Inside Politics: Covid jabs for kids and Johnson to ‘approve booster programme’

Chief medical officer says benefits of jabs for kids outweigh risks and a single dose of Pfizer to be offered to over 50s after six months, writes Matt Mathers

(PA)

Large parts of the country are set for torrential downpours today as the British summer goes out with a whimper. Michael Gove wakes up this morning with a dark cloud hanging over his head, after leaked recordings revealed he made crude sexual comments, joked about paedophilia within top levels of government, and used a racist slur in a series of remarks in his twenties. Elsewhere, Covid jabs have been approved for 12 to 15-year-olds and Boris Johnson later sets out his plan for how to deal with the virus in winter.

Inside the bubble

Cabinet meets this morning, and will no doubt agree with the latest zig of the government’s zig-zagging policy on vaccine passports, before Sajid Javid, the health secretary, sets it out in the House of Commons. Boris Johnson will host a Downing Street press conference on the government’s winter plan for coronavirus in the afternoon. Liz Truss, international trade secretary, darling of the Conservative grassroots and reported sceptic about raising taxes, will be giving a speech at lunchtime. MPs will vote on the tax rise, in the form of the Health and Social Care Levy Bill, this evening.