UK Politics

Brexit minister David Frost has resigned from Boris Johnson’s cabinet in protest at “the direction of travel,” triggering a fresh crisis inside Downing Street after an already turbulent week for the prime minister.Lord Frost – one of the most popular members of the cabinet among the Conservative faithful – handed in his resignation a week ago and had been persuaded to stay in his post until January but last night said he would step down “with immediate effect.”His resignation represents a major political blow for the prime minister who is already facing a series of crises over “gatherings” in No 10 during Covid restrictions, growing discontent on the Tory backbenches over his leadership and this week’s historic loss in the North Shropshire by-election – a seat held by the party since 1832.In his resignation letter, Lord Frost told the prime minister he was disappointed about Covid restrictions, warning him not to be “tempted by the kind of coercive measures we have seen elsewhere,” but also hinted at other concerns, saying: “You know my concerns about the current direction of travel.”The cabinet minister, who Mr Johnson had elevated to the Lords, helped negotiate the Brexit agreement and in recent months has been instrumental in negotiations with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol.His departure will fuel speculation about the future of Mr Johnson’s leadership, but in his letter Lord Frost was careful to express “confidence” in the PM. On Friday, Tory MPs put Mr Johnson on notice while one backbencher revealed he had submitted a letter of no confidence in the prime minister to the chair of the 1922 committee of backbench Conservative MPs.Jenny Chapman, the shadow Brexit secretary, said: “As if we didn’t already know, Lord Frost resigning shows the government’s in chaos.“The country needs leadership not a lame duck PM whose MPs and cabinet have lost faith in him. Boris Johnson needs to apologise to the public and explain what his plan is for the next few weeks.”The Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson, Layla Moran, added: “This shock resignation is a sign of the chaos and confusion at the heart of this Conservative government. The rats are fleeing Boris Johnson’s sinking ship as he lurches from crisis to crisis.“Even the prime minister’s once-loyal supporters are now abandoning him, just as lifelong Conservative voters are switching in their droves to the Liberal Democrats.“At a time we need strong leadership to get us through the pandemic we instead have a weak prime minister who has lost the support of his allies and the trust of the British people.”On Friday, it had also emerged the UK had abandoned its attempt to strip EU judges of the power to oversee the Northern Ireland protocol – despite repeated pledges by Lord Frost and the government to “remove” the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ).In October, Lord Frost travelled to Lisbon and vowed the ECJ would not be allowed to have a remit, but new UK proposals would see it interpret matters of EU law.Disputes would be settled by an independent arbitration panel, rather than the European Commission, a model offered to Brussels by Switzerland. At a Brussels press conference, Maros Sefcovic, the commission vice-president, said the UK signed up to the ECJ’s existing remit, so it was “a topic we are not ready to include in our discussions”.Describing Lord Frost’s decision to leave the cabinet as “enormous”, Arlene Foster, the former first minister of Northern Ireland, said: “The resignation of Lord Frost from the Cabinet is a big moment for the government but enormous for those of us who believed he would deliver for NI.’’In a recent speech to the Centre of Policy Studies, the Brexit minister said he agreed with Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, that the Conservatives’ “goal must be to reduce taxes” and said Brexit won’t succeed if “all we do is import the European social model”.He was also effusive in his praise of the lack of Covid restrictions during the 23 November speech, saying: “Unavoidably, we have had a lot of state direction and control during the pandemic.“That cannot and must not last for ever, and I am glad that it is not. I am very happy that free Britain, or at least merry England, is probably now the free-est country in the world as regards Covid restrictions. No mask rules, no vaccine passports – and long may it remain so.” More

Boris Johnson’s government is “completely dysfunctional”, Labour said on Saturday as a top civil servant took over the probe into rule-breaking Christmas parties following the latest allegation.Chris Bryant, chair of the House of Commons committee on standards, was speaking after cabinet secretary Simon Case stepped down from the investigation over claims he himself had attended a lockdown-breaching drinks event last December.The Labour MP said the situation over the parties in Whitehall was “farcical”, adding: “It feels a bit like Downing Street is completely dysfunctional. Nobody seems to know what’s going on.”Mr Johnson resisted demands for the inquiry to be handed over to an external investigator, instead appointing Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray to complete the probe. It was unclear how soon she will be able to issue a report.The announcement that Mr Case was “recusing” himself from