Boris Johnson news – live: No 10 fails to deny PM discussed two top jobs for Carrie

Boris Johnson discussed with aides the possibility of wife Carrie taking up two government jobs, it has been reported.

According to the Daily Mirror, the prime minister raised possible new environmental roles for her in autumn 2020, either on the COP 26 summit or with the Royal Family.

No 10 denied that Johnson recommended Carrie for the roles but did not push that it had been discussed.

Claims that Boris Johnson wanted to appoint his lover to a government job were heard by ministers as far back as 2018, according to a diary entry by Alan Duncan, who was at the time a minister of state at the foreign office.

In his published diaries he noted on Sunday 22 April 2018: “Apparently Carrie Symonds, head of press in Conservative HQ, is due to become a SPAD in the FCO. It’s the first I’ve heard of it.”

A story published in The Times over the weekend claimed Carrie Johnson, then Carrie Symonds, was set to be made a special adviser at the foreign office on a six-figure salary.

The original story published by The Times claimed that the idea fell apart when Mr Johnson’s closest advisers learned of the idea to hire Ms Symonds.

Jon Stone reports:

New NHS data shows that hospital admissions for Covid patients in England have begun to grow again.

Total infections are now back at levels last seen at the start of May but remain well below the record 4.9 million at the peak of the Omicron BA.2 wave at the end of March.

Covid hospital admissions are also below the levels recorded during the previous wave.

Experts say that according to preliminary data, variants BA.4, BA.5 and BA.2.12.1 may have evolved to re-favour infection of lung cells, rather than upper respiratory tract tissue – making them more similar to earlier variants, such as Alpha or Delta.

Thomas Kingsley has more:

Prime minister Boris Johnson spoke with his aides in Downing Street about getting his wife Carrie two plum government jobs, The Mirror has reported.

Mr Johnson wanted to get her a job as a green ambassador in the run-up to the global climate summit in Glasgow, sources told the newspaper.

His other idea was to line her up as communications director for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Earthshot Prize.

The PM’s suggestions are said to have been vetoed by his closest advisers who warned that either position could undermine his wife’s status as a private citizen.

On Monday, Downing Street confirmed that members of Mr Johnson’s team intervened following the publication of a story about Carrie in The Times, but denied that the prime minister himself contacted the paper to complain.

The story, which appeared in early editions of the paper on Saturday, said that while Mr Johnson was foreign secretary, he had tried to secure Carrie – with whom he was then having a secret affair – a £100,000 Foreign Office job.

The story disappeared from later editions, however.

Downing Street has confirmed that members of Boris Johnson’s team intervened following the publication of a story about his wife Carrie in The Times, but denied that the prime minister himself contacted the paper to complain.

Andrew Woodcock has the story:

Nadine Dorries was booed outside a Tory fundraiser in London on Monday.

Members of the PCS Union had gathered outside London’s V&A Museum where a Tory fundraiser was being held.

Senior members of the Conservative party were booed by protesters as they arrived for a fundraiser in London yesterday evening.

The fundraiser held at London’s V&A Museum was meant to woo Tory donors, and also saw a brief appearance by the prime minister after his sinus operation earlier on Monday.

PCS Union members gathered outside the venue and booed attendees demanding better pay, videos shared online showed.

Prime minister Boris Johnson was well enough to make a brief appearance at a fundraiser for the Tory party on Monday after undergoing a routine sinus operation, ITV has reported.

He was taken into the party by a side entrance as questions hung in the air over the disappearing story about his wife Carrie in The Times.

The fundraiser was also attended by top members of his cabinet as they wooed Tory donors, reported the Daily Mail.

Earlier in the day, No 10 had said that Mr Johnson was “feeling well” after he was placed under general anaesthetic for a routine operation on his sinuses.

Medics are preparing to deal with significant disruption from the rail strike as the NHS reassured patients that it “remains open” for services.

Patients have been asked to plan ahead for appointments, as there is likely to be significant delays in reaching hospitals and GP surgeries.

Hospitals have made arrangements to ensure that staff be present on site, officials said, including setting up park-and-ride services and taxi-sharing facilities.

Trusts have urged patients to get in touch if they cannot attend their appointment due to the strikes.

Ella Pickover has more:

Boris Johnson is set to call for a “sensible compromise” to shield rail passengers from country-wide travel chaos.

The prime minister is expected to argue ahead of a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that unions are “harming the very people they claim to be helping” by going ahead with the biggest outbreak of industrial action on the railways for a generation.

The move comes after last-ditch talks to resolve a bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions failed to land on a solution.

Amy Gibbons reports: