Top story: Sunak joins criticism of PM
Hello, Warren Murray here, endeavouring to provide the answers you need.
Four of Boris Johnson’s key staff have quit, led out of the blue by his longstanding policy chief Munira Mirza who used a stinging resignation letter to accuse the prime minister of “scurrilous” behaviour. She was followed by Dan Rosenfield, the No 10 chief of staff; Martin Reynolds, Johnson’s principal private secretary; and his director of communications, Jack Doyle – all three of whom have been implicated in Downing Street’s response to the lockdown parties. Reynolds sent a widely shared email urging staff to “bring your own booze” to one event on 20 May 2020.
Mirza rebuked Johnson for falsely linking Keir Starmer to the failure to bring the paedophile Jimmy Savile to justice. Rishi Sunak also criticised the prime minister for his jibe – asked about the comments, the chancellor and possible Johnson successor said: “Being honest, I wouldn’t have said it.” Meanwhile a leaked Cabinet Office memo reveals civil service bosses may never know which of their staff are fined over partygate. Those concerned have been told it is “unlikely” their security clearance would be revoked if they were given a £100 fixed penalty notice.
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Southend West elects new MP – The Conservatives have as expected held on to the seat of Southend West after a byelection triggered by the killing of Sir David Amess. Anna Firth ran out as a comfortable winner with 86% of the vote after Labour, the Liberal Democrats and other mainstream political parties stood aside from the contest.
Amess was killed on 15 October during a constituency surgery. Firth, a barrister, vowed to “work tirelessly to build on everything” achieved by Amess. Southend West, with its 66,354 registered voters, has been held by the Conservatives since its creation in 1950.
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Sunak promises bill relief – Rishi Sunak has told households suffering from Britain’s worsening cost of living crisis to brace themselves for further increases in energy costs later this year. Prompted by the average household paying an extra £700 a year for gas and electricity, the chancellor announced temporary, repayable discounts and council tax rebates that he insisted would help soften the blow. Critics said the £9bn emergency package was insufficient. The Resolution Foundation said millions more would plunge into fuel stress, where more than 10% of the household budget is spent on energy. The Bank of England meanwhile raised interest rates to 0.5% while warning that living standards were headed for their biggest hit in at least 30 years. The Bank predicts annual inflation – already 5.4% – will peak at more than 7% this spring.
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Next stop: road pricing – Motorists will have to pay by the mile to make up a £35bn tax shortfall as fuel duty revenue declines with the shift to electric vehicles, the Commons transport committee has said. MPs saw “no viable alternative” to road pricing and said work on bringing it in should start immediately. The MPs said new charges should entirely replace fuel duty and vehicle excise, with most motorists ending up paying the same or less. Drivers of electric vehicles should pay to maintain and use the roads, the MPs said, like petrol and diesel drivers do – although incentives to purchase cleaner vehicles must remain. The RAC Foundation backed the call but said the system must not be too complex or expensive. It suggested charges could be calculated and collected alongside vehicle insurance premiums.
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‘Act of desperate cowardice’ – Joe Biden said US special forces had “successfully removed a major threat to the world” after the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, blew himself up in a pre-dawn raid in Syria. Thirteen people were killed, including women and children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Unicef has confirmed that at least six children died. Biden said that “as troops approached, in a final act of desperate cowardice”, Qurayshi blew up the third floor of a house, killing his own family members. Biden called Qurayshi “Haji Abdullah” and said he had been “the driving force” behind the genocide of the Yazidi people. Thursday’s raid was the most significant by the US since Qurayshi’s predecessor Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in October 2019.
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‘Life-saving’ – Children in England with the rare and fatal genetic condition MLD will soon be able to get the world’s most expensive drug after NHS bosses negotiated a substantial cut in its £2.8m price. The “life-saving” therapy called Libmeldy will go to the small number of babies and young children who have metachromatic leukodystrophy. Those who receive it will be able to enjoy a normal life, the NHS says. The disorder progressively and severely damages a child’s nervous system and organs. Around four children a year are born in England with MLD and usually only live for five to eight years. NHS England said clinical trials “have shown this treatment will deliver substantial health benefits”. Prof Andrew Hill, a drugs expert at Liverpool University, said it was is not clear if results upholding Libmeldy’s effectiveness were reliable. “Long-term follow up will be required to ensure that this drug is truly cost-effective at this high price.”
