Covid live news: Boris Johnson facing further pressure over pictures showing him hosting Christmas quiz
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09:19
Labour party leader Keir Starmer says his party will not be joining a threatened Conservative rebellion in Tuesday’s vote on Covid restrictions.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show: “We’re not going to be tempted into playing party politics here”.
09:15
In the UK, Alison Phillips, editor of the Daily Mirror, which broke the Christmas quiz story, tells the BBC’s Andrew Marr show that their source told them that nobody was working at the quiz, “it was purely a social event”.
Phillips says it was “a Christmas quiz outside of the rules” and a part of a “culture of rulebreaking”.
Meanwhile, Conservative MP Dehenna Davison says her inbox has been “flooded” with people concerned about vaccine passports.
09:03
More from the UK:
On BBC, Andrew Marr opens his show to say that in 40 years of covering politics he does not remember newspapers being “this hostile” to a prime minister.
08:58
UK education secretary defends Johnson, insisting Christmas quiz was ‘virtual’
Nadhim Zahawi, the UK education secretary and former vaccines minister, has defended allegations against Boris Johnson that he breached Covid rules to hold a Christmas quiz last year – insisting it was “virtual” and dismissing criticism about parties as “hype”.
Zahawi told Trevor Phillips on Sunday on Sky News that the picture shows a “prime minister on a virtual quiz night for 10-15 minutes to thank his staff” who he said had no choice but to come into work.
He said they the prime minister was “respecting the lockdown rules” and that the other people pictured in the quiz were in his office people who “work with him”.
“I think the nation will understand that [that it was virtual],” he said.
He said the investigation into Downing Street parties will investigate all allegations at that it will move “rapidly”.
Defending Johnson, he said he “works literally all works to make sure we get through this pandemic” and Zahawi said he is “confident” that the Conservatives will will win Thursday’s by-election in North Shropshire.
Updated
08:44
Nadhim Zahawi, the UK education secretary and former vaccines minister, has said that there are Omicron cases in hospital as he warned that the country is now in a “race” between the booster and the new variant.
Speaking on Sky News, he said the UK has “seen this movie before” with previous variants and warned that “very quickly” Omicron will be the UK’s dominant variant, with a third of infections in London are now Omicron.
Even if Omicron is less severe than previous variants, he said it is “highly infectious” and that if the UK gets to one million cases by the end of the month, three days later it will be two million.
He said it is going to be a “national endeavour” to get British people vaccinated with the third jab. “It’s now a race between the booster and that protection and the omicron variant,” he said.
08:31
UK prime minister accused of breaking Covid laws with festive quiz
The British prime minister is under further pressure today over Downing Street’s alleged Christmas celebrations after he was accused of breaking Covid laws by hosting a festive quiz last year.
Boris Johnson was pictured sitting underneath a portrait of Margaret Thatcher as he read out questions in No 10 on 15 December – when London was under tier 2 restrictions, and three days before an alleged Downing Street Christmas party under investigation – the Mirror reports.
The newspaper reports that many staff gathered around computers, discussed questions and drank alcohol from Tesco Metro, and that in one office there were four teams, each formed of six people.
Dozens of staff reportedly signed up to take part in the quiz online but at 6.30pm many decided to instead join from No 10.
At the time people in London were banned from any social mixing between households, while official guidance said: “You must not have a work Christmas lunch or party, where that is a primarily social activity and is not otherwise permitted by the rules in your tier.”
In response to the latest allegations, a No 10 spokesperson said: “This was a virtual quiz. Downing Street staff were often required to be in the office to work on the pandemic response so those who were in the office for work may have attended virtually from their desks.
“The prime minister briefly took part virtually in a quiz to thank staff for their hard work throughout the year.”
I’ll be looking after the blog for the next few hours covering the latest UK and global Covid news. Please get in touch with any tips or suggestions: miranda.bryant@guardian.co.uk
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