Top story: Police investigating three events linked to Johnson
Morning everyone. I’m Martin Farrer and these are today’s top stories.
A day after promising to reboot his faltering government, Boris Johnson faces fresh allegations about lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street after the Guardian learned that he attended a prosecco-fuelled leaving do for a No 10 aide during the strict post-Christmas shutdown last year. The alleged party is now under police investigation. Sue Gray’s investigation into lockdown parties revealed several events that had not previously been publicised, including a gathering on 14 January 2021 “on the departure of two No 10 private secretaries”. But the redacted report revealed no further details. Sources said the event was held in Downing Street in part as a leaving do for a senior policy adviser who is now a top civil servant working in the culture department. Three gatherings allegedly attended by Johnson are now being investigated by police.
Anger continues to simmer on the Tory backbenches after Johnson’s allies briefed that he had won over his party despite the damage of the Gray report. As splits appear in the One Nation group of Tory centrists, veteran MP Peter Aldous said he had submitted a letter of no confidence and MP Tom Hunt criticised Johnson’s “cack-handed” backers. However, there was some cheer for the Tories as many welcomed the return of Lynton Crosby, the Australian campaign guru, to the prime minister’s side as part of No 10’s planned fightback.
* * *
Levelling up – Michael Gove will lead another key strand of the government’s attempted reset today when he launches the flagship levelling-up white paper, with targets to reduce inequalities across society by 2030 to be enshrined in law. The communities secretary will promise to “call time on the postcode lottery” of inequalities across Britain, setting 12 legally binding “missions” to improve health, living standards, transport, crime and wellbeing by the end of the decade. Labour has dismissed the policy as “new slogans without new ideas”, while research exposes the inequality of the funding formula.
* * *
Putin speaks out – Vladimir Putin has accused the US of trying to lure his country into war by giving military backing to Ukraine as the tense standoff over Moscow’s military buildup in eastern Ukraine continued. In his first public comments on the growing crisis since December, Russia’s president said the west was ignoring Russia’s security proposals and was using Ukraine to spark a conflict. Boris Johnson warned on a flying visit to Kyiv that a Russian invasion of Ukraine would end in a humanitarian, political and military disaster for Russia and the world. And our diplomatic editor argues that the Ukraine crisis is the first post-Brexit test for Britain to show that it is not a global irrelevance as many predicted it would become. It is also a test that Johnson cannot afford to fail.
* * *
Further Greenwood arrest – Manchester United footballer Mason Greenwood has been further arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and making threats to kill. The 20-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape and assault on Sunday after police saw a woman reporting claims of physical violence and sexual threats on social media. Greater Manchester police, who have not identified the player by name, said yesterday that a suspect had been further arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and making threats to kill after they were granted further time to question him. Police have until later today to decide whether to charge or release him.
* * *
Goldberg suspended – Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from a US talk show after saying in a TV appearance that the Holocaust was “not about race”. The 66-year-old actor apologised for her remarks on The Late Show and again on the next broadcast of The View on Tuesday morning. But now she has been suspended from the latter programme “effective immediately”, the ABC network said last night.
* * *
‘Fraud epidemic’ – An influential group of MPs has urged the government to tackle a “fraud epidemic” across Britain, amid concerns about the increasing financial toll on consumers and taxpayers from economic crime. The Commons Treasury committee said ministers needed to bring in fresh laws after a 43% jump in fraud and computer misuse between June 2019 and June 2021. It comes amid mounting anger over official figures that showed ministers spent almost £9bn on personal protective equipment that was either substandard, defective, past its use-by date or overpriced.
* * *
Blooming early – If you think plants are flowering much earlier than they used to, you’re right: a new study says blooms are coming out a month earlier in the UK as the climate heats up. Researchers led by a Cambridge professor examined 420,000 recorded dates of first flowering for more than 400 species, dating to 1793. The average date for the first blooms was about 12 May up to 1986, but since then the date has been pushed forward to 16 April.
* * *
Today in Focus podcast
An attack on a prison in northern Syria by Islamic State fighters led to a six-day siege that marked the terror group’s most dramatic stand since the collapse of its “caliphate” nearly three years ago. Martin Chulov explains why its threat is far from over.
Lunchtime read: has the sex-positivity revolution failed?
The sex-positive feminism movement championed the right to enjoy sex and was supposed to free women from guilt or being shamed. One Gen Z-er says her experience stopped her having sex for a year, and now many are questioning whether it has left them more vulnerable.
Sport
England’s plans for the Calcutta Cup Six Nations opener in Edinburgh on Saturday have been dealt a double blow with captain Courtney Lawes and lock Jonny Hill both ruled out with injury. Here’s a team-by-team guide to the opening weekend. The spectre of 1936 and 1980 haunts Beijing as the Winter Olympics prepare to open in the Chinese capital amid a deafening silence about human rights abuses. Saudi Arabia’s plans to lure some of golf’s leading players to play in a kind of super league will cause huge disruption for the game’s main tours in the US and Europe, with reports that English Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter is among them.
We look at the top 10 transfers in the now-concluded January window, such as Bruno Guimarães’s £33m switch from Lyon to Newcastle and Dusan Vlahovic’s £63m move from Fiorentina to Juventus. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s move from Arsenal to Barcelona was put together on pizzas, promises and a director of football working miracles, while high spending indicates football could be back on the road to a super league.
Business
Shop price inflation almost doubled to 1.5% in January to the highest level for nearly a decade as the cost of furniture and flooring shot up. The price of food rose by 2.7%, up from 2.4% in the previous month and the highest rate since October 2013. But the biggest change was in non-food items such as furniture and flooring, with prices up by 0.9% compared with 0.2% a month before. The FTSE100 is on course to climb 0.77% at the opening, while the pound is on $1.345 and €1.199.
The papers
Money is the prevailing theme on many front pages this morning with the Mail leading an attack on government misspending on PPE: “What a £13bn waste” it says. The Express is also enraged about it with a splash saying “Scandalous! £8.7bn of YOUR money wasted”. The Times says “Energy bill rebates to help against rising costs”, but the Mirror takes another view of the cost of living story with “Prices crisis to leave us £2,000 a year worse off”. The FT reports on higher rates in Europe: “Markets signal expectation of at least two ECB rate rises this year”.
The Guardian leads with “Levelling-up drive is ‘new slogans without new ideas’ says Labour”, while the Telegraph has “HRT to be sold over the counter”. The i reports that “Tories put PM on notice”.
Sign up
The Guardian Morning Briefing is delivered to thousands of inboxes bright and early every weekday. If you are not already receiving it by email, you can sign up here.
For more news: www.theguardian.com
Get in Touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com
Sign up to Inside Saturday to get an exclusive behind the scenes look at the top features from our new magazine delivered to your inbox every weekend
