Top story: ‘Stand up if you hate Boris’
Hello, this is Warren Murray presenting your final Guardian morning briefing of 2021. Whether on email, the app or our website, sincere thanks for reading this year. Season’s greetings and here’s hoping for a better 2022.
A Cabinet Office inquiry into alleged government parties in breach of Covid rules could be expanded after the Guardian published an image showing the prime minister alongside his wife and up to 17 staff in the Downing Street garden in May 2020. Bereaved families have accused Boris Johnson of showing “flagrant disregard” for the public as ministers struggled to explain the justification for a wine and cheese event in Downing Street at the height of lockdown.
Amid growing fury over the photograph, Johnson said on Monday: “Those were meetings of people at work, talking about work.” Labour dismissed Downing Street’s explanation and said it amounted to evidence of law-breaking. Johnson found himself the target of some rather different negative publicity last night when chants of “Stand up if you hate Boris” rang out as spectators packed Alexandra Palace in London for the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship.
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Status quo as Omicron spreads – New Covid restrictions are unlikely to be imposed before Christmas but Boris Johnson has warned further measures remain on the table. Parliament is preparing for a possible recall on Tuesday 28 December for a vote on any new measures. The prime minister has been accused of leaving millions of people in limbo, as well as businesses, after a two-hour cabinet meeting ended with no decision. Scientists have also reacted with dismay, emphasising that waiting until the new year would “almost certainly be too late to have a material impact on the epidemic”. There has been a steep rise in hospitalisations in London, with the UK’s highest number of Omicron cases, while 91,743 people tested positive for Covid on Monday across the UK. The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, announced the cancellation of the New Year’s Eve celebration in Trafalgar Square “in the interests of public safety”. The number of UK vaccines administered within 24 hours broke 1m for the first time on the weekend, it has been confirmed.
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Truss takes up NI protocol talks – The UK’s newly appointed Brexit negotiator, Liz Truss, is due to speak today to her EU counterpart, Maroš Šefčovič. No EU-UK talks had been scheduled in the last days before Christmas, until the surprise weekend resignation of Lord Frost, who had been Boris Johnson’s chief Brexit negotiator. There are renewed calls to rip up the Northern Ireland protocol, with ministers under pressure from Conservative hard Brexiters and the Democratic Unionists to resolve an issue they argue has put a border down the Irish Sea and damaged the integrity of the United Kingdom. Truss supported remain at the 2016 referendum but is popular with Tory activists at a time when Johnson’s premiership is in crisis. Allies say the minister has made clear that she would vote leave if she had the chance again, and that her stint as international trade secretary demonstrates her credentials as a free marketeer and free trader.
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‘Extremely toxic’ – The government approach to transgender rights has caused real distress and exacerbated tensions, according to a group of cross-bench MPs. The Conservative-led women’s and equalities committee has called for urgent reform to the way people can officially change gender, suggesting the government has been unwilling to engage in an area that has sometimes “become extremely toxic”. A Government Equality Hub spokesperson said it was taking steps to modernise applications for Gender Recognition Certificates, including reducing the cost and moving the process online. The equality commission has said it will publish guidance for service providers on single-sex spaces in January and respond to the committee’s other points in due course.
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Guilty verdicts over machete killing – A mother and her teenage son have been found guilty of killing a 17-year-old boy in a machete attack in south London. Nichola Leighton, 36, was found guilty of murder and having an offensive weapon. Her son Tyreese Ulysses, 19, admitted having a weapon, and was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter. They had been on trial along with three teenagers over the death of Levi Ernest-Morrison. On the evening of 10 April, Leighton drove Ulysses to the scene of the attack after becoming “furious” with the victim for repeatedly knocking on her door looking for her son, jurors at the Old Bailey were told. Two teenagers, aged 16 and 17, were also convicted of murder after admitting to having weapons. The jury failed to reach a verdict on a murder charge for a 15-year-old. The defendants were remanded into custody to be sentenced on 28 January 2022.
