Afternoon summary
- Labour has submitted a complaint about Johnson to the parliamentary commissioner for standards. (See 4.40pm.)
- The UK has recorded 22 further coronavirus deaths. But, in a sign that the death figures are now plateauing after weeks when they have been falling sharply, the total number of deaths over the last seven days is now up on the total for the previous week - although only by 0.6%, or one single death. For most of the last three months the week-on-week death rate has been going down steeply.
That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global live global live blog. It’s here.
Labour reports Johnson to parliamentary commissioner for standards
Labour is submitting a complaint about Boris Johnson to the parliamentary commissioner for standards, my colleague Jessica Elgot reports. The commissioner investigates complaints about MPs breaking the code of conduct for MPs, often because they have not declared a relevant interest, and presumably Labour will be arguing that the original payment for the flat refurbishment should have been declared.
If the commissioner, Kathryn Stone, concludes that the code has been broken, her report goes to the Commons standards committee. The committee then proposes a punishment, although its recommendation is not binding until it has been approved by the Commons as a whole.
Normally MPs who fail to declare an interest are just told to correct their mistake and to apologise. But Johnson is a serial offender; the standards committee has twice in the past published reports saying he has “an over-casual attitude towards obeying the rules of the house” and a report published in April 2019 said if he broke the rules again a “more serious sanction” might be needed.
New - I understand complaints have also been made by Labour about Boris Johnson's flat to parliament's commissioner for standards.
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) April 29, 2021
This is serious in itself because she has the power to suspend MPs.
Previously the commissioner could not say who she was investigating- only publish findings. But rules have recently changed and an update is expected very soon on whether she will choose to use her new powers to publicise when an investigation is underway.
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) April 29, 2021
(Caveat that she technically has the power to recommend to a committee that a sanction including suspension be considered... it's always slightly more complicated than a tweet)
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) April 29, 2021
Nearly 6m rapid tests for Covid-19 were carried out in England in the week to 21 April, 1m more than the previous week, PA Media reports. PA says:
Since 9 April, everyone in England has been eligible for rapid Covid-19 tests twice a week.
Rapid tests, or lateral flow device (LFD) tests, are swab tests that give results in 30 minutes or less without the need for processing in a laboratory.
Most of these tests are conducted under supervision in settings such as schools, care homes and workplaces, though some can now be carried out by people in their home who are then expected to report the result.
Just under 5.8m rapid tests were carried out in England in the seven days to 21 April, according to the latest test and trace figures (pdf) - up from nearly 4.8m in the previous week.
Updated
Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/PA
Public Health England has published its latest weekly Covid surveillance report (pdf). It covers the period up to the week ending last Sunday, and it says overall Covid rates were continuing to decrease that week, although among teenagers rates are going up slightly. Here is the PHE summary of the key points.
Case rates continue to be highest in those aged 10 to 19, with a case rate of 45.5 per 100,000 population. A slight increase compared to the previous week.
The lowest case rates were in those aged 80 and above, with a rate of 6.3 per 100,000 population.
Case rates per 100,000 remain highest in Yorkshire and the Humber, at 44.7.
Case rates per 100,000 are lowest in the south-west, with a rate of 14.2.
Seroprevalence data indicates around 63.3% of the population have antibodies to Sars-CoV2 from either infection or vaccination, compared with 16.0% from infection alone.
The hospital admission rate for Covid-19 has fallen – it was 1.24 per 100,000 in [the week ending 25 April], compared to 1.48 per 100,000 in the previous week.
Hospital admission rates for Covid-19 are highest in Yorkshire and the Humber, with a rate of 1.75.
The highest hospital admission rates continue to be those aged 85 and above.
Updated
A total of 40,294,585 Covid-19 vaccinations took place in England between December 8 and April 28, according to NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 497,504 on the previous day.
As PA Media reports, NHS England said 28,545,198 were the first dose of a vaccine, a rise of 103,352 on the previous day, while 11,749,387 were a second dose, an increase of 394,152.
