Our projections show that supply should be sufficient to vaccinate the entire global adult population and to give boosters to high-risk populations by the first quarter of 2022.” More

Britain has agreed a new fisheries deal with the European Union over how to divide up shared stocks in the year ahead, prompting dismay among environmentalists.Under the Brexit trade deal, London and Brussels are required to annually agree on catch quotas and fishing rights in the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean – a separate affair from the row over fishing licences which has sparked threats of a trade war and prompted French trawlers to blockade the Channel.In contrast to the tone typically ascribed to the spat with France – and thorny negotiations over the Northern Ireland Protocol – European minister Joze Podgorsek hailed the agreement as being “thanks to good will and a constructive approach on both sides”, setting “a good precedent for future negotiations with the UK”.Environment secretary George Eustice also welcomed the “balanced agreement”, which the government said will provide around 140,000 tonnes of fishing opportunities for UK fleets, estimated to be worth around £313m, based on historic landing prices.One fishing industry expert told The Independent that the deal “largely follows the same pattern” as the first annual deal, which was only struck in June, reportedly after months of difficult talks mired in disputes over how to both meet environmental aims and ensure maximum access for fishermen.“Nevertheless, the signs are that the underlying tensions arising from the UK’s departure from the EU have been in evidence throughout this set of negotiations,” said Barrie Deas, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO).While Mr Deas said the negotiations themselves had been “utterly opaque”, causing “palpable” frustration among industry representatives, he claimed that the European Commission “appears to have had a torrid time with some of its member states”.But despite the avoidance of a political stand-off across the Channel, environmentalists greeted the deal with alarm.Lamenting that Wednesday’s agreement “should have been the beginning of a new post-Brexit era of truly sustainable, science-based fisheries management”, ClientEarth expert Jenni Grossmann said that instead of giving vulnerable fish stocks “a decisive nudge towards recovery”, ministers had “chosen to keep them on the brink”.Stocks, such as cod in the Celtic Sea and west of Scotland, will continue to hover on the brink of commercial extinction, she said.“Just like in pre-Brexit times, they have continued to prioritise short-term commercial interests over long-term sustainability for both fish and fishers – perpetuating the dire state of these depleted stocks,” Ms Grossmann said.And others suggested the deal did not live up to a post-Brexit commitments towards sustainable fishing.“The agreed ambition expressed in the [Brexit trade deal] was that of recovering shared fish populations and maintaining them above healthy levels,” said Vera Coelho, senior director of advocacy at the Oceana environmental group. “This is lacking in the current agreement as certain fish populations, like west of Scotland herring, Irish Sea whiting or Celtic Sea cod, will continue to be overexploited in 2022.”But Mr Deas, of the NFFS, complained that catch limits for a range of species appeared to have been “artificially” set below scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, “ostensibly to protect cod”, claiming that UK ministers seemed to have taken the lead during negotiations “in promoting a hardline approach, presumably to placate the environmental lobby”.“This does not amount to a coherent or convincing approach to doing what can be done to maintain cod stocks during a period of rapid environmental change whilst maintaining viable fisheries on other stocks,” he said.The deal also commits the UK and EU to “rapidly develop” new strategies to ensure the sustainable management of non-quota species, which can be thrown back into the sea after being caught. But both parties agreed not to apply fishing limits to these species – which include gurnards, catfish, weevers and squid – in the year ahead.“This is likely to be one of the most important, complex, and sensitive policy areas during 2022 and beyond,” Mr Deas said.In a statement, the environment secretary Mr Eustice said the talks had “secured certainty for the incoming year, adding: “The balanced agreement made today provides a strong foundation as we seek to deliver more sustainable fisheries management, as set out in our landmark Fisheries Act.” More

