Boris Johnson must "reset" his Government to show that it is competent, a senior backbencher has said, the morning after the Prime Minister suffered the worst Parliamentary rebellion of his premiership.
Stephen Hammond, a former minister and one of the 99 Tories to rebel on Covid measures last night, said there was "a lot of disgruntlement" about No 10's poor handling of issues around standards in public life.
"I am sick and tired of saying 'I didn't go to the No 10 party'," he told Times Radio. "Colleagues are cross and frustrated because it undermines all the good work they are doing, and their integrity," he said.
"The Prime Minister knows there is disgruntlement, the Government has got to reset... and show that it is competent."
Mark Harper, chair of the Covid Recovery Group, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, said the Government now had an opportunity "to demonstrate that they have listened to our concerns".
Last night Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown told Sky News the prospect of a leadership challenge in the new year if the PM did not change his approach has "got to be on the cards", adding: "He's got to realise that he's got to change."
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, said the latest pictures were "disgraceful", and that disciplinary action was being taken against four Tory aides who had been seconded to the team.
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Ursula von der Leyen has warned the omicron variant of Covid could become dominant in Europe by the middle of next month, but insisted her 27-nation bloc had ample vaccines to fight the virus.
It is expected to become the dominant variant in the UK this week.
"If you look at the time it takes for new cases to double in number, it seems to be doubling every two or three days. And that's massive," the President of the European Commission said.
"We're told that by mid-January, we should expect Omicron to be the new dominant variant in Europe," she told the European Parliament."
Grant Shapps has condemned scenes of the Tory candidate for London mayor partying with staff last Christmas in a breach of coronavirus guidance at the time.
Yesterday the Daily Mirror published a picture of a party held by Shaun Bailey's campaign team at Conservative Headquarters on Dec 14 last year.
"That scene is absolutely unacceptable," Mr Shapps told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"It is unacceptable for people to be breaking the rules. That was not authorised by the Conservative Party.
"Those Conservatives who were on secondment from the party have already been disciplined and whatever further action needs to be taken will be taken."
Adding to Boris Johnson's political problems is new data showing that UK inflation has hit its highest level for more than a decade - exacerbating the cost of living crisis.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the rate of Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rose from 4.2% in October to 5.1% in November - the highest since September 2011 and a bigger leap than feared.
The data also revealed that the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation soared to its highest level for more than 30 years - hitting 7.1% last month, up from 6% in October.
Laying bare the mounting cost-of-living crisis facing Britons, the ONS reported surging prices across a raft of goods and services, including for fuel, energy, cars, clothing and food.
Grant Shapps has said "lockdown is no excuse" for child abuse, in the wake of another "heartbreaking" case of child abuse.
A mother and her girlfriend have been convicted over the death of 16-month-old girl Star Hobson, who died from "utterly catastrophic" injuries after what prosecutors say were weeks of physical assaults and psychological harm.
The Transport Secretary told Sky News he had been unable to "read the details" of this latest case.
Noting that Nadhim Zahawi was working on a review, he added: "There is nothing that will bring that child back... it is difficult to see it in any other way than pure evil.
"It is heartbreaking, every parent in the country will be reading this story this morning and feeling the same."
Grant Shapps has said there is "plenty of stock in the country", amid an ongoing shortage of lateral flow tests.
The Transport Secretary said it was "very sensible" for people to take a test before mixing with others, adding that many people will have "stockpiled" tests.
He added: "There is plenty of stock in the country, we expect to see that situation right itself in the next couple of days."
Grant Shapps has denied that Boris Johnson's authority has been undermined by the Tory revolt over Covid passes.
The Transport Secretary told LBC: "In terms of his authority, I saw Prime Minister on Sunday night asking the country to get the booster jab and yesterday walked past huge queues around the block of people responding to the Prime Minister's plea.
"Having been the person to get this country first of all jabbed ahead of every other major economy and now booster jabbed ahead of every other country, comes down personally to the authority of the Prime Minister."
Experts are still trying to establish whether the "delta protections" afforded by current Covid restrictions are enough, the National Clinical Director of the Scottish Government has admitted.
Jason Leitch, whose advice has led to Scots being told not to mix with more than three households, told BBC Breakfast this was a "horrible piece of advice to give" but that the NHS was facing a "perfect storm" with modelling suggesting that "big numbers are coming".
Asked about the prospect of further restrictions come January, he said: "We will know a lot more by then. This virus doesn't give its information up very freely.
"We know about transmission, two weeks in but we don't know about severity and vaccine escape. It has given us some clues. Maybe it escapes a little - that is why you have seen push on boosters.
"Hopefully in January we can use what we are doing right now. Call them the delta protections - we don't know if the delta projections are enough."
During the summer with schools and businesses open and socialising allowed delta could be relatively contained, but "the challenge is whether that is enough for omicron".
Covid hospital admissions could reach 2,000 a day, an expert has warned.
Graham Medley, professor of infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Most of the infections at the moment are in young adults, so these are people who are far less likely to need hospital treatment in any case.
"But in the past, in previous waves, we've seen that move out into more older and more vulnerable generations and there's no reason to suspect that won't happen during this wave.
"And then the numbers of people who end up in hospital is some combination of when people get infected, their vaccination status, as well as what Omicron is doing.
"I think it is a very real possibility that if the numbers of infections increasing continues in the way that it has done and it spills out into older age groups than we could see the number of people being omitted to hospital getting very large and certainly going over the thousand, maybe up to 2,000 a day."
Grant Shapps has said MPs will have a vote on further restrictions but that he does not believe that will happen "this year".
The Transport Secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "If more measures were required - and we are in a much better position this year than last... - then of course the House will be recalled and measures put to the House.
"But I don't think that is going to need to happen this year."
Note: There are only 16 days left of the year
Grant Shapps has said the current restrictions should "see us through to the new year", prompting further concerns that additional restrictions will be imposed in January.
Asked about the prospect of a lockdown this Christmas, the Transport Secretary told Sky NEws: "We have taken a huge number of steps, already got more than 40 per cent of people boosted. That way we can all enjoy Christmas.. With some confidence I think we can say people can enjoy Christmas."
There was no plan to impose Scotland-style guidance, asking people to restrict social contact to three households, in England "right now".
"We want people to enjoy Christmas this year," he added.
But he told BBC the measures would "see us through to the new year".
A Cabinet minister has refused to rule out the possibility that a million people could be isolating with Covid on Christmas Day as omicron cases rip through the country.
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, told Sky News: "I hope the steps we are taking, most of all getting people booster, means we don't end up in that situation."
That might not be the case "if we do nothing,,, if we just left it to chance," he warned. "We hope to avoid it."
Boris Johnson has been warned that his Plan B measures are a “slippery slope” back to draconian Covid-19 restrictions as he suffered the most bruising rebellion of his premiership.
At least seven former Tory ministers were among those to publicly condemn imposing tougher rules, as almost 100 of Mr Johnson’s backbenchers voted against plans to roll out Covid status certification to nightclubs and large venues.
While the measure passed the Commons by 369 votes to 126 thanks to Labour’s backing, the Prime Minister’s efforts to quell the revolt failed - as scores of MPs defied the whip to denounce the measures as “authoritarian” and unsupported by evidence.
They included Dame Andrea Leadsom, the former business secretary, who told MPs she could not “see where this will end”, adding: “This is a slippery slope down which I do not want to slip.”
Although perhaps, for Boris Johnson, it is less so.
He's got 99 problems - the biggest rebellion yet. Parliament might have passed the latest set of Covid regulations - but grumblings are growing over his leadership.
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