Updated
One of the architects of the Belfast/Good Friday agreement warned of a “disaster” for Northern Ireland if Arlene Foster’s resignation as leader of the Democratic Unionist party led to an early election for local assembly seats.
Bertie Ahern, the former taoiseach, told BBC Northern Ireland:
That would be a disaster. I think instability just leaves everybody in a bad place. Governments all over the world nowadays have coalition partners. These should be seen as normal processes.
As the DUP begins the process of deciding on a new leader, there has been speculation about the twin roles currently occupied by Foster as first minister of the devolved government and leader of the party.
It has been reported locally that Edwin Poots, the agriculture minister and one of the frontrunners for the job, would not want to be first minister without also being leader of the party.
Sinn Féin could block the appointment of the party’s new leader as first minister without guarantees around the Irish language and LGBT rights and possibly prompt an election. But the senior party member and Stormont MLA Conor Murphy has said it would be “irresponsible” to hold an early election.
The leader of the Alliance party, Naomi Long, said she did not “think an election will be advantageous to the people of Northern Ireland”.
Here are the likely candidates to succeed Foster.
Updated
Updated
Former Tory No 10 communications chief appointed to BBC's board
Sir Robbie Gibb, a former communications director at No 10 under Theresa May, has been appointed to the BBC’s board, PA Media reports. PA says:
It is understood that Gibb who had a 25-year career at the BBC before spending two years in Downing Street under the Conservative prime minister, was appointed by the government.
The BBC reported that he will start as the board member for England on 7 May.
Since leaving frontline politics, Gibb has written articles criticising the broadcaster.
“The BBC has been culturally captured by the woke-dominated group think of some of its own staff,” he wrote in the Telegraph last year.
“There is a default Left-leaning attitude from a metropolitan workforce mostly drawn from a similar social and economic background.”
As the Telegraph’s Ben Riley-Smith reports, Gibb told the Telegraph that he thinks the BBC has a “big job” ahead restoring its reputation for impartiality.
EXC: Robbie Gibb, Theresa May's ex-director of comms, is joining the BBC Board. A critic of BBC bias. Will be their England representative.
— Ben Riley-Smith (@benrileysmith) April 29, 2021
He tells me: “The Corporation has a big job to reform and make sure it once again becomes the gold standard for broadcasting impartiality"
Johnson refuses to commit to accepting all recommendations from independent adviser's inquiry into flat payments
PA Media has published the full transcript of Sam Coates’s pooled interview with Boris Johnson earlier. (See 1.10pm.) The broadcast version I saw omitted the first question, but the transcript shows just how keen Johnson was to avoid committing to publishing the findings of the inquiry into the flat refurbishment affair by Lord Geidt, the new independent adviser on ministers’ interests.
Coates asked:
You have appointed the Queen’s former private secretary Christopher Geidt to look into what happened about the refurbishment of your flat. Could you commit to publishing, in full, what he finds and undertaking any recommendations that he makes, immediately that he makes them?
Johnson replied:
Well, I’m sure he’ll do an outstanding job. I think what people are focused on overwhelmingly is not that kind of issue, but on what we’re doing to take this country through the pandemic.
And then Johnson talked about other issues.
When the previous adviser, Sir Alex Allan, investigated bullying allegations about Priti Patel, Johnson delayed announcing the findings for months and and then effectively rejected the conclusion that Patel had broken the ministerial code. That prompted Allan to resign.
In line with usual practice with investigations by the adviser, a summary of the findings was published, but not the full report.
Support for Scottish independence slipping, poll suggests
Support for Scottish independence has fallen to 42%, its lowest level since just before the general election in 2019 that gave Boris Johnson a resounding Westminster majority, in the latest poll for the Scotsman by Savanta ComRes.
The poll, which maintained a recent downward trend in backing for independence in Savanta ComRes polls, put support for remaining in the UK at 49%, with 8% don’t knows. Stripping out don’t knows, it gave 54% no to 46% yes.
