Boris Johnson news – live: PM accused of ‘steering country off cliff’ after Gove says no need for EU trade deal, as climate change response labelled ‘amateur hour’
The day's events as they happened
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Cabinet office minister Michael Gove sparked anger after claiming the UK doesn’t “need” a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, insisting it is better to “stand up for Britain” than accept any rules from Brussels.
It comes as a former Tory minister and ex-president of the COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow – sacked last week by the government – launched a blistering attack on Boris Johnson’s record on climate change.
Claire Perry O’Neill claimed Mr Johnson “doesn’t really get” climate change and said his promises “are not close to being met”. Ex-Labour leader Ed Miliband said the PM didn’t understand the scale of the issue and described his handling of the COP26 summit as “amateur hour”.
However Mr Johnson spent the day alongside ir David Attenborough and Giuseppe Conte, prime minister of summit co-host Italy - while saying the nation should lead the way to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
Meanwhile in the commons the SNP railed against a vote on NHS funding in England which they were barred from voting on amid increasing frustration from the nationalists as they seek to hold a second independence referendum.
Here are the day's events as they happened:
Ministers forced to defend decision to bar journalists from No 10
Labour have secured a UQ on the row between Downing Street and the lobby over access. The SNP are also asking about the delay to the roll out of universal credit.
Britons told to leave China as coronavirus death toll rises and over 20,000 infected around globe
The Foreign Office has advised all British nationals to leave China due to the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 420 people.
Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, said: “The safety and security of British people will always be our top priority.
“As such, we now advise British Nationals in China to leave the country if they can, to minimise their risk of exposure to the virus.”
Anger as Michael Gove claims UK doesn’t 'need' post-Brexit trade deal with EU
Michael Gove has sparked anger after claiming the UK doesn’t “need” a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, insisting it is better to “stand up for Britain”.
The cabinet office minister put a no-deal crash-out – at the end of 2020 – back centre-stage, despite Boris Johnson insisting the risk was “absolutely zero” during the general election campaign.
Gove also claimed the current level of trade with the US proved a formal agreement was not necessary, despite a deal with Washington being a supposed prize for leaving the EU.
Handling of COP26 summit ‘amateur hour’, says Ed Miliband
Opposition MPs appear to agree with the former Tory minister Claire Perry O’Neill’s view that the prime minister “doesn’t get” the importance of climate change.
Several leading figures are amazed Perry O’Neill hasn’t been replaced after she was sacked as the organiser of November’s COP26 UN climate change conference in Glasgow.
Speaking about this morning COP26 summit launch, former Labour leader Ed Miliband said the government “has presidency of an institution it doesn’t understand, with a PM who doesn’t ‘get’ the most important issue facing humanity and can’t answer questions. This is amateur hour.”
Jonathan Bartley, the Green party co-leader, said: “COP26 – which has been described many as pivotal – is turning into a farce.”
Green MP Caroline Lucas said on Twitter Johnson “doesn’t *get* climate change” and suggested his claim that carbon emissions are “swaddling the planet like a tea cosy” was underselling the scale of the climate emergency.
Former No 10 spin doctor tells BBC host to ‘take a breath’
Craig Oliver, David Cameron’s former director of communications at No 10, has weighed in on the row over the exclusion of particular media outlets from a lobby briefing.
In a bad-tempered interview with Emma Barnett on Radio 5 Live, he said the incident “just seems a little more confused and complicated than people are saying. Both sides need to step back and have a look at this and say, ‘Hold on is this what we really want’.”
Oliver added: “All I am simply trying to say to you is this is probably a more complicated situation than you are allowing it or are representing it as.”
Complaining that Barnett was trying to give him “a lecture” on the subject, he added: “Everybody should probably take a breath, including you by the way.”
Tory MP denies being part of authoritarian government
The Labour MP Chris Bryant has been talking about the exclusion of several leading media organisations – including The Independent – from a Downing Street briefing.
