Boris Johnson has not denied that parties were held in Downing Street last winter despite the lockdown at the time, saying only that no Covid rules were broken. But Johnson has denied a report that his flagship pledge to build 40 new hospitals has been labelled as unachievable by an official watchdog - even though the health department has confirmed this is the case. Experts advising the government called last week for “early and robust actions” to limit the transmission of the Omicron Covid variant, minutes reveal. Jeremy Hunt, the former Tory health secretary, and Labour launched stinging attacks on the government as it unveiled long-awaited social care reform plans lacking significant new funding to resolve the current crisis. UK ministers should face charges of “misconduct in public office” over their handling of the coronavirus pandemic, an unofficial inquiry has said. Bosses of pubs, restaurants and hotels across the UK are warning they are already receiving cancellations of bookings for Christmas parties and events amid fears about the Omicron variant, just as hospitality businesses were hoping to welcome many customers during the crucial festive season. A doctor who was one of the first people in the world to become infected with the Omicron variant says he believes he caught the virus when he was in London for a major medical conference attended by more than 1,200 health professionals. People should not assume that Covid will evolve to become a milder disease, the senior epidemioligist Prof Neil Ferguson has warned, adding that the threat posed by the Omicron coronavirus variant will not be clear until the end of December. Heathrow has reopened a terminal dedicated to processing passengers flying into London from countries on the UK’s Covid red list. The parliamentary commissioner for standards has begun a formal investigation into Jacob Rees-Mogg after a complaint from Labour that he failed to declare that he received £6m in cheap loans from one of his companies. A man has been detained by armed police after breaching security to enter the grounds of the Houses of Parliament.