Those findings highlight much greater volatility and decline in the yes vote during the Holyrood election campaign, after a remarkably consistent series of more than 20 polls showing majority support for independence since 2019, which reached 59% for yes in October 2020.
A larger survey of 2,017 voters by Lord Ashcroft, the Tory peer turned pollster, published yesterday found there was a 51/49% split between no and yes. That amounted to “a statistical dead heat”, he said.
While Ashcroft’s panel was twice as large as the 1,001 voters surveyed by Savanta ComRes, his fieldwork was carried out between 7 and 19 April, compared to 23 to 27 April for Savanta ComRes.
The Scotsman poll also found a slight fall in Scottish National party support, down one point to 45% in the constituency vote, and two points down on the regional list vote to 36%. That would deny the SNP an overall majority but would be likely to give them 61 of Holyrood’s 129 seats.
With 10% on the list, the Greens would win 11 seats, giving pro-independence parties that so-called “super majority” that yes campaigners say would justify staging a second independence referendum. The new hardline pro-independence Alba party led by Alex Salmond polls only 2% Scotland-wide, well short of winning a Holyrood seat.
The election campaign has allowed the Tories and Labour to get much greater airtime, with the Tories repeatedly attacking independence and both insisting the Covid crisis has to be prioritised. The UK-funded vaccines campaign and Salmond’s agitation around independence may have cut support for the SNP.
Updated
Simon Stevens to step down as NHS England chief executive at end of July
Sir Simon Stevens is to step down as chief executive of NHS England at the end of July, it has been announced this afternoon. He has been in the post for more than seven years. No 10 has announced that when he quits he will receive a life peerage.
In a statement Stevens said:
Joining the health service in my early 20s was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, followed three decades later by the privilege of leading the NHS through some of the toughest challenges in its history. The people of this country have rightly recognised the extraordinary service of NHS staff during this terrible pandemic, as well as the success of our Covid vaccination deployment.
As the pandemic recedes in this country, the NHS’s track record in advancing medical progress in a way that works for everyone rightly continues to inspire young people to join one of the greatest causes: health and high quality care for all, now and for future generations.
According to Hugh Pym, the BBC’s health editor, Stevens would have left earlier if it had not been for the pandemic.
It’s understood Sir Simon Stevens told NHS England board last year he intended to leave this summer. He had planned to leave sooner but agreed to stay on through the winter and into this year to see through the vaccination rollout and head the NHS response to the pandemic.
— Hugh Pym (@BBCHughPym) April 29, 2021
Updated
Pressure is mounting on the government to lift the requirement for secondary school children to wear face masks in the classroom next month, amid claims that they are becoming increasingly problematic for pupils with hay fever and teenage acne.
Conservative MP and consultant paediatrician Caroline Johnson, a member of the Commons education committee, said she had come across many cases of children who were “really suffering” as the hay fever season got under way.
Appearing before the education committee this morning, Nick Gibb, the schools minister, told MPs he hoped the requirement for pupils in secondary schools and colleges to wear face coverings in class would be dropped from mid-May when the government reaches the third step of its roadmap out of lockdown, but it would depend on Covid data.
Johnson, MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham, was one of a number of MPs to raise concerns about the impact of masks on the learning, mental health and wellbeing of pupils, particularly deaf students who rely on lip reading and therefore require teachers to wear transparent masks. She asked Gibb:
Can you confirm that children will no longer have to wear masks at step 3 on May 17, because I’m hearing stories of children who are really suffering with wearing masks, particularly as we’ve entered hay fever season and the pollen can lodge in masks as the extra heat contributes to children who have skin conditions like acne. So the mask wearing is becoming more difficult for young people, particularly on top of the communication skills issue.
Gibb said there would be a review. He told the committee:
The expectation is that if everything is successful, and the road map is going in the direction we expect it to go in, then we hope that face masks won’t be necessary after that date. But of course it depends on the data and the evidence and the advice that we’re getting from Public Health England.
