Top story: ‘No regard for the rules’
Good morning from me, Warren Murray, and welcome to your daily scene-setter.
Boris Johnson has been accused of an “utterly outrageous” breach of lockdown rules after a leaked email showed one of his top officials invited more than 100 Downing Street staff to a “bring your own booze” party. The police are investigating. The PM is believed to have attended the No 10 garden party on 20 May 2020 along with his then fiancee Carrie. At the time, social mixing was banned except with one other person from another household outdoors in a public place.
An email by Johnson’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, seen by ITV News, encouraged staff to “make the most of the lovely weather and have some socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden this evening”. Johnson will now come under huge pressure to explain how he was involved. A spokesperson declined to comment in light of a continuing inquiry into potential breaches of lockdown in Downing Street. No 10 did not deny this weekend that Johnson and his wife, Carrie, whom he married in May 2021, attended the event.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said: “Boris Johnson has consistently shown that he has no regard for the rules he puts in place for the rest of us … At the time this party took place, key workers on the frontline were working round the clock to keep us all safe, people suffered loneliness and loss in unimaginably tough circumstances.” With Conservative MPs again furious, Ian Blackford, the SNP Westminster leader, said Johnson “has no moral authority left, and as he won’t go – his Tory MPs have a duty to remove him from power.”
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Push for five-day isolation – Boris Johnson has ordered officials to examine plans to cut Covid isolation to five days in England. Scientists have urged caution – Prof Peter Openshaw, from the government’s virus advisory group Nervtag, said it was a “reasonable” idea but he had not seen evidence to back such a change. Meanwhile experts have told our science correspondent Linda Geddes that we can’t rely on the popular notion that it’s in Covid-19’s own interests to become more mild over time. Once a virus has spread via a person, it no longer needs that person, and doesn’t care whether they get sick or die afterwards. Even as more and more people gain immunity, Sars-Cov-2 could still evolve again, worsening the situation. The good news is this becomes less likely the more of the world’s population is vaccinated – the fewer infected, the fewer chances for the virus to evolve.
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Djokovic visa still on the line – The Australian Border Force is investigating whether Novak Djokovic incorrectly declared, in a form completed by an agent on his behalf, he had not travelled and would not do so for two weeks before his flight to Australia, in the latest twist in the tennis star’s visa cancellation saga. Social media posts seemingly show he was in Belgrade on Christmas Day before flying to Australia from Spain on 4 January. Despite winning back his visa in court, Djokovic’s fate may be determined by Australia’s immigration minister, Alex Hawke, who has the power to cancel it again. That would likely be met with a fresh legal challenge from Djokovic, who is trying to remain in Melbourne long enough to play in the Australian Open where he is chasing a male record 21st grand slam singles title.
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Lords watchdog receives Mone complaint – The House of Lords commissioners for standards are considering a complaint against the Conservative peer Michelle Mone, relating to the PPE business awarded £203m government contracts after she referred it to the Cabinet Office in May 2020. It comes after the Guardian reported that leaked files appear to suggest Mone and her husband, the Isle of Man-based financier Douglas Barrowman, were secretly involved in the company, PPE Medpro.
After the company was awarded contracts in May and June 2020, Mone and Barrowman have consistently denied any “role or function” in PPE Medpro. Lawyers for Mone, who ran the lingerie company Ultimo before David Cameron made her a peer in 2015, have said she “was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity”. Mone’s representatives declined to comment on the complaint. Mone’s lawyers have said the Guardian’s reporting is “grounded entirely on supposition and speculation and not based on accuracy”.
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Star jumps and porridge – Britain’s third-biggest energy supplier has apologised and said it was “embarrassed” after it advised customers to keep their heatings bills low by “having a cuddle with your pets”, eating “hearty bowls of porridge” and “doing a few star jumps”. MPs called the guidance from SSE Energy Services, part of Ovo, “insulting” and “offensive”. Millions of UK households are facing a “cost of living catastrophe” in the spring, including a rise in energy bills to as much as £2,000 a year on 1 April for an average household on a direct debit tariff. Labour will hope to pile pressure on Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson today with a binding vote in parliament on cutting VAT on home energy bills. Sunak, the chancellor, will attempt to quell Tory unrest over the cost of living as delegations of MPs press him to cancel a planned tax rise and ditch the VAT on energy bills in exchange for savings on tackling the pandemic.
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Dying man gets pig heart – Doctors in the US have transplanted a genetically modified pig’s heart into a patient who did not qualify for a human donor heart. David Bennett, 57, was on Monday breathing on his own while still connected to a heart-lung machine to help his new heart. Surgeons used a heart from a pig that had undergone gene-editing to lessen the chance of organ rejection. “It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,” Bennett said a day before the surgery at the University of Maryland medical centre in Baltimore.
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Roman ruins on HS2 route – A wealthy Roman trading town has been discovered half a metre below the surface of a remote field in Northamptonshire. A 10-metre-wide Roman road, domestic and industrial buildings, more than 300 coins and at least four wells have been unearthed at the site, where 80 archaeologists have been working for the past 12 months.
The field is on the route of the HS2 rail network and one of the associated archaeological effort’s most significant findings to date. It is known as Blackgrounds after the dense black soil that has helped preserve the Roman remains, and was used for pasture until the archaeological dig began. An iron age village, formed of more than 30 roundhouses, stood on the site at the time of the Roman invasion in 43BC. It expanded during the period of the Roman occupation which lasted until AD410.
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Sport
Steven Gerrard refused to blame a lengthy VAR call that led to an Aston Villa equaliser being ruled out for offside for his team’s elimination from the FA Cup by Manchester United last night, with the manager instead urging his team to “flip” the result when hosting them in the Premier League on Saturday. Villa lost the third-round tie at Old Trafford 1-0 having conceded Scott McTominay’s early header but then dominated throughout. United also rode their luck as Villa had two goals ruled out in the second half.
Sam Billings, fresh from the Big Bash League, has answered a call-up to England’s Ashes squad for Friday’s fifth Test in Hobart, 90 minutes before his intended flight for the T20 team’s upcoming Caribbean tour. Fresh doubt has been cast on European fixtures involving English rugby clubs playing in France this week amid fears strict travel rules could wreak more havoc on the Champions and Challenge Cups. Newcastle are due to play in France on Friday, as are Bath and Sale at the weekend, and while the organisers, European Professional Club Rugby, said last week that all fixtures will go ahead as planned, the key stumbling block is that clubs must isolate for 48 hours upon arrival before their matches, according to current travel rules.
Business
Stocks across Asia have carried on the downward trajectory set by Europe and Wall Street yesterday as concerns about rate increases by the US Federal Reserve weighed on the minds of investors. The FTSE100 looks like opening up around 0.3%, however, with the pound on $1.359 and €1.198.
The papers
A full roundup of today’s front pages can be found here – our usual summary follows.
The normally pro-Boris Johnson Express blasts a full-throated warning in its splash headline: “Enough Boris! You MUST end ‘partygate’ farce now”. The Mail takes a similar line and says “Boris rocked by new party revelations”. Others are more scathing with the i picking up on a particularly galling line from the leaked email invitation to the gathering on 20 May. “‘Bring your own booze’”. Our Guardian front page uses the same line: “Fury as email reveals No 10 ‘bring your own booze’ lockdown party”.
The Mirror describes the email as “Invite to do what you like”, while the Metro goes with a play on words – “Downing it Street” – alongside a picture of Johnson quaffing a pint of beer. The coverage contrasts with that of the Times and Telegraph, neither of which choose to lead with the party revelations.
The Times does have the story on its front page – “No10 celebrated ‘lovely weather’ with lockdown drinks party” – but leads on limits to sporting fixtures being eased. Ditto the Telegraph, which says “Johnson received invite to lockdown party” but leads on cabinet anger over misleading isolation guidance.
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