The Spectator

Portrait of the week: No. 10’s garden party, Djokovic’s visa row and France’s vaccine protests

Home

Boris Johnson admitted to attending evening drinks for about 40 staff in the garden of 10 Downing Street on 20 May 2020, when lockdown regulations made social gatherings illegal. ‘We thought it would be nice to make the most of the lovely weather and have some socially distanced drinks in the No. 10 garden this evening,’ said an email from the Prime Minister’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds. ‘Please join us from 6 p.m. and bring your own booze!’ Mr Johnson said that he had been talking to Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, about how people could be helped with soaring energy bills. Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary standards commissioner, said that she was not going to investigate the financing of works on Boris Johnson’s flat in Downing Street. A 30ft fossilised ichthyosaur was discovered in the mud at Rutland Water.

In the seven days up to the beginning of this week, 1,271 people had died with coronavirus, bringing the total of deaths (within 28 days of testing positive) to 150,057. (In the previous week, deaths had numbered 919.) Numbers remaining in hospital rose in a week from about 13,000 to about 18,600. More than 35 million had received a third vaccination. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said that there was no need for people to have a fourth vaccination yet, unless they were extremely vulnerable. Brixham in Devon reported £43.6 million worth of fish being landed in 2021, compared with £35.8 million worth in 2020.

Some leaseholders of flats in blocks between 11m and 18m tall with dangerous cladding would no longer face crippling bills according to Michael Gove, the secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities. He threatened developers with taxes if they did not agree to cough up £4 billion by the beginning of March.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in