Boris Johnson had a four-day break before Covid pandemic struck

Official files have revealed that Boris Johnson took four days off during a crucial period in the run-up to locking down the UK when the Covid pandemic struck.

The revelation has come after the group campaigning for families of the Covid bereaved described the former prime minister as being “beyond contempt” for his attack on the damning report produced by the inquiry into his government’s handling of the pandemic.

Mr Johnson has refused to apologise for an estimated 23,000 extra deaths the inquiry stated he caused by delaying lockdown for a week.

Instead he used his column in a national newspaper to lambast the inquiry’s chair Baroness Heather Hallett and argue that Professor Neil Ferguson, whose estimates the figure was based on, was “hysterical”.

Official disclosure for February 2020, described by the inquiry report as a “lost month” in preparing to respond to the pandemic, shows that Mr Johnson took an extended break during the half-term holidays at Chevening, a governmental estate in Kent.

The former prime minister was questioned by the inquiry on what he had been doing between 14 and 24 February 2020 when he gave evidence in December 2023.

At the time he said: “There wasn’t a long holiday that I took. I was working throughout the period and the tempo did increase.”

But official activity logs appear to suggest evidence that Mr Johnson gave under oath may have been wrong.

The controversy has echoes of the parliamentary inquiry into his responses in the House on Partygate where he was found to have misled the Commons.

The official files suggest that Mr Johnson did no official government business on 15, 16, 17 and 21 February.

Instead, it suggests that he spent time walking his dog Dilyn in Chevening, riding a motorbike given to him by his wife Carrie, and hosting friends and family for lunches, dinners and overnight stays.

The Independent has approached Mr Johnson for comment.

The latest revelation comes as the group representing families of the Covid bereaved wants to ensure that Mr Johnson no longer plays any part in public life.

They have also suggested possible legal action against the former prime minister, possibly a private prosecution.

A spokesperson for the group said that this was “further evidence that he [Johnson] wasn’t taking Covid seriously, that he was ignoring the warnings he was getting and putting himself ahead of the country at that time. It vindicates further the report that came out on Thursday. It sounds like he has questions to answer about how truthful he was in front of the inquiry.”

They told The Independent: “It is beyond contempt that Boris Johnson has chosen to respond to the Covid Inquiry by attacking the Covid bereaved for ‘wrangling’ about the deaths of our loved one.

“Instead of showing regret, contrition or even apologising, Johnson is using a newspaper column to do what he couldn’t do under oath at the Covid Inquiry – twist the truth, promote debunked myths and ignore the facts.

“But the truth, which Mr Johnson has never had a close relationship with, is now clear. He was responsible for thousands of avoidable deaths. The one promise he delivered on was to ‘let the bodies pile high’. He has no place in public life and we are calling again for Boris Johnson to lose all of his ex-PM privileges following the inquiry report.”

Their response came after an astonishing rant by the former PM in his weekly Daily Mail column.

Mr Johnson blasted: “Some judge has just spent the thick end of £200m on an inquiry, and what is the upshot?

“She seems, if anything, to want more lockdowns. She seems to have laid into the previous Tory government for not locking down hard enough or fast enough – just when the rest of the world has been thinking that lockdowns were probably wildly overdone.”

He went on: “Bozhe moi, you say, wiping away tears of laughter. My goodness, these Britskis!”

Arsenal name Gabriel replacement ahead of London derby against Spurs

Premier League leaders Arsenal host rivals Tottenham in a massive north London derby at the Emirates, with the change to go six points clear at the top after Manchester City’s defeat to Newcastle yesterday.

Arsenal have boasted the Premier League’s best defence this season but the unit that has conceded only five goals so far will be without key centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes for the foreseeable future, in what will be a challenge for Mikel Arteta’s side ahead of games against Spurs, Bayern Munich and Chelsea.

Tottenham have been up and down under Thomas Frank but their best results have so far come on the road and Spurs will relish the opportunity to dent Arsenal’s title bid. This will also be the first meeting of the sides since Arsenal trumped Spurs in their pursuit for Eberechi Eze, who could play a role today.

Can Arsenal extend their advantage at the top of the Premier League or will Tottenham strike a blow in the title race? Follow updates from the Emirates below:

England look to finish year on a high in tricky Argentina test

England will look to sign off in style at the end of an encouraging year as they take on Argentina in their final November international.

A huge win over the All Blacks last week extended a winning run that now stretches to 10 matches for England, with Steve Borthwick’s side unbeaten at Twickenham this year. It leaves them in a buoyant mood as they conclude their efforts in 2025, though Borthwick will be wary to avoid any kind of comedown against a visiting team more than capable of bursting their bubble.

The Pumas have, of course, already tangled twice with their hosts this year, losing 2-0 on home soil in July against a side shorn of their British and Irish Lions contingent. While this will be a very different England, Argentina are significantly strengthened, too, and a stirring comeback against Scotland last week showed the considerable threat that they pose.

Follow all of the latest from the Quilter Nations Series clash with our live blog below

Reeves set to offer child benefit and wealth taxes to appease rebels

Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are set to tack hard to the left in the budget to buy themselves time and prevent an attempted leadership coup by backbenchers.

The Independent has been told that the chancellor will bow to pressure, scrapping the two-child benefit cap altogether and unveiling a series of wealth taxes to fill the spending black hole in her budget.

Backbenchers and senior party members have been assured that the tax raid will include a mansion tax on properties worth more than £2m, a profits tax on gambling companies demanded by former PM Gordon Brown, and a levy on bank profits.

Added to that transport secretary Heidi Alexander refused to end speculation that fuel duty could rise for the first time in 15 years, and electric cars will be subject to a new pay-by-the-mile tax.

The minister was challenged on the issues on Sunday morning by Sir Trevor Phillips on Sky News and Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC.

Ms Alexander pointed out that the government is freezing rail fares, but after being asked three times about fuel duty, she said: “You would not expect me to speculate on what is going to be contained in the Budget next week.”

It is also being briefed that Ms Reeves will raise capital gains tax, but will fall short of equalising it with income tax levels.

A minister told The Independent: “The ink definitely won’t dry on this Budget until Tuesday night but it looks like the PLP [parliamentary Labour Party] is getting what it wants…wealth taxes and an end to the child benefit cap.”

The content of the Budget is being tied to the future of Sir Keir and Ms Reeves, with continuing speculation that the PM could be ousted following a Downing Street briefing accusing Wes Streeting of plotting to replace him.

Along with Mr Streeting, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, energy secretary Ed Miliband and home secretary Shabana Mahmood have been the centre of leadership speculation in the last fortnight.

A senior party source told The Independent: “The PM and chancellor are buying themselves time. There will be elements of the media who hate these taxes but it will please members and the PLP.”

It has also emerged that the decision to ditch an income tax rise, breaking the manifesto commitment, also came after pressure from backbenchers.

One Labour MP said: “The message went up that it is hard enough for us to get a hearing on the doorstep as it is but if we did that [raise income tax], then the doors would have been closed on us and not reopened.

“People would have just said ‘You lied, we can never trust you again.’”

Another MP noted that recent interventions by new deputy leader Lucy Powell, who was elected to replace Angela Rayner on a platform of being critical of the Starmer premiership, “were very much voicing the concerns of the PLP”.

Ms Powell had spoken out against income tax rises but has been strongly supportive of “a fair tax system” including wealth taxes.

Already cutting welfare or other spending in significant amounts has been rendered impossible after the benefits rebellion forced Ms Reeves and Sir Keir to abandon cuts worth £5bn.

In addition, there is a belief that moves to get tough on asylum and water down human rights will need to be balanced out with more left-wing economic measures.

Another MP said: “There is a lot of unhappiness about us copying Reform with the asylum announcements this week, so they seem to be in a place where they have to listen to us on the economy.”

The bank levy, which is being pushed heavily by the Trades Union Congress, could raise Ms Reeves £30bn by 2029 if she sets it at 16 per cent.

Meanwhile, scrapping a cap on how many children can qualify for child benefit in a family will cost the taxpayer £3.5bn a year.

The mansion tax was being suggested as a 1 per cent levy on properties worth £2m or more, but there is an expectation that it may be set much lower at a maximum of £5,000 because of concerns about the London housing market.

A gambling levy could raise as much as £3.2bn a year, according to some estimates, which campaigners like Mr Brown believe would fund the end of restrictions on child benefits.

The Treasury briefed out last week that a U-turn on increasing income tax was because of better than expected estimates by the Office for Budget Responsibility, with the black hole in spending believed to be about £20bn – well below an early estimate of £40bn.

But Ms Reeves still needs to ensure she has an economic buffer beyond the £10bn she gave herself last year because of the potential for further economic shocks following Donald Trump’s tariffs, uncertainty in the markets and the impact of war.

She also needs to find the cash to meet the defence spending target of 2.5 per cent of GDP.

Economists have warned that the only sustainable way to do this is through raising one of the big taxes – income tax, VAT or employee national insurance contributions.

However, the chancellor is set to ignore this advice and push for so-called wealth taxes instead.

She has already indicated that cancelling non-dom status and putting VAT on private school fees has brought in more money than originally estimated, despite huge criticism of both moves.

But critics have warned that the measures will create instability in the tax system and will drive away wealthy individuals.

‘Beast from the East’ weather phenomenon returning to UK this winter

The UK could be facing another cold snap as the weather phenomenon that brought in 2018’s ‘Beast from the East’ looks set to have “significant implications” on the country’s weather.

The Met Office said “winter has arrived early across the UK, bringing cold Arctic air and a complex mix of weather hazards” after a week of ice and snow weather warnings across stretches of the UK.

Temperatures are set to increase this weekend as milder, more unsettled, Atlantic-driven weather moves in with cloud, rain and winds, but a sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event in the next week could see colder weather return in the next two weeks.

A SSW involves a rapid increase in temperature in the stratosphere above the North Pole, often leading to a reversal of the stratospheric polar vortex winds, involving the rapid descent of cold air.

According to the forecaster, this increases the likelihood of colder weather in the UK 10 to 14 days later by roughly 70 per cent. While not guaranteed, meteorologists will be keeping a close eye on the weather phenomenon that can lead to a colder than average start to winter.

“From the clash of Arctic and North African air masses to the impacts of heavy rain, flooding, and significant snow, the country is experiencing a wide range of conditions”, the forecaster reported. “Regional differences are stark, with some areas facing substantial snow while others enjoy sunny skies and frosty nights. The outlook remains uncertain, with the potential for further cold spells and unsettled weather as the season progresses. “

A SSW was the same weather phenomenon that led to the brutal ‘Beast from the East’ in 2018, which transported cold air from Siberia to Europe and heavy snowfall to Great Britain and Ireland. Temperatures plummeted across the country with lows of -14.7C recorded in Faversham, Kent, and Storm Emma brought 50 cm of snow in some elevated areas.

Temperatures dropped well below average for this time of the year across the country this week with wind chill making it feel even colder with “feels like” temperatures widely at minus one or minus two degrees. The Met Office recorded lows of -11.7C at Loch Glascarnoch on Thursday night, the coldest night of the season so far.

The recent arctic air mass brought snow to the UK this week as schools were forced to close across the country, with yellow and amber ice and snow weather warnings issued for parts of the UK.

Saturday:

Cloudy, wet and windy weather will move east across England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland will be brighter with sunshine and showers, and brighter skies will reach the north and west of England and Wales later. Temperatures nearer normal.

Rain across central and southeast England slowly clearing. Clearer with showers elsewhere, though persistent rain and blustery winds arriving in the west. Some fog, and patchy frost in the north.

Sunday:

Wind and rain in the west moving north and east, becoming slow moving across Northern Ireland, northern England and southern Scotland. Brighter, showery in the far north, and increasingly south.

Monday to Wednesday:

Showery rain on Monday, especially central and eastern areas. Feeling cold again in blustery winds. Drier and brighter, with winds easing on Tuesday. Rain arriving midweek, though turning milder.