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Reign in splendid isolation – Barrow borough council has begun one of the UK’s most unusual local government recruitment processes while seeking someone to both run the Ship Inn pub and reign as monarch on Piel Island, off the coast near Barrow-in-Furness. The successful applicant must be willing to mark their appointment as “king” or “queen” of the island by sitting on a throne and having beer poured over their head.
Piel Island is half a mile off the Furness peninsula, reachable on a ferry which runs April to September or on a guided walk across the sands. Many people go to the island for birthday parties or for a few drinks before camping overnight. As well as running the pub the successful applicant will need to manage and maintain the island itself.
Today in Focus podcast: Another Covid Christmas?
The government hasn’t cancelled Christmas – yet – but the rate of the Omicron variant’s spread should make us all reconsider our plans, science correspondent Nicola Davis reports.
Lunchtime read: Hotel Rwanda hero’s terrorist ‘show trial’
Tricked into boarding a private plane in Dubai and flown to Kigali, 67-year-old Paul Rusesabagina – who came to international attention after his life-saving acts were depicted in the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda, set during the country’s genocide in 1994 – was given what his family says was a show trial and jailed over allegations that he had been a founder and leader of a terrorist group.
The European parliament has described Rusesabagina’s conviction as “exemplary of the human rights violations in Rwanda”, and his family are working to bring more international pressure to bear against the regime of the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame.
Sport
The 100 best male footballers in the world 2021: Nos 100-71. From Jude Bellingham to Patrik Schick and Gavi, we present the first 30 names of our countdown to the very best player of 2021. Premier League clubs have discussed driving up vaccination rates in their squads by creating separate rules for players yet to get a Covid-19 jab. On a day when it emerged that 16% of top-flight players are unvaccinated and a record 90 positive tests had been recorded among players and staff in the week up to last Sunday, a two-tier system was raised at an emergency meeting.
In the Women’s Champions League quarter-finals Arsenal face a difficult task to overcome Wolfsburg while Lyon and Barcelona are expected to challenge for European success – read our complete tie-by-tie analysis and verdicts. The PGA Tour has announced it has given permission for players to compete in the Saudi International, which is due to take place from 3-6 February 2022. All sporting events in Wales will be held behind closed doors from Boxing Day due to the surge in coronavirus cases, the Welsh government has announced. Raymond van Barneveld made a winning return to Alexandra Palace, beating Lourence Ilagan 3-0 to set up an intriguing second-round meeting with Rob Cross.
Business
Asian shares have mostly been higher today with Tokyo gaining nearly 2% early on. Investors snapped up stocks that had been dragged lower in previous sessions by concerns about the Omicron variant. The FTSE should be swinging back into the green with a roughly 1% lift at the opening, while the pound is worth $1.321 and €1.171 at time of writing.
The papers
The Guardian’s splash today is “Covid surges, but cabinet split means no extra curbs – for now”. “Rejoice!” – the Daily Mail does, saying “Xmas is looking safe”. It relates on its front page, as do others, that the Queen has cancelled her Christmas festivities at Sandringham and will be staying at Windsor where family are expected to visit. “Queen’s quiet Xmas” says the Mirror.
“Tough call, PM, but you can’t cancel Christmas” – oh so stoic is the Daily Express characterisation of Boris Johnson deciding not to do anything yet. The paper says its polling shows people would ignore any new rules anyway. “Christmas hopes grow as Johnson delays action” – that’s the Times, while the Telegraph is less charitable in its view: “Confusion at Christmas”. The Sun vulgarises the message into: “Hold on to your baubles”.
The i says “Christmas lockdown blocked by Johnson and cabinet”. The Financial Times says “Johnson faces cabinet deadlock on Covid curbs before Christmas. The i stays on the No 10 garden drinks story: “Raab’s tailor made excuse … Boris and his staff ‘weren’t breaking lockdown rules as they were in suits’”.
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