the inquiry came hours after The Independent published claims from Whitehall officials that Mr Case was present at an impromptu Christmas event at the Cabinet Office’s 70 Whitehall HQ while indoor mixing was still banned under Covid rules.The report made his position at the head of the inquiry untenable, with demands for his removal from Labour and the Scottish National Party.Mr Bryant urged Ms Gray to hand any evidence of lawbreaking she found over to the police.He added: “If the rules are broken … if they were broken in any other line of work, the police would be investigating and I don’t know why the police aren’t investigating this situation.”He said: “In the end, the final analysis has to be done by a completely independent person. I think that that should be the police.”Ms Gray, who is second permanent secretary at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, was previously director-general of propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office from 2012 to 2018, and is seen as a figure who would not pull any punches in an inquiry.She oversaw the Plebgate inquiry in 2012 after former chief whip Andrew Mitchell was accused of calling a policeman a “pleb” at the Downing Street gates, and was once described as “deputy God” by then Labour MP Paul Flynn in a meeting of Parliament’s Public Administration Committee the same year.Former Tory MP and Cabinet office minister Oliver Letwin is reported to have said of Ms Gray: “It took me precisely two years before I realised who it is that runs Britain. Our great United Kingdom is actually entirely run by a lady called Sue Gray, the head of ethics or something in the Cabinet Office. Unless she agrees, things just don’t happen.”She is also part of the panel deciding who will be next chair of the media regulator Ofcom. More

Tougher Covid restrictions are needed before the new year to prevent “considerable pressure” on the NHS, government scientists have warned Boris Johnson, as rates of the Omicron variant surge.Documents released on Saturday by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) – revealing the bleak advice given to ministers – emerged as the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, declared a “major incident” due to rising infections.On Saturday, the government’s official dashboard recorded 90,418 cases of Covid in the UK in the last 24 hours, while 900 patients had been admitted to hospital. In the capital, 25,551 infections were recorded in a single day.But the minutes published from a Sage meeting on Thursday stressed that “it is almost certain that there are now hundreds of thousands of new Omicron infections per day” – with the highest rates in London – suggesting that the official figures do not reflect the full picture.The scientists warned that the doubling time of Omicron infections in England was currently around two days – “faster than the growth rate seen in March 2020”.Modelling by the group suggested that hospitalisations were “likely to be between 1,000 and 2,000” per day by the end of the year. “Many of these will be people who are already infected now, or who become infected in the next days,” they said.The Sage experts warned: “Without intervention beyond those measures already in place (plan B), modelling indicates a peak of at least 3,000 hospital admissions per day in England. Some scenarios have significantly worse outcomes during the first few months of 2022, but there are many uncertainties.“If the aim is to reduce the level of infection in the population and prevent hospitalisations reaching these levels, more stringent measures would need to be implemented very soon.”They added: “The earlier interventions happen, the greater the effect they will have (high confidence). This may also mean that they can be kept in place for a shorter duration.“Illustrative scenarios from SPI-M-O [the Scientific Pandemic Influenza group on Modelling] suggest that measures equivalent to those in place in Step 2 or Step 1 of the roadmap in England, if enacted early enough, could substantially reduce the potential peak in hospital admissions and infections compared with plan B alone (medium confidence).“The timing of such measures is crucial. Delaying until 2022 would greatly reduce the effectiveness of such interventions and make it less likely that these would prevent considerable pressure on health and care settings.”As concern grows, Mr Johnson’s cabinet received a Covid data briefing on Saturday and Michael Gove is expected to host a Cobra meeting on Sunday alongside the leaders of devolved administrations, who are requesting greater economic support.It was also reported that officials have been drawing up draft plans for a two-week circuit-breaker after Christmas, which could ban meeting indoors expect for work purposes and limit pubs and restaurants to offering outdoor services only.A government source, however, played down the prospect of imminent restrictions, and it is understood that the prime minister wants to see further data on the impact of plan B measures, the booster programme, and self-regulated behaviour from members of the public reducing social contacts ahead of Christmas.But if Mr Johnson decides to impose further restrictions, No 10 will almost certainly have to request a recall of parliament – just days after the prime minister suffered the biggest rebellion of his premiership from backbench Tory MPs on a vote to implement plan B measures.Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said Mr Johnson “cannot allow his weakened authority within his party to prevent him from taking the decisions that might be necessary to protect public health”, adding that Labour would be “ready to do what is right in the national interest”.Following the advice published by Sage, the Liberal Democrats also called for the recall of a virtual parliament on Monday “at this time of national crisis”.Ed Davey, the party’s leader, said: “Throughout the pandemic, Boris Johnson has consistently reacted too late, missed opportunities, and refused to act when the scientists told him to.”Despite the government’s booster programme, which reached record levels this week, the Sage experts also said that while vaccination is a “critically important mitigation” and will reduce severity, “a package of non-pharmaceutical interventions would be required to slow growth in infections”.They added that “crowded indoor mixing with many different groups remains the biggest risk factor for spread. Large gatherings present a risk for multiple spreading events.”Professor Stephen Reicher, a member of Sage, told Times Radio on Saturday that “all the science suggests that [plan B is] not going to be enough”.He said: “The only way really, or at least the most effective way, we can have an immediate effect is to decrease the number of contacts we have. In many ways, the most effective way of diminishing contact is to have a circuit-breaker.“Now, you could have it after Christmas; the problem is after Christmas it’s probably too late, it’s probably by then we will have had a huge surge of infections with all the impact upon society.“When people say ‘Look, we don’t want to close down,’ of course we don’t want to close down. But the problem is, at the moment things are closing down anyway, because of the spread of infection. So I think we need to act now.”A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The government will continue to look closely at all the emerging data and we’ll keep our measures under review as we learn more about this variant.” More

The mayor of London has declared a major incident over the “hugely concerning” surge in Covid cases and rising hospitalisations in the capital.Sadiq Khan said that in the last 24 hour period London had seen the largest recorded number of new cases since the pandemic began, with 26,418 infections.Over the past seven days there have been 65,525 new confirmed cases while the mayor’s office said the number of Covid patients in hospitals had increased by 29 per cent.He previously declared a major incident on 8 January due to rapid spread of Covid-19 — days after Boris Johnson imposed England third lockdown.It means there will be closer co-ordination between key public services in responding to the situation and reduce disruption amid staff absences in frontline roles.A major incident in the capital is defined as “beyond the scope of business-as-usual operations, and is likely to involve serious harm, damage, disruption or risk to human life or welfare, essential services, the environment or national security”.It comes as cabinet ministers received a briefing on Sunday detailing the latest data amid concerns over the rapid spread of the Omicron variant across the country and calls from some experts for more stringent restrictions.Leaked papers from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) suggested hospitalisations could peak at 3,000, warning that “more stringent measures would need to be implemented very soon” to reduce numbers.Speaking on Saturday, Mr Khan said: “The surge in cases of the Omicron variant across our capital is hugely concerning, so we are once again declaring a major incident because of the threat of COVID-19 to our city.”The London mayor added: “The Omicron variant has quickly become dominant with cases increasing rapidly and the number of patients in our hospitals with COVID-19 on the rise again.“We are already feeling the impact across the capital and while we are still learning about this variant, it’s right that London’s key agencies work closely together to minimise the impact on our city, including helping to protect the vital vaccination programme.“We know that the vaccine offer our best defence against the virus. There are now more clinics in London delivering vaccines than at any point during the pandemic. I urge all Londoners to book their appointment or to go to one of the many walk-in centres across the capital as soon as you can.”Georgia Gould, chair of London Councils, added: “The rapid spread of Omicron across our city is of huge concern.“Local councils have stepped up and played a vital role in supporting their communities through the pandemic, I know they will continue with these efforts but we cannot do this alone.” More

