Summary
Here is a round-up of the day’s main politics stories:
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The Conservative MP Aaron Bell, who won Newcastle-under-Lyme from Labour at the last election, has announced that he has submitted a letter to the chairman of the 1922 Committee calling for a no confidence vote in Boris Johnson.
- The government has been forced to publish documents that reveal how the disgraced former Conservative MP Owen Paterson directly lobbied a senior minister for a healthcare firm that was paying him to be a consultant
- Boris Johnson has promised Conservative MPs a “direct line” to No 10 as he seeks to dissuade them from demanding a vote of no confidence in his leadership. The Prime Minister wrote to them on Friday insisting he was committed to change after five advisers resigned from Downing Street within 24 hours, according to PA Media.
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Boris Johnson told No 10 staff this morning that “change is good”, the PM’s spokesperson told journalists at the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning. Johnson was delivering a pep talk in the light of the announcements yesterday that four of his most senior aides were leaving.
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Michael Gove ignored repeated warnings that the “Trojan horse” allegations of an extremist takeover of schools in Birmingham was “bogus” and pressed ahead with divisive interventions, according to evidence revealed in a New York Times podcast.
- Brexit checks on food and farm products entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain must continue pending a judicial review of the order made by Stormont’s agriculture minister, Edwin Poots, the high court in Belfast has ruled
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Sajid Javid, the health secretary, has announced two reviews tackling health disparities. One relates to medical devices and another relates to smoking.
- More than one in eight primary schoolchildren in England were infected with Covid during the last week of January, the highest prevalence for any age group at any stage during the pandemic.
Well, that’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the UK politics live blog for today.
Thanks for following along. Remember, you can stay across all the headlines and breaking news from Westminster here. Goodbye for now.
David Jones, the Conservative MP for Clwyd West, has this evening described the clearout of senior staff at No 10 as “welcome”.
But he said on Twitter that it has to go further and deeper. He stops short of saying whether he thinks that ought to include Boris Johnson though...
The clearout in Downing Street is welcome, but it has it has to go deeper and farther.
— David Jones (@DavidJonesMP) February 4, 2022
Updated
