Friday briefing: 'Buck stops with PM' as fresh partying claim emerges

Morning everyone. I’m Martin Farrer and these are the top stories this morning.

Boris Johnson’s government faces more damaging allegations about lockdown-era parties in Downing Street after reports that staff held two leaving dos featuring alcohol, and one with loud music, on the evening before Prince Philip’s funeral in April last year. Social contact was banned at the time and the Queen’s solitary mourning for her late husband became one of the defining pictures of the period. According to the Daily Telegraph, witnesses said a combined total of about 30 people took part in what appeared to be social events in different parts of Downing Street, before both gatherings combined in the garden. In echoes of the infamous “bring our own booze” email invite to a party in May 2020 revealed this week, one staff member was allegedly sent to the shops with a suitcase to fill up with wine.

Johnson was not at the alleged event in April, but was forced to apologise to MPs this week for attending the May 2020 gathering. He is facing calls to resign, including from some of his own MPs. Andrew Bridgen became the fifth Tory MP to say he had lost confidence in his leader, while Labour deputy Angela Rayner said the “buck stops” with Johnson. Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has already said Johnson should quit, leading to Johnson being effectively barred from the Scottish Tory conference in March. The prime minister says he will abide by the findings of an investigation into the alleged parties by civil servant Sue Gray. Whitehall sources said last night that her inquiry might well uncover Downing Street’s “farcical culture” of drinking and impromptu socialising, which goes on with little oversight by ministers.

Royal removal – The Queen has sought to distance the monarchy from the Duke of York by stripping him of his military affiliations and royal patronages as the fallout from his sexual assault case continues. Buckingham Palace also said he would no longer use the HRH royal style in any official capacity as he prepares to fight a civil lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre after a US judge rejected his attempt to have the case against him dismissed. He strongly denies the claims. One observer said the prince had been “thrown under the royal bus”. Here’s how the papers have covered the story.

China warning – An unprecedented security warning from MI5 has been circulated to MPs and peers accusing a lawyer, Christine Lee, of seeking to improperly influence parliamentarians on behalf of China’s ruling Communist party. It is the first time that MI5 has issued an “interference alert” relating to China and concerns a high-profile Anglo-Chinese lawyer who received an award from Theresa May and who has donated £584,177 to the former shadow cabinet member Barry Gardiner. Lee, who has a law firm in Birmingham, has allegedly “knowingly engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist party”. Gardiner said he had been “liaising with our security services for a number of years about Christine Lee”. China has denied the allegations. The MI5 alert is being seen as a clear warning to China’s allies in the UK.

Meta case – The tech giant Meta is being sued for £2.3bn in a class action lawsuit that claims 44 million Facebook users in the UK had their data exploited after signing up to the social network. The case argues that Meta has broken the 1998 Competition Act by setting an “unfair price” for Facebook’s UK users when they are given access to the service. The lawsuit argues that the price for joining Facebook, which does not charge its users, is handingover personal data that generates most of the company’s income. A Meta spokesperson said people “choose our services because we deliver value”.

School choice ‘illusion’ – Parents in England feel more “cynical, fatalistic and disempowered” about school choice than their peers in other parts of the UK, according to new research. Families in England can name up to six state schools for their children to attend, but although children in Scotland are generally assigned to local state schools, people north of the border were were still more likely to be satisfied with the outcome, the study found. Some English parents said choice was “an illusion”.

Tech hub – Google has announced a £871m deal to buy the London development Central Saint Giles, calling the move a show of confidence in the return to more office working. The US tech firm currently rents space in the brightly coloured development designed by the architect Renzo Piano, which is at the eastern end of Oxford Street. Google is currently building a new headquarters in King’s Cross, and the new deal will expand its workforce capacity in the capital to 10,000 people.

The Duke of York’s attempts to get a civil case over allegations of sexual assault thrown out have failed. Ed Helmore in New York examines the case against the prince and his narrowing options to salvage his reputation

The folk-rockers Big Thief have weathered divorce and trauma to become one of the US’s best bands. With a new, 20-song album coming out in February, they explain their need for imperfection, intra-band marriage and divorce – and why recording is like sex.

England’s bid to salvage some pride and win their first match of the Ashes series received a boost when Joe Root won the toss and opted to bowl first on a green pitch in the fifth Test. Australia slumped to 12-3 but are fighting back. Mikel Arteta hailed Arsenal’s “spirit, fight and brotherhood” after they held Liverpool in their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg despite playing with 10 men for well over an hour. The UK government has been urged to cut English cricket’s funding unless the England and Wales Cricket Board can prove it is serious about tackling the “deep-seated racism” that exists across the whole sport.

Lewis Hamilton faces a two-month wait to discover the outcome of the FIA’s inquiry into the conclusion of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which denied him a record eighth world title. European rugby fixtures can go ahead as planned this weekend after the French government relaxed its rules on travellers entering the country from the UK. Geva Mentor has warned England’s Roses not to read too much into Australia’s lack of international action or their new-look squad before the start of the Netball Quad Series this weekend. And Team GB chiefs have set their sights on their greatest ever Winter Olympics medal haul in Beijing next month – and reiterated their support for British athletes who want to protest against human rights abuses in China.

The global surge in demand for energy could spark another three years of market volatility and record power plant pollution unless countries make major changes to how they generate electricity, the world’s energy watchdog has warned. Half the increase in demand last year came from China. There are more jitters today on the markets about likely US rate rises. The Nikkei is down 1.5% and the Kospi index slumped 1.45% in South Korea, where the central bank announced back-to-back hikes today for the first time since 2007. The FTSE100 looks like shedding 0.5% at the opening while the pound is on $1.373 and €1.195.

The defenestration of Prince Andrew is the lead in most of the papers today. The Guardian says “Queen strips Andrew of military and royal roles”, while the Times has “Andrew humiliated as Queen strips his titles” and the Telegraph goes with “Queen freezes out Andrew”. The Mail’s headline is “Driven out” and the Express says “Queen casts Andrew adrift … for sake of the monarchy”.

The Sun’s splash head is “Throne out”, as is the Metro’s, and the main head in the i is “Prince Andrew cast out by the Queen”. The Mirror splashes on the latest revelations about parties at No 10 – “No 10 ‘parties on eve of Philip’s funeral’”. The FT lead is “Russian threat to Ukraine persists after talks with west hit ‘dead end’”.

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