No 10 refuses to deny that UK poised to grant full diplomatic status to EU
Here are the main points from today’s Downing Street lobby briefing.
- The PM’s spokesman said that more data was required before the government will approve fully-vaccinated people from different households meeting up indoors. Asked about this, the spokesman referred to what Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, said at the No 10 briefing yesterday. The spokesman said:
I think JVT made two points yesterday. Firstly he said that if two people who had been fully vaccinated meet, then he would be confident that it would be safe for both of those individuals.
He then went on to make the point, which I think is important, that we still need further data to understand whether these vaccines work as well for people who are frail and elderly as they do in fit and young people - there is some data on that - and that only 64.5% of the population have had their first dose, so we are still a way off the full population having been fully vaccinated.
The point he was making is that we are close but it is right that we continue to be cautious and follow the steps set out in the road map.
- The spokesman rejected claims from the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign that Johnson has been avoiding meeting bereaved families. (See 12.41pm.) “The prime minister has spoken to a number of families bereaved by Covid, both in person and virtually,” the spokesman said.
- He said negotiations were still ongoing about whether to grant full diplomatic status to the EU’s ambassador to the UK. The government has been refusing to grant full diplomatic status to the EU ambassador, on the grounds that the EU is not a state, but the Times (paywall) today says the government is set to back down because the row has harmed EU-UK relations.
- The spokesman was unable to say how Matt Hancock came to receive his vaccination this morning from Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer. It looked liked a pre-arranged photocall (see 10.16am), but the spokesman seemed reluctant to admit that Hancock may have received special treatment. Asked why Van-Tam delivered Hancock’s jab, he said:
I think a number of people have been lucky enough to be vaccinated by Prof Van-Tam. He does fairly regular shifts in and around the country, and so a number of people had it done [by him].
I think he was doing a shift when the health secretary was vaccinated.
Sir Keir Starmer has said he wants the appointment of an independent commission to clean up Westminster. Speaking on a campaign visit this morning, he said:
The idea of having an adviser who can investigate only if the prime minister says so [the independent adviser on ministers’ interests] just shows how weak the system is.
That’s why what we are proposing is that we clean up Westminster. We have a proper, independent commission.
We’ve got WhatsApp messages. We’ve got David Cameron contacting anybody he knows within officialdom and within the cabinet.
We’ve got the health secretary who’s got shares in companies that are bidding for contracts within the NHS.
We’ve got the prime minister on WhatsApp messages about tax arrangements and now we’ve got this ridiculous farce of the prime minster not being even prepared to answer a simple question about who paid for the redecoration of his flat. We need to clean this up.
Starmer also posted this on Twitter - a clip from his appearance on ITV’s Peston show last night.
I would clean up Westminster.#Peston pic.twitter.com/FTpoHCsbrR
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) April 29, 2021
Updated
Johnson claims he loves John Lewis
Here are the main points from Boris Johnson’s pool interview (in interview with one broadcaster, to be shared with others) this morning.
- Johnson claimed that the flat refurbishment row effectively did not matter, saying “I don’t think there is anything to see here”. Asked about the controversy, he said he gave the issue “a pretty good run around the park” in the Commons yesterday. He went on:
I don’t think there’s anything to see here or to to worry about. But what we are doing is focusing on the stuff that really matters.
Later he said:
I don’t think that this is the number one issue for the people ... By several orders of magnitude, I would say what people want the government to focus on now is exactly what we’re doing, education, crime and all the other issues that really matter.
- Johnson claimed that he loved the John Lewis department store and said that the aspect of the flat controversy that bothered him most was the claim that he didn’t. He said:
The one thing I object to in this whole farrago of nonsense is, I love John Lewis.
But what I will say is what people want this government to do is focus on their priorities.
It has been reported that Johnson’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds, was particularly keen on the lavish refurbishment because she wanted to get rid of the “John Lewis nightmare” furnishings left in the flat by Theresa May.
