Boris Johnson has used a press conference in Downing Street to warn that rising Covid cases on continental Europe are like “storm clouds” posing a threat to the UK. (See 3.48pm.) Johnson has urged people to get their booster vaccines, saying that it would be an “utter tragedy” for anyone to die because the protection provided by two doses had waned. At his press conference he said: Many more people who are eligible [for a booster] have not yet come forward. And so, if you are one of those people, please go and get that third jab because it would be an utter tragedy if, after everything we’ve been through, people who had done the right thing by getting double vaccinated ended up becoming seriously ill or even losing their lives because they allowed their immunity to wane by not getting their booster. He spoke as the government extended the booster programme to cover people aged 40 to 49. Johnson said the concept of what constituted “full vaccination” would need to be adjusted to take booster jabs into account. He said: On boosters, it’s very clear that getting three jabs - getting your booster - will become an important fact and it will make life easier for you in all sorts of ways, and we will have to adjust our concept of what constitutes a full vaccination to take account of that. And I think that is increasingly obvious. Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, said it was particularly important for pregnant women to get vaccinated. (See 3.12pm.) Keir Starmer has claimed Johnson’s “guileless boosterism” undermined Cop26. (See 4.42pm.) In a statement to MPs Johnson accused the opposition of being unwilling to accept that the summit had been a success, and he said it has succeeded “by uniting the world in calling time on coal”. (See 5.04pm.) Labour is to force a Commons vote later this week on whether MPs should be barred from holding paid directorships or business consultancies, as Keir Starmer argued there should be a wider ban on almost all second jobs for MPs. The cabinet secretary, Simon Case, has been asked to investigate officials’ communication with four Conservative MPs with lobbying jobs with firms that secured multimillion government contracts or significant beneficial rule changes. Downing Street has called on the French government to do more to stem the number of people travelling across the Channel in small boats amid a growing diplomatic row over who bears greater responsibility. The home secretary, Priti Patel, has apologised to a Muslim man after the government falsely described him as an extremist hate preacher.