UK Covid live: Boris Johnson says people should not cancel Christmas events because ‘there’s no need at all’

In his pooled interview for broadcasters Boris Johnson refused to discuss what happened at the Downing Street events last winter described by witnesses as parties.

No 10 has not denied that these events did take place, but it has also claimed that the lockdown rules were not broken. If the eyewitness accounts are true (and No 10 is not saying they is not), then it is hard to see how that latter Downing Street claim can be correct.

In the interview Johnson said he would be hosting various Christmas events in Downing Street this year, in accordance with the rules.

When ITV’s Anushka Asthana asked why Johnson did not settle the dispute about the 2020 No 10 Christmas parties by explaining what actually happened, Johnson replied: “Because I’ve told you.” He then went on to repeat his point about there being no need for people to cancel Christmas events this winter.

Although Downing Street is firmly saying people should not be cancelling Christmas parties, there is quite a lot of evidence now that some organisations or individuals are deciding to play it safe this winter. Patrick Dardis, head of the the pub group Young’s, which runs more than 270 sites across the UK, told PA Media:

I think the messaging has been terribly confusing and inconsistent. One moment you have Jenny Harries telling people to avoid socialising and an hour later you have Sajid Javid saying the opposite. I think the messaging started as a complete over-reaction and, unsurprisingly, it has concerned some people.

From Friday we had seen some cancellations. We are hoping this all starts to calm down again and that government can properly get the message across that it is safe to go out and celebrate.

We take safety incredibly seriously and I want people to be reassured that there won’t be anywhere better than a pub to socialise from a hygiene and ventilation point of view.

Boris Johnson has given a pooled interview for broadcasters saying people should not be cancelling Christmas parties. When it was put to him that people were confused by the rules, and wanted to have them cleared up (see 9.40am), Johnson said:

The most important thing is that people should follow the guidance we’ve set out. People shouldn’t be cancelling things. There’s no need for that at all. It’s not what we are saying.

Johnson was being interviewed as he attended a vaccination centre to get his booster jab.

At the news conference after the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, that the government has missed its deadline for introducing the bill to create an effective amnesty for crimes committed during the Troubles.

Lewis announced the plan in July and later said that the government intended to legislate “this autumn”. Today Lewis said that he would need more time. He said:

I’m already passed the autumn. I think the latest I’ve heard autumn described once was the autumn statement of December 4 one year. So, I think we’ve already missed that.

The reality is, I think, it’s important to put the time in to try and find a way forward that can help Northern Ireland move forward.

If that takes a bit more time, then that’s something we’ve been prepared to do, hence why we didn’t deal with this earlier in the year and we were focused on trying to do something in the autumn, but we will do everything we can to try and find a way forward that works together.

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has described the Northern Ireland protocol, the post-Brexit governing trade in Northern Ireland, as a matter of war and peace.

He told the EU’s committee of the regions: “It’s a question of war and peace for Ireland. So we should avoid any temptation to be less than serious.”

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesman suggested that this was not an appropriate way to discuss the protocol, the implementation of which is currently a matter of dispute between the UK and the EU. Asked about the comment, he said:

When it comes to the protocol it is vital that we use measured and appropriate language given the sensitivities involved.

It is obviously welcome that Mr Macron recognises that a serious situation needs to be resolved. We urgently need to make progress.

This is probably one of the more minor verbal disputes between London and Paris at the moment. This week it was reported that in private Macron calls Johnson a “clown”.

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, has written to Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, asking if he will call in the Metropolitan police to investigate reports that No 10 staff broke lockdown rules last year by hosting parties.

As the Mirror reports, in her letter Rayner said:

You will no doubt understand the seriousness of the allegations made.

This government is undermining public health messaging with their actions and we cannot let this go on unchecked.

It cannot be that the prime minister believes there to be a set of rules for the public and a totally different set of rules for himself.

Downing Street has repeatedly insisted that no rules were broken, although it has not denied that social gatherings did take place at No 10 in November and December last year that, according to various reports of what was involved, do seem hard to square with what was allowed under the lockdown regulations.

In the Financial Times (paywall), Laura Hughes reports further evidence that partying was happening in Downing Street last winter. She reports:

One Downing Street insider told the Financial Times there often were get-togethers in the evenings in No 10 while the country was in lockdown last Christmas.

“It was the only place you could get together and socialise. They happened most Fridays and they were the only things that kept us going, bearing in mind we were the only people in Whitehall in the office working throughout,” the person said. “We weren’t seeing anyone else outside of work and were our own bubble.

“It was whoever was left, getting together to chat and drink and maybe some music. [There were] speeches for people leaving.”

The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group has demanded an apology from the PM. Safiah Ngah, a spokesperson for the group, told the BBC:

My Dad died in February from Covid-19, despite being in good health. The last Christmas period is sadly one I will never forget. One in 20 people in my borough had Covid-19 and my family were desperately trying to do what we could to keep each other safe. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough.

To think that just a few miles away, No 10 was throwing a ‘Christmas party’, with no care for the rules they had set, is sickening.

In the Commons, after Chris Bryant, the chair of the Commons standards committee made a statement about his committee’s report proposing changes to the code of conduct for MPs, Mark Francois, a Conservative, said he was concerned one of the recommendations might restrain freedom of speech for members.