- Johnson sounded reluctant to say he had full confidence in the Electoral Commission. When first asked about the commission, which yesterday announced a formal investigation into the No 10 flat refurbishment, he said he would of course comply with whatever they said. (In fact, he would not really have a choice; the commission is a statutory body with the power to impose fines.) When Sam Coates, the interviewer, said this did not sound like an expression of full confidence in the commission, Johnson said that his answer was “of course” [he did he have confidence in it]. But then Johnson went to complain that this was not an important issue for people. Last year Amanda Milling, the Conservative party co-chair, said the commission should be disbanded if it was not willing to change the way it operated.
- Johnson said he thought Lord Geidt would do an “outstanding job” as the independent adviser on ministers’ interests.
- But he refused to commit to publishing the full report of Geidt’s investigation into the flat refurbishment affair.
- Johnson defended the government’s cuts to international aid (see 10.23am and 11am), saying the government was still spending £10bn on aid even after the cuts.
- He said education was his number one post-Covid priority.
- He said he did not see any reason why further lockdown restrictions would be able to be lifted as planned on 17 May. At that point indoor gatherings of two households or up to six people are meant to be permitted, as well as international travel.
Updated
Johnson has made private visit to National Covid Memorial Wall, says No 10
Downing Street has said Boris Johnson went to the National Covid Memorial Wall for “quiet reflection” after campaigners for bereaved families criticised the “visit under cover of darkness”, PA Media reports. PA says:
Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice accused the prime minister of trying to dodge relatives of those who have died during the crisis by visiting the memorial late on Tuesday.
But No 10 defended Johnson’s “private” visit to the site opposite the Houses of Parliament as being for “quiet reflection”, and said he “offers his deepest condolences” to those who have lost a loved one.
The campaign group is considering legal action against the government as it demands ministers set a date for an independent, judge-led inquiry into the crisis.
Matt Fowler, co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said:
For weeks we’ve asked him to come to the wall and meet bereaved families. He’s refused to even acknowledge our request.
Then, the day after it’s revealed he said he’d let ‘bodies pile high’, he makes a late evening visit under cover of darkness, just so that he can dodge meeting bereaved families.
This is a cynical and insincere move that is deeply hurtful. Our invitation for him to walk the wall with families who’ve lost loved ones is still open, and we await a response.
Johnson denies saying he would rather let “bodies pile high” than impose a third coronavirus lockdown.
A No 10 spokeswoman said:
The prime minister offers his deepest condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one during this very difficult pandemic. On Tuesday the prime minister visited the Covid Memorial Wall in private for quiet reflection.
Updated
'I don't think there is anything to see here' - Johnson claims flat funding row not important
Boris Johnson has dismissed the row about the funding of his Downing Street flat refurbishment. In a pooled interview with Sky’s Sam Coates, which is being broadcast on BBC News, Johnson said:
I don’t think there is anything to see here, or to worry about.
“Nothing to see here” is normally a newspaper cliche; it is rare to hear someone use it apparently seriously.
He said people wanted the government to be focused on “the people’s priorities”. He said that “by several orders of magnitude”, other issues were more important.
He also said that what he objected to most about this story was the claim that he did not like John Lewis. (See 10.47am.) “I love John Lewis,” he said.
I will post more from the interview shortly.
Although this morning’s headlines were largely very negative for Boris Johnson (see 9.19am), it is worth remembering that national opinion polls still look good for his party.
As Andrew Woodcock reports in the Independent, a new BMG poll puts the Conservatives on 39% and Labour on 35%. That would give the Tories a four-point lead - up two points from the lead BMG gave them in March. The fieldwork concluded on Monday.
And a Savanta ComRes poll out yesterday gave the Tories a seven-point lead over Labour - down from a nine-point lead the week before. The fieldwork for that poll concluded on Sunday.
