Welcome to your early morning news briefing from The Telegraph - a round-up of the top stories we are covering on Thursday. To receive twice-daily briefings by email, sign up to our Front Page newsletter for free.

       1. Scale back your Christmas plans, say Boris Johnson and Chris Whitty

       The public is being urged to scale back their socialising in the run-up to Christmas as the Chief Medical Officer suggested that they should only attend events they consider a “priority”.

       Chris Whitty told a Downing Street briefing that people should “prioritise the social interactions that mean a lot to them” in the following weeks. Read the full story.

       2. Blow for Boris Johnson as Tory backbench powerbrokers abandon him over Covid passports

       The entire leadership of the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs joined the rebellion over Boris Johnson’s plan for Covid passports, it emerged on Wednesday.

       It came as Tory MPs were told they can email letters of no confidence in Boris Johnson over Christmas, in a blow to allies who hoped the festive break might ease the pressure on the Prime Minister. Read the full story.

       3. Wuhan lab leak 'now the most likely origin of Covid', MPs told

       A laboratory leak is now the more likely origin of Covid, MPs have heard, because after two years of searching an animal host has never been found.

       Speaking to the Science and Technology Select Committee, Dr Alina Chan, a specialist in gene therapy and cell engineering at MIT and Harvard, said there was also a risk that Covid-19 was an engineered virus. Read the full story.

       4. Star Hobson's murderer laughs in court as she is handed life sentence

       The killer of abused toddler Star Hobson laughed in the dock as she was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday after a judge said her behaviour had been "cruel and callous".

       Star was murdered by her mother’s girlfriend, Savannah Brockhill, in September last year following months of physical abuse throughout lockdown. Despite relatives reporting their concerns to Bradford Council’s social services, the authorities failed to act. Read the full story.

       5. National Trust puts woke agenda to bed with choice of new, 'non-political' head

       The National Trust has announced the charity boss who oversaw the RSPCA climb-down from its “politicised” role as its new chairman amid attempts to calm rows with members.

       René Olivieri, an American who has held several non-executive roles in the cultural and natural heritage sector, will take up the post in February and is seen as a “safe pair of hands” both inside and outside the charity, the Telegraph understands. Read the full story.

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