See the BBC's Ben Brown caught yawning in hilarious live TV blunder

The presenter has blamed the 'perils of live TV' for the unexpected moment

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  • Raising taxes now means they can be reduced ahead of the next election, Rishi Sunak tells Tory MPs

    Rishi Sunak has told Tory MPs that implementing tax rises soon will hand the Government greater leverage to slash them ahead of the next election in 2024. The Chancellor made his pre-budget appearance at the powerful 1922 committee of backbench Conservatives on Wednesday evening to take soundings before the fiscal event on March 3. He told MPs that honesty and fairness were his guiding principles, as he signalled that difficult decisions lie ahead on raising revenue and reducing the deficit, according to several sources present on the call. Laying the groundwork for potential tax rises in the coming budget and the next one, Mr Sunak argued that the public would respect candour about what is to come. Such moves will also burnish the Conservatives’ reputation for responsible management of the public finances, and are essential to differentiate the party from the opposition, he added. One MP summarised Mr Sunak’s argument: “He basically said we can’t be Labour lite.” The budget can be the Government’s “signature moment” in the fight against coronavirus, the Chancellor is understood to have declared. After a series of piecemeal bailout packages responding to the pandemic over the past year, he signalled he wants to set out a broader, philosophical approach to the economy. MPs said they now expect him to set out a detailed roadmap on his strategy for spending, tax rises, the deficit and other economic levers at the budget. He urged his backbench colleagues to judge him over the “arc of the parliament”, not just on the coming budget alone. One MP said: “People asked, ‘Why can't you cut taxes now?’ His point was that we have to look at this over three to four years. “He [Mr Sunak] said he wants to be tax cutting towards the end of the parliament, that there will probably be some rises in the middle, and that we’re going to be frank with people about the tough choices ahead.

  • How the UK's vaccine gamble paid off – and the EU left itself without a leg to stand on

    Back in March, the University of Oxford was on the brink of signing a deal with the German drugs giant Merck to research and develop a coronavirus vaccine. The Government stepped in and helped steer Oxford towards a partnership with British-based AstraZeneca instead, taking a huge gamble by helping to fund the research and development of a vaccine that might have proved useless. Instead, the Oxford vaccine became only the second in the Western world to be approved for use, and both the UK and AstraZeneca are now reaping the benefits of the deal that was struck last April. AstraZeneca has, so far, remained fiercely loyal to the Government, resolutely refusing to give in to EU demands that it should redirect supplies of its UK-made vaccine to the bloc. But that close relationship has come under unprecedented strain as the company found itself under huge pressure from Brussels.

  • UK weather: Up to seven inches of snow to fall across parts of the UK

    Flooding expected in Northern Ireland and northwest of England

  • ‘These are Trump terrorists, call them by their name’: Joe Scarborough explodes at senators trying to protect ex-president

    ‘I am a conservative. You come after us, you come after our Capitol, we gonna come after you’

  • Grandmother ‘overjoyed’ to be outside after receiving Covid-19 vaccine killed in Portland vehicle attack

    Police have not released a motive in the attack

  • Tory MP accused of spreading ‘dangerous misinformation’ on coronavirus

    Former minister reportedly suggested official Covid figures have been ‘manipulated’

  • Belgium sends investigators into AstraZeneca Covid vaccine plant

    Belgium sends investigators into AstraZeneca Covid vaccine plantEU wants to know whether doses produced on its territory have been diverted to UKCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage Journalists at the Brussels Expo exhibition centre in the Heizel district of Brussels where a vaccination centre for Covid-19 is being set up. Photograph: Eric Lalmand/Belga/AFP/Getty Images

  • How the Valneva vaccine compares to other Covid jabs - and when it could be ready

    Large-scale manufacturing of a coronavirus vaccine candidate from French biotech company Valneva has begun in Scotland. If approved, it would deliver up to 60 million doses to the UK by the end of this year. Here is everything you need to know about Valneva's coronavirus vaccine candidate. How does it compare to the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines? Unlike the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which needs to be kept at a temperature of about minus 70C, both the Valneva and Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs conform with the standard cold chain requirements, which is between 2C and 8C. All three vaccines require a second booster shot to maximise immune response. Here's how the vaccine rollout has increased since December.