The report says the code should be amended so that it says MPs “must not subject anyone to unreasonable and excessive personal attack”.

Echoing a point made earlier by Sir Desmond Swayne (see 11.46am), Francois said this was a “dangerous” proposal which “seriously impinges on article 9 of the Bill of Rights, if you take this literally”. He said an MP could theoretically fall foul of the new rule by putting a witness under pressure in a select committee, or by having a “heated disagreement” in the chamber.

Bryant said article 9, which says no proceeding of parliament can be impeached in a court of law, or any other place, has the force of statute law, and his proposals would not change that. He said committee chairs can already reprimand MPs for being too rude to a witness. He went on:

It may be that this rule isn’t perfectly worded as it is now. But nonetheless … it just seems odd that we would want to argue that we have to continue the right to make unreasonable and excessive personal attacks on others, especially when we’re using the reputation of those letters, MP, behind it.

And here is a fuller account of what was said at the Downing Street lobby briefing about Christmas parties.

• No 10 said it did not want people to cancel Christmas parties. Some organisations have been doing this, because of concerns about the Omicron variant. But the PM’s spokesman said:

The prime minister has been very clear on this. On Christmas parties, we don’t want people to cancel such events. There is no government guidance to that end.

It is right that post step 4 (of the road map out of lockdown), we returned to the position where people can use their individual judgment, but there is certainly no government guidance to that end, and the prime minister has been very clear.

The spokesman would not comment on the decision of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial to cancel its own Christmas party, saying he had not spoken to the PM about this. This morning George Freeman, a minister in the business department, told Times Radio: “The department of business, we won’t be having a big Christmas party this year. Nobody would expect us to.”

• The spokesman refused to back Freeman’s suggestion that people should not hold big parties. (See 9.40am.) Asked about what the minister said, the spokesman told journalists:

There is nothing in the rules to prevent anyone from having Christmas parties or gathering in that way.

There are a limited number of restrictions that we have set out on a precautionary basis while we do further investigation into this variant. Beyond that, the position has not changed since we moved past step 4.

Asked if Freeman was wrong to suggest large parties should be avoided, the spokesman said: “That is not in the guidance, it is not in the regulations.”

• The spokesman said government guidance did not set any limit on the number of people who could attend a party.

As a reader points out BTL, one person who does seem to be ignore the George Freeman take on Christmas parties is Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons. He is the guest speaker at the North Somerset Conservative association Christmas dinner. The association, which has Liam Fox as an MP, is holding its event on Friday.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson refused to endorse the suggestion from George Freeman, the science minister, that firms should avoid holding big Christmas parties (see 9.40am), the i’s Paul Waugh reports.

Voters are going to the polls in the Old Bexley and Sidcup byelection today. It is a safe Conservative seat – the late James Brokenshire had a majority of 18,952 at the last election – and, as my colleague Aubrey Allegretti discovered when he was there yesterday – there is very little evidence that that is about to change.

After his own trip to the constituency, Andrew Gimson from ConservativeHome concluded: “Boris Johnson came in for heavy criticism from Conservative voters for his recent performances, but few could yet name an alternative leader they would rather see in Downing Street.”

In their FT story (paywall) about the byelection, George Parker, Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe and Sebastian Payne say the Lib Dems have run a minimal campaign in Old Bexley and Sidcup, making it easier for Labour to scoop up the anti-Tory vote, and Labour is doing the same in North Shropshire, where the Lib Dems are seen as having a better chance against the Tories than Labour in the byelection on 16 December. It says this is evidence of an informal pact between the two parties.

The byelections are a warning sign for Johnson that Labour and the Lib Dems are starting to ruthlessly allocate resources, giving each other a clear run against the Conservatives according to their respective local strengths.

There is no formal pact – Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has dismissed calls for a “progressive alliance” of parties including Labour, Lib Dems and Greens – but evidence of what one Labour figure called “organic” non-aggression pacts on the ground is mounting …

Tory strategists are carefully watching the impact of what one described as “below the radar” collaboration between the Lib Dems and Labour in both byelections.

“If the left actually got their act together, it could make things much more difficult in 2024,” one said. “We were lucky that the centre-right vote was entirely united at the last election and they weren’t. It could be a game changer.”

Chris Bryant, the Labour chair of the Commons standards committee, will be making a statement in the Commons soon on his committee’s report (pdf) proposing changes to the code of conduct for MPs. One of its proposals is for a change to the behaviour code for MPs saying MPs should “demonstrate anti-discriminatory attitudes and behaviours through the promotion of anti-racism, inclusion and diversity”.

During business questions in the Commons Sir Desmond Swayne (Con) signalled that he was strongly opposed to this. He said:

Some of the aspects of the report, such as the potential extension of the jurisdiction of an official into what happens in the lobbies and in select committees, touches on the principles of the Bill of Rights that no proceeding in parliament be questioned in any place or any court other than parliament itself.

Indeed, the principle of democracy is undermined by the requirement that we may be required to subscribe to behaviours to promote certain attitudes.

I hope that my constituents never elect a racist or a misogynist, but they have a right to do so.