More troops sent to Kent to help testing as stranded lorry drivers face Christmas alone

Hundreds more troops are being deployed to help clear a backlog of hauliers who have been stuck in Kent since Sunday.

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  • UK Coronavirus LIVE: New Brazilian variant ‘likely’ already in the UK as Keir Starmer suggests stronger lockdown

    The highly-infectious new Brazilian variant of coronavirus is likely to already be in the UK, a Government scientist has warned. While the UK  is set to face short-term delays in delivery of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine as the pharmaceutical company upgrades its production capacity, it has been announced. It comes as the UK's aviation sector says it will need "urgent" government support if it is to survive another long period of travel curb, after the UK announced all travel corridors will be suspended from 4am on Monday.

  • Beijing spying fears as it emerges airframes of new MoD spy planes were previously used by Chinese airlines

    Ministers have been accused of risking national security by buying second hand Chinese 737 airliners to convert into new spy planes in a bid to save money. The five E-7 Wedgetail aircraft costing £1.5billion have been ordered from Boeing to deliver the UK’s Airborne Early Warning and Control capability, from 2023 from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. Information gathered by E-7s would be used by the Armed Forces to keep watch on fighter jets or warships by enemy powers. However the Government has admitted that two of the five new RAF Wedgetail spy planes were previously operated by commercial airlines in China. Labour MP Kevan Jones, a member of Parliament’s security and intelligence committee which has oversight of the Security Services, said: “The Ministry of Defence is purchasing military equipment from a state opposed to UK interests, in order to save money. “There are serious concerns with regards to the security of the airframe, which may be defective or actively sabotaged prior to transfer. “This decision by the government represents a disturbing, and possibly historical, piece of misjudgement.” Tom Tugendhat MP, the Conservative chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs select committee, added: “No one’s travelling and planes are cheap, so why are we buying spy planes from a country that’s spying on us? "Who knows what’s in the millions of nooks and crannies of a massive 737? We could just buy a plane from a trusted partner instead.” Ministry of Defence sources insisted that "the aircraft were sourced via a broker from the commercial market and at no time was the end destination of the aircraft released to the vendors or known to the market through that process". Defence minister Jeremy Quin defended the decision, insisting that the two second hand airframes will be stripped down and thoroughly checked for bugs that could have been put there by the Chinese. Mr Quin said: "The safety and security of our personnel are our highest priorities meaning that it must be demonstrated that second-hand airframes, regardless of origin, meet our requirements. "This might involve the airframes being stripped down, refitted and subjected to stringent security checks as required." He added: “In common with all 737 Next Generation airliners, the first two airframes to be modified to become RAF Wedgetail AEW Mk1 aircraft were manufactured by Boeing in the United States. “They were initially operated by commercial airlines based in China and Hong Kong, and were then acquired by Boeing from the commercial market via a broker. “The use of second-hand airframes provides a significant schedule and cost benefit to the programme, which will enable this vital capability to be introduced sooner than would have been the case if new airframes had been manufactured." A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "Converting previously civilian-owned airframes for military use is commonplace and has no impact on the quality or capability of the aircraft.” “The Boeing 737s will undergo comprehensive security checks before mission system equipment is installed. “The sensible, cost-effective approach will enable this vital capability to be introduced sooner than would otherwise be possible.” MoD sources said that the "use of previously-owned airframes is not unusual for military aircraft derived from civil aircraft, in this case the Boeing 737. It provides a cost and time-effective path to production". They added: "The modification process that transforms a 737 into an E-7 Wedgetail is extensive, with the aircraft stripped back to the basic airframe. "All the sensitive mission system equipment is installed new and does not originate from the ‘donor’ 737."