EV owners: Earn £55 with this E.ON Next tariff deal now

Considering getting an electric vehicle or have driven one for a while? You may be searching for the right energy tariff to charge your car, and if so, we have just the deal to help. E.ON Next is offering The Independent readers £55 credit with its Drive Smart EV tariff.

With impressively low overnight rates of 6.5p/kWh, it’s worth noting that when you use E.ON Next smart charging, that same competitive price is also applied to the rest of your home. We’d say that makes this limited-time offer of £55 credit sound even more appealing.

This exclusive offer is only available until 30 November, so you better be speedy to snap it up. Keep reading to learn more about the E.ON Next Drive Smart EV tariff – including eligibility, charting your energy use with the Next Home app and getting a quote.

There are a few straightforward requirements to be eligible for the E.ON Next Drive Smart EV tariff. As well as needing to have a smart meter and EV charger already installed at home, you must own or lease an EV that is a model supported by this tariff. Finally, you can only charge and connect one vehicle with E.ON Next’s EV tariff. Sounds simple? Once you’re signed up with your new tariff, you can set up Smart Schedules by downloading the E.ON Next Home app to get started.

After signing up to E.ON Next’s EV tariff, you need to have the Next Home app. This is a convenient way of accessing all of your EV charging information in one place. From seeing your entire charging history to planning future charging stints, you can view all energy cost savings here too. The app enables you to stay informed about charging rates, as you can map any cost changes according to what time of day or night you’re using energy to power your car. This handy level of monitoring lets you take the wheel when charging.

To get £55 when signing up for the E.ON Next Drive Smart EV tariff and make the most of this exclusive deal, head over to the quotes page here. With the offer only available until 30 November, you’d better put your foot down.

Get £55 credit by signing up to the E.ON Next Drive Smart EV tariff now

Van Dijk’s four-word statement reveals depth of Liverpool crisis

For the first time in six decades, Liverpool has suffered consecutive defeats in league games by three goals. Alexander Isak is the first Liverpool player to lose on each of his first four Premier League starts for the club. And Virgil van Dijk had his own damning verdict, even if it drew less on statistics and more on a broader sense of their malaise. “At the moment, it is a mess,” said the Liverpool captain. “That’s just a fact.”

Others might call it a crisis, but Van Dijk’s chosen description was revealing enough. Still more so was his analysis of his side’s shortcomings after a run of six defeats in even league games. The Dutchman can excel in downplaying things, whatever the result. He speaks a lot, but he is not always outspoken. He was this time. The most laidback of defenders said: “You should be angry”.

Van Dijk implied some of his teammates were too selfish, accusing individuals of putting themselves before the team. He criticised them for their defending and their attitude alike. He said Liverpool have forgotten to do the basics. He stated the result of a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest was “unacceptable” and suggested their whole run has been.

This is a mess of Liverpool’s own making. They did not spend £450m to get this much worse, this quickly. Van Dijk painted a picture of a team who are weaker, both physically and mentally, than last season which, in turn, may be an indictment of their expensive additions. “It’s easy to point fingers,” Van Dijk said. While he named no names, some digits might have been waved in certain directions.

“This season we don’t have any consistency, we concede far too many goals, we are losing battles and everyone is responsible for it and I hope everyone sees that,” he said. The use of “hope” – rather than, say, “know” – felt instructive; it indicated Van Dijk is not certain.

“The main thing for me is that everyone has to take responsibility,” he added. Do they? “I don’t know,” came the reply. “But you have to do that. It’s the main thing I want the boys to do. It’s not easy during difficult times, but we have to do it if we want to get out of this.

Van Dijk felt Liverpool were overpowered by Forest. “In terms of the battles, challenges, second-ball fights, we were just too rushed,” he said. In different ways, physicality has been an issue this season: either with players who are not fully fit, such as Alexander Isak, or those who are injured, or a lack of height, a particular problem at set-pieces, or data showing they have been outrun by opponents in seven of their last eight league games.