🚨Conservative lead narrows, but still a 7pt gap 🚨
— Savanta ComRes (@SavantaComRes) April 28, 2021
NEW Westminster Voting Intention:
Con 42 (-1)
Lab 35 (+1)
LDM 8 (+1)
SNP 5 (=)
Green 3 (-1)
Other 7 (=)
23-25 April
(Changes from 16-18 April) pic.twitter.com/Q9fGf8b5hM
Updated
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has estimated Scotland’s spending deficit was as high as 25% last year, significantly more than the UK’s as a whole, due to the additional costs of combating the Covid crisis.
In a briefing the IFS said new data on spending, borrowing and tax revenues from the Office for National Statistics, published last Friday, showed that Scotland’s budget deficit spiked at between 22% and 25% of its national income during the 2020/21 financial year.
That compares with 16% for the UK as a whole last year, also higher due to economic impacts of the pandemic, it said. In the previous year, Scotland’s deficit was 8.6% of national income.
David Phillips, an IFS associate director, said Scotland remained wealthier than Wales, Northern Ireland and many English regions but, like all those other areas, it still relied heavily on fiscal transfers from London and the south-east to subsidise significantly higher levels of public spending than in England.
If it became independent, large tax rises or spending cuts would be needed to reduce that deficit, he said. Those budgetary implications would be even larger for Wales and Northern Ireland, where support for independence and Irish reunification is growing.
Phillips said:
Our latest projections for Scotland’s implicit budget deficit in 2020-21 are lower than those we made last summer, reflecting the fact that the deficit for the UK as a whole is now estimated to have been not quite so high as then feared
But the gap between Scotland and the UK as a whole is very similar and is structural rather than cyclical. Even if the UK’s public finances were in balance we would expect Scotland’s deficit to be around 6% of national income.
Yesterday the IfG found public spending in Scotland was £2,543 higher per head than Scotland’s share of tax receipts; £4,412 higher per head in Wales and £5,188 per person in Northern Ireland.
Updated
The Home Office has said that an extra 8,771 police officers have been hired in England and Wales as part of the government’s police uplift programme intended to boost police numbers by 20,000 by March 2023. The details are here.
Yesterday the Department of Health announced that the government has ordered 60m more doses of the Pfizer vaccine for use in the vaccine booster programme this autumn. But, in an interview this morning, Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccine deployment minister, said that the final decision about what vaccines get used for booster doses would be taken later this year, after more research has been carried out. He said the Pfizer order was intended to help ensure the NHS has various options available.
Zahawi told the Today programme:
There is a big piece of research which will be done in June called “Cov boost”, which will look at which single jab will offer the best protection or durability of both T-cells and of course antibodies - Novavax looks pretty good because it works against the current dominant virus in the UK, the Kent virus, and the South Africa virus.
Pfizer looks good, we are talking to AstraZeneca about their vaccine variant, Valneva as well.
We want to give as much optionality to the clinicians to be able to make the decision of how they want to offer that additional protection for the most vulnerable cohorts.
Liz Sugg, who worked for David Cameron in No 10 when he was prime minister and who was an international development minister in the Lords until she resigned last year over aid cuts, told the Today programme this morning the UK money being cut from the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency (see 10.23am) would have prevented 250,000 maternal and child deaths and 14 million unintended pregnancies. She said:
This is money which the UK committed to in the UN chamber, a promise made in front of delegates of every country in the world, a signed agreement which we’re walking away from, which is pretty unheard of.
She also said the UK was inflicting a “double hit” on the world’s poor.
I completely acknowledge the really difficult times that many in the country are facing but what we spend on aid is already linked to the strength of our economy.
So, if the economy suffers as it’s done because of the coronavirus, the amount we spend on aid automatically falls - so there’s a natural correction if you like.
This year, there’s an additional sort of huge cuts because of the change in policy and that’s really a double hit on the world’s poorest.
Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Updated
One reported reason for Boris Johnson spending so much on the Downing Street flat refurbishment is that his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, wanted to get rid of the “John Lewis nightmare” furnishings bequeathed by Theresa May. This is awkward for the Conservative West Midlands mayoral candidate Andy Street because he was managing director of John Lewis for nine years and spent over three decades at the company. He’s even sometimes referred to as “Mr John Lewis”.