  • Unscrupulous and aggressive, Pompeo plans to be the next Trump – but smarter

    Unscrupulous and aggressive, Pompeo plans to be the next Trump – but smarter. The secretary of state has laid political booby traps for Biden in a diplomatic onslaught – with the aim of winning the White House

  • Wuhan lab staff were first victims of coronavirus, says US

    The US claimed on Saturday that staff at a Chinese virology laboratory became sick with a Covid-like illness in autumn 2019, months before the coronavirus spread widely from Wuhan. In a long-awaited document from the state department, the Trump administration called for an investigation as it published dubious accusations that a possible "laboratory accident" at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) may be the source of the global pandemic. The claims were dismissed by analysts who insist the disease came from a naturally occurring event. In a statement late on Friday claiming to reveal "undisclosed information", the state department said it "has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case, with symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illnesses." The statement also said that the lab had been carrying out research on a bat coronavirus similar to the Sars-CoV-2 strain that spread globally and that the lab had collaborated with China's military on publications and secret projects. Some experts were nonplussed by the announcement. "Zero details given," noted Kristian Andersen, an immunologist at Scripps Research, rating the statement as "an F". The fact that Wuhan was home to the world's leading coronavirus research facility before it became known as ground zero for the pandemic has led to speculation that the virus could have originated in the lab.

  • Government ‘plans to end lockdown in March’ while ‘every adult could get Covid vaccine by end of June’

    The government is planning to end lockdown in March after cabinet members agreed that waiting until the summer when most people will have been vaccinated would lead to yet more economic misery, according to reports. Ministers are drawing up a timetable to scale back restrictions despite the Sage Advisory committee calling for delays, it has been reported. A blueprint for the end of the lockdown is expected to be looked at later this week which will take into account the latest infection rates, deaths and hospitalisations.

  • Uganda presidential election: Incumbent Yoweri Museveni declared winner

    Yoweri Museveni has been declared the winner of the Uganda presidential election with 58.64% of the total votes, according to the country's electoral commission.

  • Britain will be able to vaccinate nation against new Covid strains within months after new super-factory opens

    Britain will be able to vaccinate the entire nation against dangerous new Covid strains within four months after a £158m super-factory opens later this year, The Telegraph can disclose. Dr Matthew Duchars, chief executive of the Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (VMIC), revealed the Oxfordshire facility will be capable of producing 70m doses of an emergency vaccine manufactured entirely on British soil. The news comes amid fears that a new Covid strain from Brazil may prove resistant to current vaccines. All travel corridors into the UK were scrapped this week to prevent new variants entering the country. “We’ll be able to make 70 million doses within a four to five month period, enough for everyone in the country, when we open late this year,” Dr Duchars told The Telegraph. “New Covid variants are absolutely part of the thinking. We probably will need to make seasonal vaccine variants because there may well be mutations in the virus, as well as vaccines for other diseases. You never know what’s coming next.” Currently under construction at the Harwell Science & Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, the VMIC was first conceived in 2018 and originally planned to open in 2022. When the Covid pandemic struck, the UK government pumped a further £131 million into the not-for-profit company to bring the project forward by a year. The centre is already helping to manufacture the Oxford vaccine by lending expertise and giant bioreactors to the AstraZeneca team and its partners. This week Sir Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of biopharmaceuticals research and development at AstraZeneca, told MPs that the UK’s lack of manufacturing capacity had been a major stumbling block in the development of the Oxford vaccine, and urged ministers to “urgently address” the issue. Much of the Pfizer and Oxford vaccine doses currently being rolled out in the UK are made in factories in Belgium and the Netherlands. Dr Duchars said the VMIC would be equipped to produce different types of vaccines including MRNA varieties like the Pfizer jab and adenovirus-based technology like the Oxford AstraZeneca jab. “Covid came a year early for us, unfortunately,” he said. “But when we open we’ll have a sovereign capability to manufacture different types of vaccines and still be able to make a large number of doses. “It is a challenge. But that's what we're shooting for. If you don't set yourself a tough target, then there's no chance you can reach it.” He added how the company and its new super-factory could also be used to help developers of numerous other vaccines - not just those targeting Covid-19 - from private and public organisations, whether academic institutions or foundations or private laboratories. Explaining how he believes it is “absolutely remarkable” the vaccine has been developed so quickly, he said: “We may not have a facility that's built and ready to go. But we do have people who understand how to develop and manufacture vaccines. “So, we've essentially lent them out to organisations to help them with the scale up and manufacturer of COVID-19 vaccine.” “And we've been working with lots of those different organisations to help really accelerate and speed up and provide surety and expertise around how to get this vaccine made quickly.” He said the new centre is “technology agnostic”, meaning it can be adapted to different methods for different types of vaccine and viruses. “What we didn't want to do was make a facility that would be great for making the AstraZeneca vaccine, for example, but then next year a different MERS [Middle East Respiratory Syndrome] or SARS [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome] comes along.” he added. “That's a different type of platform and a different vaccine. So we've got to have a flexible facility that is able to make in an emergency a large amount of doses from different types of processes.”