Van Dijk is part of a defence who have been breached 20 times in the Premier League. “We are conceding far too many goals,” he said. Too many, he had already stated, were “easy”. He was aggrieved by the reaction to Murillo’s opener on Saturday. “We were a threat, but then we conceded and panic kicks in,” he said. Nicolo Savona’s strike 40 seconds after the interval further irritated him. “The way we started the second half was just unacceptable,” he added.

He suggested, too, that Liverpool are too easy to play against, in part because some are not committed enough to the team. “What I want is for everyone to take responsibility on the pitch,” he said. “We have to do that in order to push each other, to make each other better. When someone is pressing, you have to follow the press. It’s basic things, but it’s not happening enough. We have to get back to that. It’s easy to maybe just think about your own situation rather than the collective side when things not going well.”

Head coach Arne Slot said he took the blame for defeats. Van Dijk argued the players should accept their share of it. “We are definitely letting him down, but we’ve let ourselves down as well,” he said. “You look at yourself first and then you help each other, you help each other get out of this mess because at the moment it is a mess – that’s just a fact. As the champions, we can’t be in the situation we are in right now, but it’s a fact. What are we going to do about it? We’re going to try to turn it around and that’s the mentality everyone should have.”

It is PSV Eindhoven next for a side with three home defeats in five weeks. “Wednesday is another game, so what am I going to do, go home and cry?” Van Dijk said. “No, I’m going to go home and try to think how we can turn this around, and hopefully that is what everyone is doing as well.”

Which, he knows, could be difficult. “This club has been going through adversity over the years, and we’ve always come out of it, but it doesn’t mean it is easy,” he added. Van Dijk struck a defiant tone. “I’m not a quitter. I will never quit. I will keep going, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t tough to take.” And that may be another fact.

Reform breaks silence on ‘treacherous’ Nathan Gill over Russia bribes

A key ally of Nigel Farage has broken Reform UK’s silence on its former party leader in Wales who was jailed last week for taking bribes from Russia.

Zia Yusuf, the party’s former chair and key member of Reform’s leadership, claimed that it was “unreasonable” to link Gill’s crime with the softer stance that the party and Mr Farage have taken on Vladimir Putin’s Russia and its criticism of the Ukraine war.

Mr Yusuf described Gill as “treasonous, horrific, awful” in an interview with Sir Trevor Phillips on his Sunday morning political show on Sky News.

Gill, 52, was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison at the Old Bailey on Friday after previously pleading guilty to eight counts of bribery on dates between 6 December 2018 and 18 July 2019.

Ms Justice Cheema-Grubb handed him the sentence as she said that the harm he had caused was “profound” and that he had “fundamentally compromised” the integrity of a legislative body for “substantial” financial gain.

Gill’s activities included making pro-Russia statements about events in Ukraine in the European parliament and in opinion pieces for news outlets, for which he was paid £40,000.

Gill was first elected a member of the European parliament in 2014, representing Ukip, and his role ended when the UK left the EU in 2020 – at which point he was an MEP for the Brexit Party and a close ally of Mr Farage.

He led Reform UK’s 2021 Welsh parliament election campaign, but left the party that year.

Previously, Mr Farage said he was “shocked” about the revelations and described Gill as a “bad apple”.

But on his show Sir Trevor linked Gill’s activities in the European Parliament, where he asked questions on behalf of Russia for money, to positions taken by Reform since.

Acknowledging that Gill left the party four years ago, he said: “I tell you why this matters to you politically, Mr Nathan Gill, your former leader in Wales … is now starting a long sentence for taking money from Russians.

“There will be many people who will say ‘Well, these guys are soft on Putin, they think the whole war is partly our fault and not his, why should we trust anything they say about Russia, given that one of their people took money from Russians?’”

Mr Yusuf responded: “I think that would be an incredibly unreasonable position to take. Look, Nathan Gill, what he did was treasonous, horrific, awful. He’s now been dealt with by the authorities, he deserves the sentence that he has got.

“But, as you have just said, this is a guy that, as far as we are concerned, is ancient history. I have never met him. I had never heard of him actually until I saw his name sadly in the newspapers.

“So I think it is unreasonable to besmirch everyone else at Reform and the millions of people around the country who support Nigel and support our party.”