At a BirminghamLive hustings last night, Street seemed relaxed about the situation and quick to brush off the alleged remark saying it was simply the couple’s “personal decision” and he has learned “you can’t please all people”.
Street said:
I’m still very attached to John Lewis and I want every customer to aspire to John Lewis. But I learnt running that business you couldn’t please all the people all the time and if [Boris and Carrie] choose not to, frankly, that’s their personal decision. I don’t read of it any impact on the John Lewis brand at all.
On the claims Boris Johnson said he would rather see bodies “pile high in their thousands” than order another lockdown, Street said he didn’t believe it to be true and that it wasn’t his “personal experience of [the prime minister] at all”. He went on:
During the pandemic, I’ve found him personally to be incredibly concerned about the impacts. When my mum died of Covid, he was very quick to write a personal letter. It was very charming and I think he showed incredible personal concern.
Street is frequently challenged over what some see as a reluctance to strongly associate himself with the Conservative party - his election materials are green rather than blue and you won’t find many party logos - but Street asserted that he was “proud of being a Tory”.
However, he said he sees himself as “Conservative plus”, adding: “You are not elected into this job to be the servant of your party, you are elected into this job to serve the people of the West Midlands.”
Updated
Yesterday, when Downing Street announced the appointment of Lord Geidt as the new independent adviser on ministers’ interests, it also confirmed modest changes designed to give the adviser more authority.
But the reforms do not go as far as those proposed by the chair of the committee on standards in public life, and this morning Labour’s Liz Kendall said the adviser was still not properly independent. Kendall, the shadow social care minister, told the Today programme:
It’s not just that Johnson would be marking his own homework [under the current system], he wouldn’t be setting himself any homework in the first place.
If you have the name ‘independent adviser’, you’ve got to do what it says on the tin and I’m afraid there are still so many questions that have to be answered.
Who paid for the flat refurbishment? Where did that money come from? We’ve got to get to the bottom of it because people have to have confidence in the system.
They have to know there’s no conflict of interest, that people aren’t doing a favour and getting back something in return.
My colleague Damien Gayle has the full story here.
Updated
Heathrow may have to turn to its sovereign wealth fund shareholders, including those from Qatar, China and Singapore, for a cash injection after the UK aviation regulator blocked its “disproportionate” bid to raise airport charges to recoup £2.6bn lost during the pandemic, my colleagues Julia Kollewe and Gwyn Topham report.
An 85% cut in the UK’s contribution to the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency has been described as “devastating” for women, girls and their families around the world, PA Media reports. PA says:
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said the government’s expected contribution to its flagship programme for family planning this year will fall from £154m to £23m.
Details of the cut emerged as the government came under sustained criticism for shelving its manifesto commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on overseas aid, reducing spending to 0.5% amid the coronavirus crisis.
UNFPA said this is a “retreat from agreed commitments made to the programme” last year and that funds would have been used to prevent tens of thousands of maternal and child deaths, millions of unintended pregnancies and millions of unsafe abortions.
The organisation said that, in addition, £12m is to be cut from the UNFPA’s “core operating funds” and that several country-level agreements are also likely to be affected.
The cut in funding to UNFPA is the latest to emerge, with a leaked memo also showing the UK will slash bilateral funding for overseas water, sanitation and hygiene projects by more than 80%.
Updated
In most respects the UK’s vaccine rollout has been gloriously egalitarian. Even the Queen had to wait her turn, and Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has only just had his first dose. He is 42, and in England people that age were only reached this week.
But Hancock did manage to get vaccinated by Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the star of the Downing Street press conferences and England’s deputy chief medical officer, and so there do seem to be some perks attached to his office.
In a statement afterwards Hancock said:
It was a privilege to get my first jab within the historic walls of the Science Museum in London, where the team are documenting the national pandemic response and preserving items like the first Covid-19 vaccine vial to be used anywhere in the world. Learning from science has been central this last year more than ever, so it felt fitting to be at the museum.
