UK coronavirus live: Sajid Javid expected to cut isolation time for Covid cases to five days

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Latest updates: health secretary making statement in Commons; Tory party row continues as prime minister reportedly believes he did nothing wrong.

 

Javid says the government remains committed to ensuring all frontline NHS staff have been vaccinated from 1 April.

The proportion of NHS trust patients who have had at least a first dose has gone up from 92% to 94%, he says.

 

Javid says he will be speaking about pharmaceutical interventions.

He says more people have had a booster jab in the UK than in any other country in the world, relative to population.

 

Javid, the health secretary, says there are almost 17,000 Covid patients in hospital.

But he says there has not be an increase in intensive care patients, and there are early signs that the rate of hospitalisation is starting to slow, he says.

Sajid Javid’s statement to MPs on Covid

Sajid Javid is making his Commons statement now.

He starts with a tribute to Jonathan Van-Tam. (See 9.55am.)

 

Earlier in the Commons Steve Barclay, the Cabinet Office minister, refused to back Jacob Rees-Mogg’s assessment of the Scottish Tory leader, Douglas Ross. Asked by the SNP’s Kirsty Blackman if he agreed that Ross was a “lightweight”, Barclay replied:

I think he is a hugely talented colleague, I work extremely closely with him and I look forward to doing so.

Video: Dominic Raab ‘fully supportive’ of Boris Johnson amid No 10 party scandal (The Independent)

Dominic Raab ‘fully supportive’ of Boris Johnson amid No 10 party scandal

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Pete Wishart, the SNP’s spokeperson on House of Commons matters, told Jacob Rees-Mogg in the Commons that his comment about Douglas Ross (see 10.19am) showed how little respect Westminster Tories had for Scotland. He said:

The Scottish Tories know exactly how the rest of Scotland feels, as the leader of the house poured his scorn and contempt upon them last night. According to him, the democratically elected Scottish Tory leader is an insignificant figure, a lightweight, a nobody – presumably just like every single Tory MSP who agrees with their Scottish leader.

The Scottish Tories are supposed to be the Praetorian guard of the precious union and the leader of the house has just undermined them and thrown them under the proverbial bus. If this is how the government even treats the Scottish Tories, why should the Scottish people even entertain being any part of their useless union?

Javid expected to announce isolation period to be cut from seven days to five

Sajid Javid, the health secretary, is expected to confirm that the time Covid cases have to spend in self-isolation is to be cut, PA Media reports. PA says:

Javid will update MPs in the Commons, a day after Boris Johnson said a decision would be made on the issue “as fast as possible”. The government has been under pressure to bring the situation in England into line with the United States, where the isolation period has been cut to five days.

The current UK Health Security Agency guidance is for cases to isolate for at least six full days from the point at which they have symptoms or get a positive test, whichever is first, with release from self-isolation after two negative lateral flow test results on days six and seven. People can leave self-isolation on day seven.

The changes are expected to see people being allowed to leave self-isolation after completing five full days, with negative tests on days five and six.

The Javid statement is due to start within the next few minutes.

 

The Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski faces suspension from the Commons after the standards watchdog found he undermined a formal apology over intimidatory behaviour towards staff by indicating in media interviews he did not fully mean the gesture. My colleague Peter Walker has the story here.

Related: Tory MP faces Commons ban after undermining bullying apology

Rees-Mogg suggests lockdown went too far and restrictions ‘too hard on people’

In the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the house, was also asked about the Downing Street party, and Boris Johnson’s apology, by his Labour opposite number. He said that Johnson understood why people who had made sacrifices following Covid rules were so angry, but he went on to make an entirely new argument in part-defence of what happened. Perhaps the lockdown restrictions were too strict in the first place, he said.

He told MPs:

Everybody understands, on all sides of the house, that people were obeying the rules and that these rules were very hard for people to obey. I received a message last night was from a friend of mine who was unable to go to the funeral of his two-year-old granddaughter. One cannot hear these stories without grieving for people who suffered. Decisions were taken at the beginning of the pandemic that affected people up and down the country and they were very hard.

And we must consider, as this goes to an inquiry and we look into what happened with Covid, whether all those regulations were proportionate, or whether it was too hard on people.

This is potentially incendiary. Public health experts are adamant that the restrictions imposed last year were necessary to prevent even more deaths.

Rees-Mogg suggests Scottish Tory leader not being ‘honourable’ in calling for PM’s resignation

In the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, is responding to questions on next week’s business.

Thangam Debbonaire, his Labour opposite number, asked him about his attack on Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, on Newsnight last night. (See 10.19am.) She said that Rees-Mogg was sounding like an SNP politician, only the SNP were less harsh about Ross than he was, she said.

