The Prime Minister is understood to have shared what he knows with Ms Gray, the civil servant overseeing the investigation into alleged parties at Downing Street during lockdown
➡️Downing Street is already planning its response to the findings, with the promise to overhaul a "drinking culture" in Number 10.
The departure of senior figures is expected
With Mr Johnson facing the biggest political crisis of his premiership, more evidence emerged of an angry reaction among Tory voters to allegations of lockdown-breaking parties
A survey conducted by the Grassroots Conservatives group found that around four in 10 of its supporters wanted Mr Johnson to resign now, according to Ed Costelloe, the group’s chairman
Tory MPs claimed that "enormous anger" had been conveyed by their local associations over the weekend, with one saying five per cent of their party members had quit
It emerged on Sunday that one Tory MP’s constituency office had been daubed with the words "lies, lies, lies".
Other MPs say emails of complaint have flooded into inboxes
🔴The Telegraph has been told that “dozens” of officials from the Cabinet Office’s Covid-19 taskforce attended the event on Dec 17 2020 while the country was still under draconian restrictions
Those present are alleged to have gathered in the taskforce’s office in 70 Whitehall that evening, where they consumed alcohol and held a party to mark the departure of Kate Josephs, the then director-general
🔴Government ministers and the Prime Minister's press team have not said whether claims Mr Johnson attended the drinks gathering on May 20 2020 are correct
Instead any questions about the controversial event have been deflected on grounds that a probe into all such claims is ongoing
🔴 Liz Truss today insists that Britain will overhaul the post-Brexit agreement over Northern Ireland unilaterally if she cannot reach a “negotiated solution” with the EU
Writing in The Telegraph, Liz Truss states that the Article 16 “safeguard clause” in the Northern Ireland Protocol was “explicitly designed ... to ease acute problems because of the sensitivity of the issues at play” on the island of Ireland
The warning, which is likely to inflame tensions with Brussels, comes ahead of Ms Truss’s first face-to-face meeting with Maros Sefcovic, her EU counterpart, at Chevening, the Foreign Secretary’s country residence, on Thursday
🔴 Civil servants have been banned from inviting “woke” speakers who criticise Boris Johnson’s policies to address internal events in Whitehall, a leaked memo reveals
📩 An “official-sensitive” email circulated across Whitehall warned that invitations should not be issued to individuals who have “spoken against key government policies”
Officials were told to carry out “due diligence” checks on speakers, including examining their social media posts.
➡️The move follows several controversies over speakers critical of the Government being invited to address Whitehall social or networking events
🗣️The Health Secretary will address concerns that the variant is more transmissible than previous strains and could potentially evade the vaccines.
The B.1.1.529 variant has been found in 77 cases in South Africa, four in Botswana, and one in Hong Kong telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/2…
"I want to reassure this House that there are no detected cases of this variant in the UK at this time, but this new variant is of huge international concern.
"The World Health Organization has called a special meeting this morning and that meeting is taking place right now"
Ian Blackford's hourly rate is higher than those earned by Sir Geoffrey Cox, figures have shown
📊An analysis of entries into the parliamentary register of financial interests show that between January 2020 and April 2021, the Scottish National Party's Westminster leader earned roughly £48,500