Tory frontbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg has been cleared of breaking parliamentary rules over £6 million he received in cheap loans.Kathryn Stone, the independent parliamentary commissioner, announced the decision on Wednesday on parliament’s website, saying the full verdict will be published in “due course”.Last month, Ms Stone was tasked with investigating claims that the leader of the Commons had breached paragraph 14 of the MP’s Code of Conduct, which obliges politicians to declare their financial interests in an “open and frank” manner.Labour alleged the North East Somerset MP had fallen foul of this rule by not declaring millions of pounds in director’s loans from his property company Saliston Limited between 2018 and 2020.Mr Rees-Mogg said he had paid interests on the loans, which he used to buy and renovate his London home.Ms Stone ruled in his favour, informing him last week that the complaint had not been upheld. On Wednesday, she said the decision had been reached because she felt the loans were “connected solely” to his personal life and, as a result, would not have influenced his actions as an MP.“Having considered the matter carefully, I have concluded that the evidence does not demonstrate that a breach of the rules has occurred,” she wrote.Rees-Mogg tweeted on Wednesday that he was “grateful to the commissioner for swiftly rejecting this accusation”.He added a quote from Shakespeare’s Othello: “Who steals my purse steals trash, but he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed.”Earlier this year, Mr Rees-Mogg was involved in a failed Tory attempt to reduce the power of the commissioner’s office to investigate MPs. The minister also played a hand in the government’s botched bid to allow Owen Paterson to avoid a month-long suspension, after the standards committee found the then Tory MP had breached lobbying rules. More

Boris Johnson has shelved a decision on tougher Covid restrictions for the new year holiday until after Christmas, prompting an accusation that he is “paralysed” by cabinet infighting.Time is running out to act before 2022 arrives after the prime minister stayed silent, even as daily UK infections topped 100,000 for the first time and the rest of the UK imposed crackdowns.The cabinet – whose approval is needed for new measures – is “not expected” to meet before Christmas and neither is a decision on the recall of parliament, The Independent understands.Next Wednesday is thought to be the last day MPs can be brought back to pass legislation in time for New Year’s Eve, suggesting an announcement must be made before the Christmas break.The delay will come as a relief to hospitality and entertainment businesses desperate not to have to “cancel new year”, after the threat to Christmas gatherings was lifted on Tuesday.Gillian Keegan, the health minister, argued the wait-and-see approach – with some emerging data suggesting the Omicron variant is less dangerous than feared – was “better” than curbing people’s freedoms now.But the first minister of Wales, where the “rule of 6”, table service only and 2-metre social distancing will be restored in hospitality settings from Boxing Day, tore into the indecision in London.“I think that the UK government is in a state of paralysis about all of this,” Mark Drakeford said, as he announced the restrictions.“We see the reports of infighting within the cabinet. There are, as I would see it, sensible voices urging the prime minister to act to protect the NHS and to protect people’s lives as he has in previous waves.”Mr Drakeford dismissed the claim of inconclusive evidence, adding: “I don’t believe it’s because they don’t see the data. They see the data, but they’re not prepared to act on it.”Mr Johnson found himself isolated after Wales followed Scotland in taking action, a day after Nicola Sturgeon limited football crowds to just 500 fans and ordered table service only in pubs.In Northern Ireland, nightclubs will close and only 3 households will be allowed to meet indoors from next Monday.The case for delay was bolstered by the first published study into the extent to which soaring Omicron infections will trigger a surge in hospital admissions, potentially swamping the NHS.The Scottish study stated: “Omicron is associated with a two-thirds reduction in the risk of Covid-19 hospitalisation when compared to Delta.”A leaked study by the UK Health Security Agency is thought to echo that finding, that people who fall ill with Omicron are less likely to become severely sick than those who contract Delta, the variant it is replacing.However, cases are not necessarily mild enough to avoid large numbers of hospitalisations, the data to be published before Christmas is expected to say.Tony Blair backed Mr Johnson’s decision to delay tougher rules, but criticised his failure to be “frank with people” and said the decision was political, not based on claims of missing data.“It’s really because the pain of going into a full lockdown, and with this variant that’s the only thing that would really work,” the former prime minister told Times Radio.“If you were taking a purely precautionary view of this, you would impose further restrictions, probably quite draconian restrictions,” he said, but warned “the public’s just been through too much”.Mr Johnson has also been undermined by anger over lockdown-busting No 10 parties a year ago, which has made people less willing to accept restrictions.Sajid Javid, the health secretary, argued decisions about new year curbs are still “under review”.“It is fast-changing, the situation, there’s more data not just here from home but from abroad. We keep an eye on all that data and discuss it with our expert advisers,” he said. More