In response, Rees-Mogg effectively stood by what he said on Newsnight. He did not repeat his point about Ross being “lightweight”, but he did not retract his comment either, and instead he implied it was not “honourable” for Ross to call for Johnson’s resignation. He said:

[Ross] holds office within the Conservative party. It seems to me that people who hold office ought to support the leader of the party. That is the honourable and proper thing to do.

 

Some Conservative councillors are considering denouncing Boris Johnson in their campaign literature to boost their election chances, my colleague Aubrey Allegretti reports.

Almost seven out of 10 voters think Johnson’s apology not sincere, poll suggests

An overnight poll has given Labour a 10-point lead over the Conservatives, their highest for eight years (see 9.40am), and there are some even worse findings in a poll out this morning from Focaldata.

Focaldata, which has shared the results with the Guardian and which is due to publish them later today, has been asking respondents about Boris Johnson. Here are the key findings.

  • Almost seven out of 10 voters (68%) think Johnson’s apology yesterday was not sincere, the poll suggests.
  • Keir Starmer has opened a huge lead over Johnson on the question of which leader is more trustworthy, the poll suggests. In April last year Johnson was ahead of Starmer (by 4 points – 38% to 34%). By mid December Starmer was well ahead (by 20 points – 44% to 24%). Since then the gap has got even larger; 51% say Starmer is more trustworthy, and only 16% say Johnson, giving Starmer a 35-point lead on this measure.
  • Starmer has also developed a clear lead over Johnson on who would make the best PM. In mid December Starmer had a four-point lead on this measure (38% to 34%). Now 40% of respondents say Starmer would make the best PM, and 30% Johnson.
  • Some 64% of voters think Johnson should resign, the poll suggests. And even amongst people who voted Tory in 2019, more think he should resign (46%) than think he should stay (43%).

Focaldata collected data from a nationally representative sample of 1,003 adults yesterday and today, and the results have been weighted by age, gender, region, education and 2019 voting.

Justin Ibbett, Focaldata’s CEO, said:

The findings of this poll mark a new low for Johnson. If the prime minister thought December was bad, then this poll suggests that January is going to be even rockier.”

The level of trust in Johnson has completely collapsed. Back in April 2021, four in ten (38%) said that he was more trustworthy than Starmer. This figure now stands at 16% – a remarkable drop of 22 points in less than a year.

What should really worry Johnson is that it’s not just his usual detractors that are driving the stark findings of this poll. Even 2019 Conservative voters are turning against him – remarkably, more think that he should resign than not.

Minister fails to deny reports that privately Johnson has told MPs he did nothing wrong

Good morning. Boris Johnson’s position as Conservative party leader and prime minister is more perilous than ever before but, after a wretched and humiliating day – which also saw open warfare break out between the party in Scotland and the UK national leadership – his future is unclear, because the parliamentary party collectively is still making up its mind about what to do next.

We were due to hear from him this morning, because he had a visit planned in Lancashire. But that has been cancelled “due to a family member testing positive for coronavirus”, Downing Street says. A No 10 spokesperson said:

The prime minister will no longer be visiting Lancashire today due to a family member testing positive for coronavirus. He will follow the guidance for vaccinated close contacts, including daily testing and limiting contact with others.

Most Tory MPs who have commented on Johnson’s leadership say they want to wait until they read the findings of Sue Gray’s report into all the partygate allegations. But Gray is a senior civil servant, which means that she probably takes the view that ultimately whether or not the PM stays is a political judgment that ought to be taken by politicians (his colleagues). Last night Nick Macpherson, former permanent secretary at the Treasury, posted this on Twitter.

The Gray report may come next week, but if Macpherson and others are right, it won’t clearly settle the issue of whether or not the PM should go.

Although many Tory MPs are privately saying that Johnson’s position is untenable, but there is little evidence that they are working actively to get rid of him. Last night Kitty Donaldson, Bloomberg’s political editor, said she thought only four of them have written letters to the 1922 Commitee chairman asking for a confidence vote.

And so far only four Tory MPs (Sir Roger Gale, Douglas Ross, William Wragg and Caroline Nokes) have called for Johnson’s resignation. The Spectator is keeping a tally.

MPs will making a judgment about the impact Johnson’s leadership will have on their chances of re-election, and this morning a new YouGov poll gives Labour its biggest lead over the Conservatives since 2013.

But even polling figures like this won’t necessarily settle the issue for the parliamentary party. MPs will remember that being 10-points behind Labour in 2013 did not stop the Conservatives winning the subsequent election, and there is no consensus over who would succeed Johnson if there were a contest, and whether they would definitely do much better.