Boris Johnson’s cabinet is to be briefed on the latest Covid data amid concerns over the rapid spread of the Omicron variant and calls from some experts for more stringent restrictions.It comes after leaked papers from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) suggested hospitalisations could peak at 3,000, warning that “more stringent measures would need to be implemented very soon” to reduce numbers.Despite concerning case figures – the UK recorded 93,045 infections on Friday – a government source played down suggestions of any imminent restrictions being imposed, stressing the briefing on Saturday was to inform ministers of the latest data.It is understood that the prime minister wants to see further data on the impact of plan B measures, — passed by Parliament this week — the booster programme, and self-regulated behaviour from members of the public ahead of Christmas.Speaking yesterday, the prime minister said the Omicron variant “is a very serious threat to us now”, but insisted he was not “closing things down”.The government is also set to hold a Cobra meeting alongside the leaders of the devolved administrations on Saturday where Sage modelling will be discussed and demands for greater economic support for struggling businesses.According to separate reports in The Times, officials have been drawing up draft plans for a two-week circuit breaker after Christmas, which could ban meeting indoors expect for work purposes and that pubs and restaurants could be limited to outdoor services only. It was stressed Mr Johnson had not signed off the plans.However, professor Stephen Reicher, a member of Sage, told Times Radio on Saturday that “all the science suggests that (plan B is) not going to be enough”.He said: “The only way really, or at least the most effective way, we can have an immediate effect is to decrease the number of contacts we have. In many ways, the most effective way of diminishing contact is to have a circuit-breaker.“Now, you could have it after Christmas, the problem is after Christmas it’s probably too late, it’s probably by then we will have had a huge surge of infections with all the impact upon society.“When people say ‘look, we don’t want to close down’, of course, we don’t want to close down. But the problem is at the moment, things are closing down anyway, because of the spread of infection. So I think we need to act now.”Lord Victor Adebowale, chairman of the NHS Confederation, also voiced support for a circuit-breaker, warning that a cautionary approach should be taken.“I would support the circuit-breaker. My members would support the circuit-breaker,” he told Times Radio. “We’ve been calling for plan B for some time now and we’re glad that it was voted through. I think the government has to be prepared to recall Parliament if further interventions are needed.”He added: “The fact of the matter is we should be taking the precautionary principle. We should be protecting our NHS and our public services. We have no economy without health.” More

A Conservative grandee has warned that Boris Johnson faces a “dangerous moment” in his premiership after the party suffered a historic defeat in the North Shropshire by-election after weeks of rows at the top of government on multiple fronts.Sir Malcolm Rifkind – who served as foreign secretary under John Major – told The Independent that while an immediate challenge to the prime minister’s position was unlikely, it was a “serious proposition” that he could be losing the support of MPs.“It’s a small step for mankind and a rather great leap for Boris Johnson,” Sir Malcolm said of the by-election loss. “It’s the first time for 200 years the seat has not returned a Tory MP.“It’s not unprecedented – you have these by-election dramas – but I think what makes it more significant on this occasion is that it is very difficult to escape the view that this was part of public dissatisfaction with not just the government as a whole, but with the prime minister, in particular over recent controversies.”His assessment came as Mr Johnson suffered a “severe blow” in North Shropshire – a seat held by the Conservatives since 1832 – where a by-election was triggered after the government’s botched attempt to prevent Owen Paterson’s suspension.After the Liberal Democrats stormed to victory and overturned a 23,000 Tory majority in the Leave-voting seat, one senior Conservative MP, Sir Roger Gale, said the result must be “seen as a referendum on the prime minister’s performance”, adding: “One more strike and he’s out.”In an attempt to alleviate discontent in the party’s ranks on Friday, the prime minister said he accepted personal responsibility for the defeat and admitted he needed to “fix” the way his government operates, but also attempted to blame the media after weeks of focus on Covid rule-breaking gatherings in No 10, allegations of sleaze, and a damaging Tory rebellion. Sir Malcolm told The Independent: “He’s facing a dangerous moment, but I don’t think it’s irreversible. There are not going to be demands for him to step down next week, or next month, or whatever. But it has become a serious proposition that the prime minister might be losing the confidence of his parliamentary colleagues.”The former cabinet minister, who also held posts during Margaret Thatcher’s premiership, added: “The Tory party has a ruthless reputation when it comes to their judgement that a prime minister has become more of a liability than an asset.”Sir Malcolm went on: “The idea of forcing prime ministers to step down is a very dramatic, radical decision, and you only do it if you have no alternative, and I don’t think we’re there yet.