Over 47 million doses have now been administered across the country thanks not only to hundreds of hospitals, GP clinics and pharmacies, but to incredible sites like this that have volunteered their unused spaces.
The rollout continues at pace and we are on track to reach our target of offering all adults a first dose of the vaccine by the end of July. I was very excited when my call came, and I’d urge everyone to take up the offer when it comes, and become part of history in the UK’s biggest ever vaccination programme.
Brilliant! Got the jab. In & out in 8 minutes. Didn’t hurt at all.
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) April 29, 2021
Massive thanks to JVT & the @sciencemuseum team.
When you get the call, get the jab! pic.twitter.com/dPhUwkGEYB
Updated
Minister defends PM, saying he has been following advice of officials
Good morning - although if you’re in Downing Street, it probably won’t feel like that. The flat refurbishment scandal is intensifying, and today’s front pages will make grim reading for Boris Johnson.
METRO: Interior resign #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/UYMVLZM43Q
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 28, 2021
MAIL: Boris Painted Into A Corner #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/1QJg9yUDBz
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 28, 2021
TIMES: Downing St concern at ‘paper trail’ to PM’s flat #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/qADcLxw1E9
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 28, 2021
MIRROR: Boris is the judge at his own trial #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/jJ8kqsMTWg
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 28, 2021
FT: @BorisJohnson faces formal probes into who paid for Downing St facelift #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/TkWLVsyOUr
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 28, 2021
GUARDIAN: PM’s fury as watchdog launches inquiry into ‘cash for curtains’ #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Xft2lBaTs8
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 28, 2021
STAR: Proper fancy wallpaper for EVERY Prime Minister #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/L94cVLKlnZ
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 28, 2021
INDEPENDENT DIGITAL: PM appoints ‘toothless’ adviser as ethics chief #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/I8fmZ5wWYI
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 28, 2021
This morning Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccine deployment minister, was doing the morning interview round but he struggled to say anything likely to change the way the prime minister’s behaviour is perceived.
At one point Zahawi implied that, if Johnson has failed to declare donations that covered the original cost of his flat refurbishment, officials were to blame for advising him wrongly. This is what he said when asked on the Today programme if Johnson would accept the findings of the investigation by Lord Geidt, who was yesterday appointed as the new independent adviser on ministers’ interests. Zahawi replied:
The prime minister has answered umpteen questions, including saying that if the Lord Geidt finds that the prime minister needs to make other declarations, he will then make those. But he has throughout this whole process been advised by his officials, and he has clearly paid for the refurbishment.
But Zahawi also made it clear that Johnson would only accept Geidt’s conclusions up to a point. When the presenter, Mishal Husain, then asked if Johnson would accept the findings if Geidt said he had broken the ministerial code, Zahawi replied:
I just said to you, the prime minister has already said he has followed the ministerial code. Lord Geidt will obviously look at how the process has been followed. And if there are additional declarations that need to be made ....
In other words, it already seems to be have been decided that Johnson did not break the ministerial code - because he says he didn’t.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Nick Gibb, the schools minister, gives evidence to the Commons education committee.
9.30am: The Home Office publishes police recruitment figures.
9.30am: The Department for Business publishes fuel poverty figures.
10am: HM Revenue and Customs, the DWP and the Treasury give evidence to the public accounts committee about fraud and error in the benefits system.
11am: Matt Hancock, the health secretary, gives a speech to the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services; at 2pm Liz Kendall, the shadow social care minister, speaks.
12pm: Downing Street is expected to hold its daily lobby briefing.
Also, Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer are both on visits this morning, and should be giving media interviews.
Covid is the issue dominating UK politics this year and often Politics Live has been largely or wholly devoted to coronavirus. But I will also be covering non-Covid politics, including latest developments in the Downing Street flat controversy which is likely to be the dominant story for at least some of the day. For global coronavirus news, do read our global live blog.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
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