Inside Politics: Boris Johnson told to ‘take steps’ to slow omicron spread

The Oxford scientist behind the vaccine has some gloomy warnings for government, writes Adam Forrest

Boris Johnson outside No 10 (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Wire)

Lewis Hamilton has set up a dramatic end-of-year finale to the F1 calendar after winning a chaotic Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – complete with red flags and controversial restarts. The political calendar has dramatic end-of-year finale, after the controversial restart of pre-departure coronavirus tests. The omicron variant continues to raises a whole series of red flags. Which leaves us wondering how the man in the hot seat, Boris Johnson, might steer the course towards Christmas when it comes to Covid curbs.

Inside the bubble

Big morning at the High Court, where we will hear the judgment in the FDA civil service union’s challenge to Boris Johnson’s decision that Priti Patel did not breach the ministerial code following bullying claims. Meanwhile, the government will set out its 10-year drugs strategy.

Daily briefing

FUTURE SHOCKS: A gloomy start to Monday morning. Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, co-creator of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, has warned that future pandemics could be more deadly than Covid. She said it appeared vaccines could be less effective against omicron – calling on the government to “take steps to slow down the spread”. Another top scientist said the latest tightening of travel rules was “shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted”. Prof Mark Woolhouse, on the Spi-M group, claimed pre-departure tests for those coming to the UK had come too late to make a “material difference”. Labour patted itself on the back after calling for the move last week, saying it was “continually one step ahead”. But the Business Travel Association said livelihoods would be “devastated”. Deputy PM Dominic Raab said the government was always subjected to “Goldilocks criticism” – with some people saying it is doing too much, and others say it’s not enough.

SALE OF THE CENTURY: The government’s plans to sell off the UK’s vaccine manufacturing plant will leave the country vulnerable to emerging Covid variants ahead, the head of the centre behind the Oxford jab has warned. Professor Adrian Hill told The Independent that the sale of the Vaccine Manufacturing Innovation Centre (VMIC) in Harwell was like “having been in a terrible war and you suddenly cut your defence budget substantially”. Labour’s Wes Streeting, the new shadow health secretary, said it “would be unbelievably short-sighted and complacent” to sell off VMIC with a pandemic still raging. Meanwhile, concern mounts over the slow rollout of booster jabs. Data shows at least 300,000 housebound people haven’t yet had their booster, according to The Telegraph.

PROVIDERS ON THE STORM: Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said it is “completely unacceptable” for power cuts from Storm Arwen – mostly in the north-east – to have lasted over a week. The minister said the performance of energy firms would be reviewed. Labour’s shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon said it “beggars belief” that the government didn’t treat it as a national priority until now, claiming the response would have been different if power cuts had hit the south. “Where was Boris Johnson? Why wasn’t Cobra called to deal with this?” Labour has a minor storm of its own to deal with. Angela Rayner’s senior aide has been suspended and placed under investigation on suspicion of a personal data breach, in an apparent sign of a struggle between her office and Keir Starmer’s team. It’s understood Rayner’s aide denies any wrongdoing and is consulting his union.

COCAINE, RUNNING AROUND MY DRAIN: Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle says he will refer allegations of widespread drug use in parliament to the police. A report in the Sunday Times said cocaine was found in several lavatories – all but one of 12 lavatory areas tested showed traces of the class A substance. Sir Lindsay said those who “flout the law” should be punished, and Commons authorities are said to be considering the use of sniffer dogs on the estate. With faultless timing, the government will today pledge £700m to tackle problem drug use over the next three years. Middle-class “lifestyle” drug-takers could see their passports and driving licences taken away, Boris Johnson told the Sun on Sunday. And the government will promise to break up 2,000 county lines gangs as part of its new plan.

GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST: Dominic Raab dismissed reports of Christmas parties at No 10 last Christmas when lockdown curbs were still in place as the work of “anonymous sources”. The justice secretary added that if evidence of the events “actually materialised then of course it would be wrong.” But he also added that the police “don’t normally” look back and investigate things that happened a year ago. Hmm. To be fair, the Metropolitan Police did say it was the force’s policy “not to routinely investigate retrospective breaches” of Covid rules – but said it would still “consider” the letters received from Labour MPs about festive bashes held at Downing Street. It comes as a new survey found trust in politicians has plummeted to historic lows – 63 per cent said MPs are “out for themselves”.

THEY FOUGHT THE LAW: No 10 is looking at a “fresh war” with judges to let ministers “throw out any legal rulings they do not like”, according to The Times this morning. The newspaper claims Boris Johnson is keen to prevent the courts from overruling ministers through judicial reviews. One option is said to be an ‘Interpretation Bill’ to strike down findings the government is not too keen on. Meanwhile, Raab had some interesting things to say when asked about Meghan Markle winning an appeal over the Mail on Sunday’s publication of extracts of a letter to her father. The justice secretary said he wants to “correct” the drift towards protection of privacy outweighing free speech. Raab suggested his planned overhaul of the Human Rights Act would help move the country away from “continental-style privacy laws”.

On the record

“The police … they don’t normally look back and investigate things that have taken place [a year ago].”

Dominic Raab on the ghost of Christmas parties past.

From the Twitterati

“Dominic Raab seemingly thinks he’s the justice secretary in Minority Report where only future crimes are of interest.”

Jess Phillips MP on Raab’s interest in looking forward...

“World’s worst ever crime lawyer Dominic Raab on Marr with this classic: ‘I don’t know if any Xmas parties happened ... and by the way I wasn’t at the party’.”

… while David MacLadd finds the range of excuses strange.

Essential reading

Cat Smith, The Independent: Keir Starmer isn’t doing enough to fight for British democracy

Steve Crawshaw, The Independent: We can defeat the government’s immoral anti-refugee bill

John Harris, The Times: The new Tory right is dangerous – and should be Labour’s prime target

Robert Peston, The Spectator: Why there is more Omicron around than we know

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