“It’s the first thing that an authoritarian government does on its road to authoritarianism, which is it starts to decide who gets to hear the message and who gets excluded. I fear Boris Johnson’s team are a set of people who do not like scrutiny,” he told BBC’s Politics Live.
“There is no way that we’re an authoritarian government,” said Tory MP Gillian Keegan. “Or that in this country we would have an authoritarianism government.”
Health minister expresses ‘deep regret’ over failure to protect patients from rogue breast surgeon
Nadine Dorries has apologised on behalf of the government and the NHS for failing to protect patients from surgeon Ian Paterson’s malpractice.
An independent inquiry into how the rogue breast surgeon was able to go on performing unnecessary operations for years has uncovered a healthcare system “dysfunctional at almost every level”.
In a statement to MPs, the health minister said: “As a result of these failures, patients suffered unnecessary harm.
“Their testimony in this report makes harrowing, appalling reading,” Dorries added.
“As such, it is with deep regret that we acknowledge the failure of the entire healthcare system to protect patients from Ian Paterson’s malpractice and to remedy the harms.”
‘Good riddance!’ EU’s parting message to UK
The EU’s final message to the UK before the formal departure was “thank you, goodbye, and good riddance”.
According to the Financial Times, Croatia’s permanent representative Irena Andrassy made the comments to her UK counterpart Sir Tim Barrow. Apparently she said “good riddance” because she mistakenly assuming the phrase meant “good luck”.
The mix-up was said to be taken in good humour by the British delegation.
“The Brits saw the funny side and understood how it was meant,” one official in the room told the newspaper. “But history will show that these were the last words from the EU to the UK’s ambassador before Brexit.”
‘We’re lucky to have so many fantastic Attenboroughs’: Raab mixes up Richard and David
Dominic Raab hailed Boris Johnson’s launch of a key climate summit alongside Richard Attenborough - only to be reminded he had got the wrong Attenborough.
The foreign secretary looked a little flustered in the Commons after being informed about the mix-up before insisting there are “so many fantastic Attenboroughs” in the country.
Johnson was joined by Sir David Attenborough at the launch of the UN COP26 summit at the Science Museum in London. Actor and Oscar-winning director Richard died in August 2014, and was the older brother of TV wildlife presenter Sir David.
Raab said: “Today, with Sir Richard Attenborough, the prime minister is launching and setting out the detail of our approach to COP26, where we’ll lead in bringing the world together to tackle one of the global challenges of our age.”
Labour MP Kevin Brennan later told Raab: “I think the foreign secretary may have inadvertently said the prime minister was launching the COP26 plans with Richard Attenborough today, of course who is no longer with us, and he might want to take the opportunity to correct that.”
Raab replied: “I’m happy to correct the record on which Attenborough. We’re lucky to have so many fantastic Attenboroughs in this country and we're ambitious about COP26.”
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab in Commons (AFP)
Black day for press freedom, or mass outbreak of snowflakery?
Downing Street’s attempts to control access to press briefings were “entirely standard practice”, cabinet office minister Chloe Smith has said following a mass walkout by journalists after senior reporters were barred from a meeting at No 10.
Speaking in the Commons, SNP MP Pete Wishart said: “Yesterday was a black day for press freedom and no amount of sleekit, self-justified nonsense from the honourable lady is going to get her off the Trumpian hook.
“The next thing the prime minister will be talking about fake news and banning broadcasters, oh wait, he already has! Just how sinister can it get?”
He said Smith sounded like the former Iraqi information minister “Comical Ali”.
Former Tory cabinet minister Damian Green said: “There clearly do need to be better arrangements for lobby briefings than were taking place yesterday. But I do detect the faint air of fake outrage
here.”
He added: “What we’re seeing here is some fake outrage and a mass outbreak of snowflakery.”
Chloe Smith speaking in Commons (Parliament TV)
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