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Green grocers – Waitrose and Lidl are the most sustainable supermarkets, according to Which?’s eco-friendly grocer ranking. Iceland finished last, according to the research, which tracked supermarket policies on plastic waste, food waste, and greenhouse gas emissions. Waitrose has strong policies on plastic and food waste compared with other supermarkets, and scored reasonably for greenhouse gas emissions. Marks & Spencer was found to use a lot of plastic compared with other supermarkets. For plastic use, the Co-op did best, while Ocado was the frontrunner in terms of food waste, as it redistributes almost all surplus food. The full rankings are in our story.
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Sport
The Beijing Winter Olympics officially open today with a dose of realpolitik, but also plenty of sport to look forward to, including a return for the Jamaican bobsleigh team. Yorkshire County Cricket Club have been plunged into an ugly civil war with Kamlesh Patel, the new chairman, claiming a group of individuals are seeking to delay and derail reform. England’s disastrous Ashes tour claimed a second scalp on Thursday night after Chris Silverwood was sacked as head coach, just a day after his old boss, Ashley Giles, was removed from his role as director of cricket.
Eddie Jones has attempted to pile the pressure on Scotland before Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash by billing Gregor Townsend’s side as “red-hot” favourites. Formula One sprint races could be deleted from the calendar this year due to a row over money. Manchester City breezed to a 3-0 victory over Spurs in the Women’s League Cup semi-final thanks to an inspired performance from Lauren Hemp. And Magnus Carlsen was a class apart from his rivals last week at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee, the “chess Wimbledon”.
Business
Asian stock markets have rallied after the spectacular fall in the price of shares in Facebook parent Meta caused big losses on Wall Street. The tech company lost more than $230bn of its market value, easily the biggest one-day loss in history for a US company, after it reported its first ever drop in daily user numbers. Stronger figures from Amazon helped investors recover some poise but the dawn of a new era of higher interest rates around the world continues to shake confidence, with Brent crude oil pushing up to $91.45 a barrel overnight. The FTSE100 looks like climbing 0.3% or so, while the pound was up to $1.360 but slipped against the euro to €1.187.
The papers
Three big stories dominate Friday’s front pages – and none of them are good news for Boris Johnson. We have a separate wrap, of which a summary follows. The Mail says “Meltdown in Downing Street” above an image of a forlorn-looking prime minister and the subhead, “will the last one to leave please turn out the lights” evoking the Sun’s infamous 1992 election front page. Its front page also runs through the litany of disasters to strike Johnson’s ailing premiership: “Four aides go”, “Sunak puts knife into PM”, and “rates, energy bills and inflation soar”. The Guardian says “PM hit by No 10 exodus as four aides quit in one day”. It also reports that households are “braced for further fuel bill rises”.
The Sun’s splash headline says “Ouch!” and then breaks out the strands of what is being dubbed “Black Thursday”. “Brits £2,417 poorer”, one subhead says, along with “Partygate bloodbath” and “Rishi knifes PM”. The Mirror says “They’re all laughing”, with a picture of the Tory frontbench sharing a joke in the Commons juxtaposed with some hard-hitting facts about the cost of living crisis.
The i has a similar theme with “Johnson’s top team quits No 10 en masse”. The headline in the Times is “Britons facing biggest drop in living standards” and a large picture of the chancellor. It also has “Johnson doubts grow after aides quit and Sunak takes swipe”. The Telegraph has a splash headlined “The big squeeze” and another smaller story down the page saying “More pressure on Johnson as four top aides quit in one day”. Ditto the FT which has a main story saying “Household budgets suffer biggest blow in three decades”, and underneath it reports “Sunak distances himself from Johnson over Savile remarks as close aides quit”. The Express says “Tighten your belts … Britain in grip of biggest squeeze ever”.
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