Top story: Police investigating 12 events
Morning everyone. I’m Martin Farrer and these are the top stories today.
Boris Johnson has promised to clean up his act and reform the workings of Downing Street as he attempts to shore up his premiership after Sue Gray said lockdown-era parties at No 10 were “hard to justify” amid “failures of leadership and judgment”. The prime minister ran the gauntlet of his own angry backbenchers in the Commons yesterday following the publication of a redacted version of the civil servant’s investigation into the scandal, in which she also criticised the culture of “excessive alcohol” at the heart of government. Several MPs made damaging interventions, including his predecessor, Theresa May. Despite an apology to his MPs in a private meeting at the Commons later and pledges to reform his style of government – “I get it and I will fix it,” he told them – questions about partygate could continue to dog him for months. A party in Boris and Carrie Johnson’s flat is one of 12 events now being investigated by police, and officers have been handed 300 pictures of alleged parties. The ongoing investigation means that Gray could not release her whole report. In an effort to calm backbenchers, Johnson said he would publish it in full once the police inquiry is complete.
Many Conservative MPs have reached the limit of their tolerance of Johnson’s leadership – like frogs in boiling water, according to one – although the prime minister has so far avoided the string of ministerial resignations that did for May. Much will still depend on whether voters in marginal seats such as Bolton North East keep faith. One said it was a “joke” that Johnson was still in office, while a Tory councillor said the matter was still not closed. “People want answers,” she said. Some of our writers, including Nesrine Malik, Frances Ryan and Katy Balls, say what they think should happen next. Here’s how the other papers covered the dramatic day.
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‘Nowhere to hide’ – Boris Johnson will try to shift the focus from parties to foreign policy when he flies to Ukraine today to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky amid ongoing tension with Russia. Liz Truss was meant to go with him but will be staying at home after contracting Covid. Earlier the foreign secretary warned that key supporters of Vladimir Putin will be targeted by UK sanctions if he invades Ukraine. The Russian president’s allies would have nowhere to hide their assets if an invasion went ahead, she said. In New York, a Russian diplomat told a meeting of the UN security council that Ukraine could “destroy itself” if it disregarded peace agreements in the region. The US secretary of state, Tony Blinken, is due for talks with his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, today.
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Vaccine U-turn – Sajid Javid has announced a U-turn on an order forcing all NHS staff in England to get vaccinated against Covid. The health secretary hopes the decision will prevent an exodus of much-needed staff and was made three days before Thursday’s deadline for unvaccinated NHS workers who had face-to-face contact with patients to have their first dose or be dismissed. It followed figures showing 92,000 Covid cases were reported for England on Monday, a steep rise on the day before, after reinfections were included in the statistics for the first time.
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MMR stalls – Amid the ongoing debate about the Covid vaccine, senior health officials in England have reported a “very worrying” fall in the number of children having the MMR vaccine, leaving thousands at increased risk of potentially deadly measles. They will launch a campaign today to rally uptake of the vaccine, which guards against measles, mumps and rubella. Between July and September last year, just 88.6% of children had had their first MMR dose by the age of two while only 85.5% had had both doses at the age of five, well short of the 95% needed to keep measles at bay.
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Reporting toll – Journalists in Mexico have responded with despair after the murder of a fourth reporter this year. Roberto Toledo was shot dead by three gunmen yesterday afternoon in a carpark in the city of Zitácuaro, where he reported for a local news outlet, Monitor Michoacán. “Exposing corruption led to the death of one of our colleagues,” said Armando Linares, the director of Monitor Michoacán. “We don’t carry weapons. We only have a pen and a notebook to defend ourselves.”
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Wordle play – The viral word game Wordle has been bought by the New York Times for an undisclosed seven-figure sum. Its creator, Reddit engineer Josh Wardle, said he was “thrilled” with the deal for the game which gives players six guesses to determine a five-letter word that changes every day. The soothing daily puzzle has become a hit since its launch, quickly attracting hundreds of thousands, then millions, of players.
Today in Focus podcast: can Johnson survive?
Sue Gray’s report into Covid lockdown rule-breaking in Downing Street has finally been published. Jessica Elgot analyses what it means for Boris Johnson’s future
Lunchtime read: ‘I drive a killing machine’
With so much focus on supply chains and the problems of recruiting lorry drivers, our reporter joins trucker Rob Piper to find out about his life on the road – from long hours, fear of being robbed, and living for the weekend.
Sport
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has passed a medical and is due to be confirmed as a Barcelona player on a free transfer from Arsenal on Tuesday morning after several hours of negotiations on deadline day. Frank Lampard marked his first day as Everton manager by signing Donny van de Beek from Manchester United and securing the audacious permanent transfer of Dele Alli from Tottenham. The latest move in golf’s global power struggle will take place on Tuesday, when the Saudi Arabian business fronted by Greg Norman reveals detailed plans for 10 events – including one in the UK – on the 2022-23 Asian Tour schedule. Formula One staff must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 under new FIA rules that aim to avoid a Novak Djokovic-style fiasco. Scotland have been told to keep a close eye on Marcus Smith if they want to make a winning start in the Six Nations. And police have been given extra time to question the Manchester United footballer Mason Greenwood on suspicion of rape and sexual assault.
Business
The Treasury has introduced a new “super tax” to deter energy company owners from cashing out lucrative contracts for gas bought in advance before leaving their supply business to go under. The public interest business protection tax is a levy of 75% on any future windfall on contracts while leaving millions without a supplier. George Soros says falling property prices in China could turn people against Xi Jinping and even cause his downfall. On the markets the FTSE100 is set to rise around 0.5% this morning while the pound is on $1.344 and €1.197.
The papers
The Telegraph splash is “PM to ask Gray for new report” in an attempt to “appease backbenchers”, while the Mail takes a similar line saying that Britain is “in limbo” and exhorting Johnson to “Now publish the whole damn thing”. The Express says “Yes PM, you got it wrong … now get it right!”, the Times’ main headline is “Police investigate PM’s four lockdown parties”, and FT says “Johnson rejects calls to quit after Gray’s scathing report on parties”.
The Guardian picks a line out of the Gray report that is a theme of much of the coverage today. “‘Failures of leadership’: Tories turn on PM over Gray report”, its headline says, while the Independent just goes with ‘“Failures of leadership”’. The Metro has “A failure of leadership”, the Yorkshire Post has “‘Failures of leadership’ in parts of No10” and the Northern Echo says “Failure of leadership”.
The Sun goes with “Mamma mia!”, a reference to a police investigation into an alleged Abba-themed party in the Downing Street flat on the night Dominic Cummings quit in November 2020. The Mirror’s front highlights “12 parties probed, 3 attended by PM, 1 in his own flat, 300 pictures handed over” and the main headline “Zero shame”. The Star puns with “50 Shades of Gray”.
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