Inside Politics: PM at odds with health chief on Covid as all adults to be offered booster by end of Jan

PM says don’t cancel parties and nativity plays after health chief urges people to reduce social contact in run-up to Christmas, writes Matt Mathers

Health Secretary Sajid Javid, left, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a media briefing in Downing Stree on coronavirus (Tom Nicholson/PA) (PA Wire)

Nearly two years into the pandemic – and as the omicron variant fuels fears of a fourth wave – the government once again finds itself at odds with public health advisers. Just hours after Dr Jenny Harries urged people to reduce their social contacts in the run-up to Christmas, Boris Johnson told the public to behave as normal, sparking concerns over mixed messaging from leaders. The PM has set himself a target of offering all adults a booster jab by the end of January. Elsewhere, Priti Patel has been told her Channel “push back” plans are unlawful, the head of MI6 has warned that China is now at the top of the UK’s threat list and Liz Truss has said Vladimir Putin would be unwise to invade Ukraine.

Inside the bubble

Our political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for today:

Prime minister’s questions will likely be dominated by the government’s response to the Omicron variant. Labour eyes will be on whether the “mask count” on the Tory benches is higher than last week.

Alok Sharma, the Cop26 president, will answer questions about this month’s Glasgow summit and what comes next. Tom Pursglove, the immigration minister, can expect some tough questions from the Commons and Lords joint committee on human rights about the Nationality and Borders Bill and people crossing the Channel in small boats. Treasury officials will be quizzed about the department’s work, including the cost of “net zero.”

Coming up:

– Health secretary Sajid Javid on BBC Radio 4 Today at 8.10am

– Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting on Times Radio at 8.35am

Daily Briefing

MIXED MESSAGES: At a Downing Street press conference, Boris Johnson urged the public not to cancel their Christmas parties, nativity plays and other plans as Omicron spreads, saying the government is not “changing the guidance on how you should be living your life”. That message was in direct contrast to Dr Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), who said that as the variant begins to spread across the UK, people could help keep it under wraps by cutting down social contacts over the festive period and “not socialising when we don’t particularly need to”. Not for the first time during this pandemic, the prime minister’s advice is at odds with that of his public health chiefs. We’ll have pandemic updates throughout the day here.

BOOSTERS BOOSTED: During the briefing, Johnson also pledged that all adults will be offered a booster jab by the end of January. Some 1,500 vaccination sites will be set up in the coming weeks to get jabs in arms, with GPs offered £15 or £30 incentives to deliver the shots. Elsewhere, MPs overwhelmingly voted through the government’s new mask rules despite a small Conservative rebellion. The move was supported by 434 MPs, a majority of 411, after being backed by all parties.

WHAT IS LABOUR SAYING?: Labour is backing the new mask measures and booster roll out but is demanding that the government bolsters border measures by reintroducing pre-departure test requirements for all travellers heading to the UK. In a joint letter, the newly appointed shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, and shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, told the government it is an “urgent requirement” with more than 1 million travelling through UK airports each week. “We are urging the government to urgently learn the lessons from the previous waves of the pandemic to ensure the same mistakes are not made again,” Cooper and Streeting say in the letter. Streeting, considered a rising star within Labour and a potential future leader, has also given an interview to the Guardian, where he describes Keir Starmer’s reshuffle as a “a move towards the voters”.

RULES BREACH?: The PM and senior No 10 staff have been accused of breaking Covid rules last Christmas by attending parties in Downing Street. According to the Daily Mirror, Johnson attended two shindigs – one at the end of November and another in December – while the rest of the country or London was in lockdown. No 10 last night said that it had no recollection of the events but has this morning come out with a full-blown denial, saying the parties did not happen. Quoting sources close to the event, the Mirror reported that between 40 and 50 officials attended.

CHANNEL CRISIS LATEST: Home secretary Priti Patel has been told by a cross-party parliamentary committee that her plans to use “push-back” tactics against boats trying to enter the UK from France are unlawful, will endanger lives and risk “criminalising the act of seeking asylum”. The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) said pushbacks authorised by Patel would “create a situation where state actors were actively placing individuals in situations that would increase the risk” of drowning. The JCHR, which contains MPs and peers from all main political parties, said the proposals must be scrapped or changed to comply with the law. The Home Office said its proposals will overhaul what it describes as a broken asylum system.

CHINA THREAT: The head of MI6 has warned of China’s increasingly “assertive” stance in global affairs, and use of “debt traps and data traps” to secure influence. Richard Moore, known to spies as C and who oversees the UK’s foreign intelligence apparatus, gave a rare broadcast interview on Tuesday morning. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that while he believed that free societies possessed an advantage over authoritarian ones, “we need to be very robust in fighting our corner” and leverage “the entrepreneurial animal spirits” within science and technology to keep pace with Beijing.

TOUGH TRUSS: It seems that hardly a day passes now where there aren’t column inches – or a Conservative Home poll – putting Lizz Truss firmly in the driver’s seat to become the next Tory leader. And it was the driver’s seat of an army tank that the foreign secretary found herself in yesterday, as she channelled her best Margaret Thatcher – said to be a personal hero – while issuing a warning to Russia President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine, saying a decision by him to invade the eastern European country would be a “strategic mistake”. Suggesting the Kremlin was stirring up tensions on the border with its neighbour, Truss said: “We will support Ukraine and stability in the western Balkan…we will stand with our fellow democracies against Russia’s malign activity.” While we’re on the subject of Conservative Home polls, a new out yesterday once again put Truss atop the Tory leadership tree. But perhaps more interestingly, the survey saw the PM approval rating dip to minus 17 – a swing of 18 per cent, presumably due to his disastrous handling of the Paterson scandal and his Peppa Pig CBI speech.

On the record

“If we don’t take these measures, we will be potentially heading into a preventable lockdown. If the PM really doesn’t want to ‘cancel Christmas’, he needs to act. All his actions are leading us into a worsening crisis.”

Clinical epidemiologist Dr Deepti Gurdasani calls for stricter mask rules.

From the Twitterati

“.@BorisJohnson says new rules on mask-wearing apply to confined spaces with ‘people you don’t normally meet”.That sounds like a free pass for Tory MPs who want to maintain their bare-faced approach in the Chamber.”

i columnist Paul Waugh suggests PM might not have sent the right message to his own MPs.

Essential reading

• John Rentoul, The Independent: Keir Starmer finally has a shadow cabinet that looks like a plausible alternative government
• Marie Le Conte, The Independent: I didn’t want to write this column – but my anger at Nicola Sturgeon leaves me no choice
• Vince Cable, The Independent: If we are serious about tackling the migrant crisis, we must follow Germany’s example
• Michael Shuman, The Atlantic: What the Peng Shuai scandal is really about

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