“In addition to that, there’s no obvious successor waiting in the wings with all the experience required; there are several very good potential candidates, but … it’s not as if someone is an obvious alternative and meets all the necessary, expected requirements.”His comments were echoed on Friday by Baroness Davidson, the former leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, who said that there was no “natural successor” and that Tory MPs were not yet ready to declare no confidence in the prime minister in large numbers, but warned that he was “drinking in the last-chance saloon”.Lady Davidson added: “The party is looking for a bit of bloody grip to be exerted, and if they see that they might hold off, but I think the prime minister has been put on warning by his MPs. They are tired of the constant drama coming out of No 10 and the No 11 flat. “What they are looking for is a more sober prime minister that is going to get on with the job and have less of the drama around what he does.”The former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith called for an overhaul of the No 10 team, but urged his colleagues to “stop playing games” and to “get behind” Mr Johnson.He told the BBC: “The prime minister just needs to show us really strongly that he not just disapproved, but he’s prepared to get rid of people who are breaking those rules, so he can move on. “He needs to be out front as the great political salesman, not bogged down having to apologise and to find out what’s going on. That is never good for any leader, no matter … how good they are. But he needs to be upfront.” More

Boris Johnson takes ‘personal responsibility’ for North Shropshire by-election lossThe Metropolitan Police should carry out a “final analysis” of the Downing Street Christmas parties allegations, the Commons standards committee chair has suggested, after top civil servant Simon Case stepped down as the internal inquiry’s lead following claims that he attended a drinks event himself.His “recusal” came as another blow to Boris Johnson, who defied calls to appoint an external investigator in his place in favour of another civil servant, just hours after his party lost the true-blue seat of North Shropshire for the first time nearly 200 years after a 34 per cent swing to the Lib Dems in a by-election triggered by Tory sleaze.Furious Tory MPs, many of whom considered the ballot something of a referendum on the PM’s leadership, warned that the “Teflon has come off” after the defeat, with one warning that Mr Johnson has “one last chance” to make changes at the heart of his operation.Show latest update

1639839029Opinion | Simon Case has trashed his own career and the office of cabinet secretary in one fell swoopIn an opinion piece, Independent veteran and former political editor Donald Macintyre asks “why on earth” Simon Case took the job of investigating the Downing Street party allegations in the first place. He writes: “Even if it hadn’t turned out that one of these gatherings occurred in his own private office – prompting his humiliating recusal on Friday from the official enquiry into what went on this time last year, it was clear that he was not the right man for the job.“For a start, any investigator with a modicum of independence would have surely wanted to ask the cabinet secretary whether, as head of the Home Civil Service, he himself knew about the gatherings across government, including the ones next door in Downing Street. And if not, why not?”You can read his thinking in full here:Andy Gregory18 December 2021 14:501639838121PM’s former boss would ‘probably vote for Keir Starmer’Discussing whether Boris Johnson can turn his flailing premiership around in the eyes of his own MPs, the prime minister’s former boss Sir Max Hastings told LBC: “He can’t turn it around, he’s incapable of changing.“And anybody who thinks that Boris Johnson is going to change is a fool. The question is whether anyone who succeeds him is going to be able to do a lot better.”Asked who he would vote for in an election today, the former Daily Telegraph editor said: “I think I’d probably vote for Keir Starmer, because I think that Britain desperately needs a change of government. I think the Tories have shot their bolt and they’ve shown their own unfitness for power by making Boris Johnson prime minister.”Andy Gregory18 December 2021 14:351639836480Politics Explained: What’s happening with Brexit?As the first anniversary of Brexit approaches, it seems that the arguments may soon splutter to an exhausted standstill, writes our associate editor Sean O’Grady. The British appear to have caved in on the sensitive issue of the European Court’s jurisdiction over the operation of the single market in Northern Ireland – which is, after all, explicitly inside both the EU customs union as well as the UK internal market. In return, the EU has indicated it may go easy on the strict interpretation of the rules on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland/Ireland/the EU. Medicines, in particular, can flow freely. Quietly, the UK and Jersey have been more generous to French fisherfolk, another flashpoint. It may actually be that Brexit is, practically speaking, “done” at last, the “interim” status of the agreement allowing both sides to reserve their formal final positions indefinitely, and preserve their pride. Like the Korean war that ended in 1953, but which is technically still on, it is a ceasefire that seems set to turn into a permanent, if sometimes volatile, truce.Read his analysis in full with Independent Premium: More