  • More mass vaccination centres opening as target to reach 2m jabs a week appears within reach

    Ten new vaccination centres are due to open in England on Monday as the drive continues to protect the population against COVID-19. People aged over 80 who live up to 45 minutes' drive from a centre are being offered a vaccination at one of the sites. The government has said it is aiming for a target of vaccinating two million people per week.

  • Kayleigh McEnany leaves White House after final two-minute press briefing following deadly Capitol riot

    Trump’s press secretary refused to take questions following the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol earlier this month

  • I’d love to ignore ‘Covid sceptics’ and their tall tales. But they make a splash and have no shame

    I’d love to ignore ‘Covid sceptics’ and their tall tales. But they make a splash and have no shameThe Tory MP on the fantasies of those in the media, and beyond, who oppose lockdown

  • Keir Starmer ‘needs pact with other parties to oust Boris Johnson in 2024’, new analysis finds

    Exclusive: Historic victory in reach, but only if left-of-centre parties work together, report suggests

  • Inauguration Week 2021: A day by day guide to events

    National Mall and Washington Monument both closed to public on Inauguration Day following safety concerns

  • Doctors told to bin leftover vaccines instead of administering second doses

    GPs have reportedly been warned by local health authorities that they cannot use extra doses on staff or any patients who have already received their first jab.

  • Kellyanne Conway defends Trump over Capitol riots saying ‘marauders’ insult MAGA movement

    The president’s former advisor claims that she has no regrets about working for him

  • OLD The Masked Singer: Who is Viking? Here’s what we know

    Viking’s identity is up for debate with James Blunt, Ricky Wilson and Bear Grylls all in the mix

  • Covid news – live: Johnson under pressure over inquiry as doctors face choosing patients to prioritise

    Follow the latest updates on the pandemic

  • Covid: Medics and police urge public to stay at home over ‘crucial’ weekend

    Bending rules could be ‘fatal’ and police ready to issue fines

  • China reports ice cream contaminated with coronavirus

    The coronavirus was found on ice cream produced in eastern China, prompting a recall of cartons from the same batch, according to the government. The Daqiaodao Food Co., Ltd. in Tianjin, adjacent to Beijing, was sealed and its employees were being tested for the coronavirus, a city government statement said. There was no indication anyone had contracted the virus from the ice cream. Most of the 29,000 cartons in the batch had yet to be sold, the government said. It said 390 sold in Tianjin were being tracked down and authorities elsewhere were notified of sales to their areas. The ingredients included New Zealand milk powder and whey powder from Ukraine, the government said. The Chinese government has suggested the disease, first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, came from abroad and has highlighted what it says are discoveries of the coronavirus on imported fish and other food, though foreign scientists are skeptical. Chinese officials have blamed cluster outbreaks on frozen food products imported from countries including the US, EU, New Zealand, Canada, India, Germany and Ecuador. And recently, China blamed an infection in a current cluster outbreak on an imported virus strain that had supposedly contaminated a package of steamed buns. The World Health Organisation has said that cases of live viruses being found on packaging appeared to be “rare and isolated". Other health experts have cautioned against drawing causal links between food packaging and outbreaks – finding traces of virus indicates it is present on a surface, but does not mean it can cause infections. The report came as China confirmed 109 new Covid-19 cases, two-thirds of them in a northern province that abuts Beijing, and no deaths. There were 72 new cases in Hebei province, where the government is building isolation hospitals with a total of 9,500 rooms to combat an upsurge in infections, according to the National Health Commission. The Health Commission on Saturday blamed the new infections on travellers and imported goods it said brought the virus from abroad. China's death toll stands at 4,653 out of 88,227 total cases.

  • Trump news - President wants ‘military’ sendoff as top Democrat says ex-staff cannot salvage reputations

    All the latest from the White House and beyond on 16 January 2021

  • Lecturers warn they will strike if forced to resume 'unsafe' teaching

    Lecturers warn they will strike if forced to resume 'unsafe' teachingUniversity and College Union warns any attempt to send members back to campuses too early will lead to ballot * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverage