UK

Pressure on the NHS created by COVID led to at least 4,000 excess deaths from other conditions and mean that 32,000 cancer patients who should have started treatment are still waiting, according to new analysis. The figures come from a new report published by the CAGE centre at the University of Warwick. It is thought

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing a week of reckoning as a report into Downing Street parties during lockdown is due to be released. The partygate inquiry, which is being carried out by civil servant Sue Gray, could determine Mr Johnson’s fate as the country’s prime minister. Many Tory MPs have said they will wait

Boris Johnson met Tory MP Nusrat Ghani in 2020 following her claim she was sacked over her “Muslimness” – and “invited” her to make a formal complaint, Number 10 has said. The prime minister’s official spokesman said Mr Johnson held a meeting with Ms Ghani after she claimed a Tory whip told her her faith

The chief whip has said an MP’s claims that she was sacked as a minister because of her Muslim faith are “completely false”. Nusrat Ghani, the 49-year-old MP for Wealden in East Sussex, was sacked as transport minister in a February 2020 re-shuffle. Ms Ghani said she was told by a whip, who she did

Attempts to pressure Tory MPs trying to topple Boris Johnson are illegal, the head of a Westminster sleaze watchdog has argued. Labour MP Chris Bryant, who is chairman of the Commons Standards Committee, said alleged threats to pull public funding from members’ constituencies amounted to “misconduct in public office” and should be reported to the

Police will meet with a Conservative MP who has alleged that government figures have been engaging in “intimidation” that amounts to “blackmail” against Tories who have questioned Boris Johnson’s position. A Scotland Yard detective will talk with William Wragg next week about his allegation, which comes as the prime minister is under pressure over a

The UK Health Security Agency has designated the Omicron variant sub-lineage, known as BA.2, as a variant under investigation – with current case rates very low. Just 53 sequences of the sub-lineage had been identified in the UK by 10 January, the HSA said. The health body said further analysis will be undertaken. BA.2 does

Fears are growing inside 10 Downing Street that former pub landlady Sue Gray could call time on Boris Johnson in her Whitehall report on partygate. Sky News understands there is nervousness in Number 10 over what the top civil servant’s report on the Downing Street Parties – which some MPs believe could be published as

Conservative MPs who want Boris Johnson to resign have been intimidated by the party and should contact the police if they have been blackmailed, a senior Tory has warned. William Wragg, chair of the public administration and constitutional affairs committee, said a “number of MPs have faced intimidation” after declaring, or assumed to have declared,

A defiant Boris Johnson is clinging on to power, insisting he won’t quit even if his enemies in the Tory party force a vote of confidence in his leadership The prime minister is determined to fight back, boosted by an apparent split among the Tory plotters on when to launch their coup and on who

Work from home guidance, COVID passports and mandatory wearing of face-masks will be scrapped in England, as Boris Johnson announced the lifting of Plan B measures. The prime minister said people will no longer be told to work from home “from now on”, and from Thursday next week mandatory mask-wearing and COVID certification will end.

Boris Johnson is set to announce an easing of Plan B coronavirus restrictions in England. The prime minister will go through the latest COVID-19 data on Wednesday morning with his ministers, before making a statement to MPs. Mr Johnson’s Commons announcement comes as pressure continues to mount over parties and gatherings held in Downing Street

Boris Johnson has said “nobody told me” the Number 10 garden party during lockdown was “against the rules”. The prime minister said he “humbly apologises” to people for misjudgements that were made but he would not have gone ahead with the event if he thought it broke the rules. He said: “I’m saying categorically that

Dominic Raab has said he does not recognise the “caricature” about Number 10 as he denied there was a drinking culture in Downing Street. The deputy prime minister told Sky News while he was running the country, as Boris Johnson was in hospital with COVID, the staff at Number 10 worked “phenomenally hard under gruelling

Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser has said the prime minister knew in advance about a Downing Street drinks party during the first coronavirus lockdown and agreed that it could go ahead. In an updated post on his Substack page, Dominic Cummings said he raised his concerns about the event in the Number 10 garden in

The time people must spend in isolation for contracting COVID has been reduced to five days in England, as 16 and 17-year-olds have been invited to receive their COVID-19 vaccine booster. People in England can now leave quarantine after five full days providing they test negative on days five and six. Ministers reduced the isolation