  • Jill Biden spent her first week as First Lady reshaping the role. Melania Trump spent hers isolated in a tower

    New first lady signals she will be an active and constant presence in the White House - drawing stark contrasts to her predecessor

  • Cases of Covid caught in hospital halve as hopes rise that vaccines cutting transmission

    Cases of Covid likely to have been caught in hospital have halved in three weeks, bringing hope that the rollout of vaccines to staff is beginning to slow transmission. NHS data shows the number of cases has fallen from a high of 635 a day at the start of this month to 367 last week. The trend came despite a rise in the total numbers of Covid sufferers in hospital from around 25,000 to 37,000 over the period. On Wednesday night, Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, said early findings from Israel – which has already given first jabs to almost a third of its population – suggested they could cut rates of transmission by around 60 per cent. However, Sir Patrick told a Downing Street briefing that he would be "extremely cautious" about making an assessment of the impact of the vaccines on transmission until there was "proper data" to assess. Boris Johnson said proof about the impact of vaccines should emerge by the middle of February. A study by Public Health England (PHE), tracking 40,000 health workers – including those given jabs early in the vaccination programme – is expected to report its findings next month. NHS staff were among those offered Covid jabs when the vaccination programme began in December, with a concerted push at the start of this month after the AstraZeneca jab became available.

  • Tory MP Desmond Swayne accused of telling anti-vaccine campaigners Covid figures are being ‘manipulated’

    A senior Conservative MP has been accused of spreading “dangerous misinformation” after reportedly suggesting that the scale of the coronavirus pandemic was being exaggerated. Sir Desmond Swayne urged anti-vaccination campaigners to continue fighting against restrictions and told them NHS capacity figures were being “manipulated.” Labour has accused the former minister of spreading “dangerous misinformation” about coronavirus and has called for the Tories to take action.

  • Boris Johnson 'offended bereaved families of COVID victims with childish joke', claims Keir Starmer

    The Labour leader said the prime minister angered mourning relatives with a gag about 'Calvin Klein briefs'.

  • Latest weekly Covid-19 rates for local authority areas in England

    Around one in 16 local areas are currently recording a week-on-week rise.

  • AstraZeneca facility closed after bomb scare

    Police and bomb disposal personnel arrive at the AstraZeneca vaccine manufacture facility on the Wrexham Industrial Estate in north Wales. The police were called after the discovery of a suspicious package. Staff were evacuated, but have now returned. The company says the production schedule has not been affected.

  • One of six militia men charged with trying to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer pleads guilty

    Federal authorities already had informants and undercover agents inside the plot, but the plea gives them an even stronger hand

  • Nurse who gave birth while ill with Covid-19 meets her daughter for first time

    Eva Gicain had an emergency Caesarean section at 35 weeks pregnant.

  • Far-Right 'Proud Boy' leader arrested ahead of Capitol riots revealed to have been police informer

    The leader of the Proud Boys extremist group has been unmasked as a "prolific" former FBI informant. Enrique Tarrio, 36, worked undercover exposing a human trafficking ring, and helped with drug and gambling cases, according to court documents. Tarrio's documented involvement with law enforcement related to the period 2012 -2014. There was no evidence of him cooperating after that. But the revelation raised further questions over why police did not take further steps to secure the US Capitol ahead of the riots on Jan 6. At least half a dozen members of the Proud Boys were arrested over involvement in the riots. Tarrio denied ever being an informer, telling Reuters: "I don’t know any of this. I don’t recall any of this."

  • Nicola Sturgeon tells Boris Johnson his planned trip to Scotland is ‘not essential’

    Scotland’s First Minister has said Boris Johnson’s proposed visit to Scotland on Thursday is “not essential”. Nicola Sturgeon said there should not be one rule for the public and another for politicians, as the Prime Minister prepares to head north. Under current regulations put in place by the Scottish Government, only people making essential journeys across the border are allowed to enter Scotland.

  • You may need to start wearing better face masks

    You might even consider wearing two masks instead of one.

  • Demi Moore makes surprise runway appearance at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

    Ghost actress opened Fendi’s Spring-Summer 2021 show in a design by artistic director Kim Jones