So the party seems stuck at the moment. But that does not make Johnson’s position safe and his difficulties were illustrated this morning when the cabinet minister doing interviews this morning failed to deny reports that privately Johnson has been telling colleagues he has done nothing wrong.

Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC’s political editor, picked this up yesterday.

And several papers report the same thing today. “MPs were also irritated by the prime minister appearing less contrite in private conversations after his Commons appearance than he had been in public,” the Guardian reports.

The Times (paywall) reports the same thing. It says:

Within minutes of delivering a “heartfelt” apology to the Commons for attending a drinks event in the garden of No 10 during the first lockdown, Boris Johnson had a somewhat different message for Tory MPs in the tearoom.

The prime minister was, according to those present, far from contrite. He told colleagues that “we have taken a lot of hits in politics and this is one of them”, adding: “Sometimes we take the credit for things we don’t deserve and this time we’re taking hits for something we don’t deserve.”

Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said that Johnson took a similar tone when he spoke to him yesterday afternoon. He said that the prime minister told him that he “believes he didn’t do anything wrong”.

And here is an excerpt from the FT’s story (paywall).

Several MPs said Johnson was still in denial. “He said that sometimes in life you get the credit for things you don’t deserve, while sometimes you get the blame for something you don’t deserve, too,” said one Tory MP. “He goes through his life thinking he doesn’t deserve the blame.”

Asked about these reports on the Today programme, Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, dismissed them as “tittle tattle that may or may not have come out of the [Commons] tea room”. He said he had not heard Johnson himself say that he was not to blame for what happened, and he said Johnson was “very, very sincere” in his apology.

I will be focusing mostly on the fall-out from this crisis today. Johnson is not doing his visit, but we will get a No 10 lobby briefing, and Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, will be taking questions in the Commons.

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.

Alternatively, you can email me at [email protected]

Rees-Mogg ‘rude’ and ‘wrong’ to call Scottish Tory leader ‘lightweight’, says former Conservative MSP

A former Conservative MSP has said that Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, was “wrong” to dismisses Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, as “quite a lightweight figure” in an interview last night.

Rees-Mogg made the comment on Newsnight in response to questions about Ross saying that Boris Johnson should resign. Most Conservative MSPs have publicly backed Ross, and Newsnight said in private all 31 of them agree that Johnson should go.

Adam Tomkins, who was a Scottish MSP until the election last year, told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland that Rees-Mogg was rude and wrong. He said:

There’s a ‘Save Boris’ operation going on at the moment, which you would expect Jacob Rees-Mogg to be … at the head of. That explains why Jacob Rees-Mogg was very rude and dismissive about Douglas yesterday.

Jacob’s got this wrong – I don’t agree with anything that Jacob said about this matter.

Douglas is a man of principle and a man of steel, and he will lead the Scottish Conservatives in the direction he thinks he needs to lead them in order to secure that credible fighting voice for centre-right ideas in Scottish politics.

Tomkins also said the episode also illustrated why the Scottish Tories might want to loosen links with the UK party. He explained:

I think there will always be ties but I think that Douglas and his team need to do some deep and serious thinking about exactly what the nature of those ties should be.

All of the bad days the Scottish Tories have in Holyrood are not caused by the Scottish Tories in Holyrood, they are caused by events 400 miles south. And they need to reflect on that …

The Scottish Conservative party have a range of really important, substantive ideas to bring to the table in Scotland about economic policy and about social policy, and they are being drowned out because of the pantomime of the politics of Boris Johnson.



Adam Tomkins. Photograph: Ken Jack/Corbis/Getty Images


© Provided by The Guardian
Adam Tomkins. Photograph: Ken Jack/Corbis/Getty Images

 

Boris Johnson has also paid a tribute to Prof Jonathan Van-Tam too following the news that he is leaving his post as England’s deputy chief medical officer. (See 9.55am.)

Van-Tam praised as ‘one of best public health communicators in history’ as he quits as England’s deputy CMO

Prof Jonathan Van-Tam is leaving his post as England’s deputy chief medical officer, it was announced this morning. He is returning to a post at the University of Nottingham, in what is said to have been a long-planned move.

Van-Tam was probably the most lively and compelling of the many scientific experts who have graced the Downing Street Covid press conferences, and he became famous for his often-elaborate metaphors.

Sajid Javid, the health secretary, paid tribute to him this morning.

Matt Hancock, Javid’s predecessor, described Van-Tam this morning as “one of the best public health communicators in history”.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’ss first minister, has paid tribute too.

Here is the story about Van-Tam’s departure.

Related: Jonathan Van-Tam to quit as England deputy chief medical officer

Source: Thanks msn.com