The policing minister has said he would be "surprised" if people weren't using illegal drugs on the parliamentary estate, as he backed suggestions that sniffer dogs could be deployed to root the practice out.
Traces of cocaine were also reportedly identified in lavatories nearest the private offices of Boris Johnson and Priti Patel, while Commons officials received reports last month that cannabis could be smelt in the open space between Portcullis House and 1 Parliament Street, The Sunday Times reported yesterday.
Touting his new 10-year drugs strategy to cut down on middle class usage, Kit Malthouse told Sky News: "There are obviously several thousand people who work on the estate and I would be surprised if there weren't some lifestyle users of drugs amongst them, I have to say."
He reiterated this stance on other interviews, and backed plans by Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, to use sniffer dogs to clamp down on Westminster's drug culture.
Mr Malthouse told Times Radio: "There is no reason why shouldn't have that dog outside Westminster station or Sloane Square... to throw that net wide."
He told BBC Breakfast that police "had a duty to investigate" such allegations.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, also backed an investigation, telling Sky News: "It's not something I've ever seen but I think the Speaker of the House of Commons is absolutely right to say this has to be referred to the Metropolitan Police."
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The Prime Minister said the Government's 10-year drugs strategy, due to be published on Monday, will see "problem drug users" placed into rehab.
Speaking to broadcasters in Merseyside, Boris Johnson said: "What's new is that we are putting a lot more investment, number one, into tackling the 300,000 problem drug users who drive about half the acquisitive crime and about half of the homicides in this country.
"Crime has been coming down overall over the past couple of years, but we are seeing a lot of problems caused by this 300,000 problem drugs users," he added. "So what we're doing is we are ramping up our campaign against the county lines networks that are preying on these users.
"You've got to invest in rehabilitation; everyone who knows about drugs crime will tell you that (these) 300,000 people, their lives, they are chaotic. They need to be taken off drugs, they need to be put into rehab, so you've got to invest in rehab."
Boris Johnson has denied scientists' allegations that introducing travel restrictions to slow the spread of omicron is like "shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted".
Visiting police in Merseyside, the Prime Minister told reporters: "No, I think what we're doing is responding to the pandemic.
"We were the first country in the world to take decisive measures to tackle omicron. We put about 10 countries automatically, immediately, on to the red list and we said that anybody coming from any country in the world would have to quarantine for a couple of days.
"We're now going further and toughening those measures up as we see the spread of omicron around the world.
"I don't think we need to change the overall guidance and advice we're giving about omicron in this country. We're still waiting to see exactly how dangerous it is, what sort of effect it has in terms of deaths and hospitalisations."
People with "sniffles" should work from home and avoid Christmas parties in a bid to stem the spread of coronavirus, according to Tim Spector, from the Covid Zoe app.
The professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London said the UK should be "much more open-minded about who we are testing" and "get more people to isolate at least for a few days with cold-like symptoms".
"At the moment, we're estimating that somewhere between one and three and one in four colds are actually due to Covid," he told Times Radio. "That's quite a high rate of people that are currently not even bothered to get a lateral flow test, or getting a PCR test, going to parties and spreading it around.
"So if that transfers to omicron then we're going to be compiling that problem much faster than we would need to."
He added: "We want to tell people that if you don't feel well that day, don't go out, don't go to work, work from home, because the start of that sniffle, the start of that sore throat, that headache could be a mild dose of Covid that is just breaking through your vaccine."
Boris Johnson's health and social care levy will "only go up" because of the growing costs associated with Britain's ageing population, Jeremy Hunt has said.
Mr Hunt, a former health secretary, said the Government needed to admit to the public that the 1.25 percentage point hike in National Insurance would increase further in the future.
He said the levy was the "most transparent" way of funding health and social care in a democracy, arguing that the extent of any increase could then be debated at every election.
"I think we need to be honest with people. I'm afraid it's only going to go up in the future – that's because of the pressures of demography," he told Times Radio.
A future pandemic could be "more contagious" and "more lethal" than Covid-19, Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert has warned, urging against complacency when preparing for new disease threats.
Delivering the 44th Richard Dimbleby Lecture Dame Sarah, the co-creator of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, said the scientific advances made in research against fighting deadly viruses "must not be lost".
"This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods," Dame Sarah said. "The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both."
She went on to add: "We cannot allow a situation where we have gone through all we have gone through, and then find that the enormous economic losses we have sustained mean that there is still no funding for pandemic preparedness. The advances we have made, and the knowledge we have gained, must not be lost."
So far the coronavirus has killed more than five million people and infected at least 265 million. But Dame Sarah warned that "this pandemic is not done with us" yet, amid mounting fears of the threat posed by the omicron variant - which has now been detected in more than 30 countries across the globe.
A minister has declined to comment on how he could be reassured that no rules were broken last year, when there have been no denials that a Christmas party took place on December 18.
Asked if a similar gathering - with "drinks, nibbles and party games involving several dozen people" - could have taken place at the BBC within the rules, Kit Malthouse told the Today programme: "You are asking me a hypothetical question... You would have had to abide by the restrictions."
The policing minister said he had received assurances that "no rules were broken", but when challenged, he said: "I wasn't there, I don't know".
Asked how the description of what happened could square with following the rules at the time, he said: "It doesn't mean that is actually what took place...
"I have asked whether regulations were complied with as part of my briefing for this interview, and I was reassured that all the regulations were complied with," he said. "I am not an investigator, My job is to seek reassurance because I thought I would get this question, and that's what I've done.
A minister has criticised the UN secretary-general's description of travel restrictions imposed on the southern African nations that first detected the omicron variant as "apartheid".
Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme Antonio Guterres's choice of phrase was "very unfortunate language".
He added: "I understand the difficulties, but we are trying to buy a little it of time so our scientists at Porton Down can... assess how difficult t is going to be as a country to deal with....
"We have to think about the safety of the British people first," he added. "I think that language is a bit unfortunate, but I understand the disappointment."
However the Nigerian high commissioner to London, Sarafa Tunji Isola, said he agrees with the term.
He told the same programme: "Nigeria is actually aligned with the position of the UN secretary-general that the travel ban is apartheid, in the sense that we're not dealing with an endemic situation, we are dealing with a pandemic situation and what is expected is a global approach, not selective."
Christmas Day and Boxing Day are not "under threat" from Covid because there tends to be less widespread mixing on those days, but people may want to "think twice" about joining parties beforehand, an expert has said.
Professor Paul Hunter, from the school of medicine at the University of East Anglia, said there were probably more than 1,000 cases in the UK at the moment.
But he told BBC Breakfast: "The thing about Christmas Day itself is that when we meet with our families, we actually interact with fewer people over the Christmas break than we do in our normal working week.
"Often respiratory viruses like Covid spread less rapidly through society while we're on our Christmas break than they do at other times... So personally, I don't think the primary focus of the Christmas break where you meet with your family on Christmas Day, Boxing Day is under threat.
"Clearly if you're a vulnerable person, and if you've not been vaccinated or you've not had your booster then think twice about maybe going to the office party, that sort of thing, but in terms of the Christmas Day and surrounding days, I don't think that is really under threat."
Yvette Cooper has said she will "look into" what communication there was with the Metropolitan Police about allegations a party took place in No 10 Downing Street during coronavirus restrictions last year.
Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said on Friday morning that she was not aware of any complaints being received on the issue at that stage. Subsequently, several Labour MPs have written to the force, calling for an investigation to begin.
The shadow home secretary told Sky News: "We may need to follow up on this but I just don't understand that response because you know, I understand that other MPs have raised it directly with her and also that it has been in the newspapers repeatedly.
"So I just simply don't understand this idea of them not being aware of it."
Pressed on the issue, the Labour MP said: "I wanted to find out what's happened because my understanding is that this has actually been raised with her and she has been sent questions about this by other MPs, by other London MPs. So I will look into what has happened here."
The policing minister has said he would like to see Arthur Labinjo-Hughes's father and stepmother given whole-life sentences.
"Yes I would. I was surprised that they didn't," Kit Malthouse said when asked on Times Radio.
Emma Tustin was ordered to serve a minimum of 29 years for killing Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, while the boy's father Thomas Hughes was given 21 years in prison for manslaughter.
Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, is expected to give a statement to the House later today about plans for a national review into "the circumstances leading up to his tragic death to determine what improvements are needed by the agencies that came into contact with him".
Yvette Cooper has hit out at the hypocrisy of drug taking in Westminster, as she backed a possible police investigation after traces of cocaine were found in numerous site in Parliament.
Asked how surprised she would be if there were drug users in the House of Commons, the shadow home secretary told Sky News: "It's not something I've ever seen but I think the Speaker of the House of Commons is absolutely right to say this has to be referred to the Metropolitan Police.
"You can't have an institution that's supposed to be law-making and in fact have within it so much law-breaking, so I think it's absolutely right that this is properly investigated."
The policing minister will be "masked up" and take a Covid test before joining a staff Christmas party with just five colleagues, he revealed this morning.
Kit Malthouse told Sky News: "I will be taking my team for Christmas dinner next week out in the west end to support that industry.
"We will be masked up where appropriate and taking a lateral flow test before going, as I did this morning."
Asked how many people will take part, he added: "There will be six of us."
Although there is no rule of six, his comments hark back to previous restrictions on the size that a group could meet, and come after colleagues suggested people restrain their behaviour in the festive period.
Last week Therese Coffee, the Work and Pensions Secretary, urged people not to "snog" under the mistletoe, while George Freeman, the science minister, revealed he had cancelled his team's Christmas party in favour of a Zoom bash.
Police should investigate claims that a Christmas party was held at Downing Street last year, when London was in tier three restrictions, a minister has said.
Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, insisted that he knew nothing about "this supposed event", but acknowledged that some Labour MPs had raised it as a complaint and that "where a crime has been reported, the police should investigate".
It was a matter for the police whether they did so, he stressed, however.
He added: ""No 10 are reassuring everybody that all rules were complied with during that period and I take that reassurance at face value but no doubt if the police are alerted they will have a look and they will form a view and we'll learn more about it in the days to come.
"The police should be investigating anything that is a historic crime to them.
"If reports are made then inquiries should follow and let's see where it goes after that."
Dominic Raab has acknowledged that a “formal party” in Downing Street last Christmas would have breached Covid-19 guidance but insisted the allegations were “unsubstantiated”.
The Justice Secretary on Sunday became the first Cabinet minister to concede that if reports of two crowded gatherings in Number 10 were accurate, they would have run “clearly contrary to the guidance”.
However, he continued to maintain the Government’s line that the rules had been followed at all times, adding that the onus was on the complainants to come forward and provide evidence.
It follows reports last week that a party was held in Number on December 18 last year when London was under Tier 3 restrictions and the rules explicitly banned work Christmas lunches and parties.
A second leaving do was also reportedly held the previous month for a senior aide, when the country was in the grip of a second lockdown.
It is a busy day in Westminster, with the clock ticking for the Government on Christmas - but it comes as The Telegraph reveals a fundamental flaw in the key booster programme.
Nearly two-thirds of housebound people are yet to receive Covid booster vaccines after many GPs opted out of delivering top-up jabs.
Ministers were accused of ignoring those at greatest risk from the virus as internal Whitehall data revealed at least 300,000 people unable to travel for jabs have not had a booster.
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