BORIS Johnson has announced he will bring in a suite of new coronavirus restrictions to help stop the spread of the Omicron variant.
Speaking at a press conference this evening, the Prime Minister announced the plans for England.
He told people to work from home from Monday, and said face masks would now be mandatory in places such as theatres and cinemas.
He also said that self-isolation would be replaced by regular lateral flow testing for those who have come into contact with someone who has covid.
The new rules for England come after the Prime Minister faced a bruising day in the Commons following reports that a party was held in Downing Street last Christmas.
Mr Johnson has insisted that no party took place and all rules were followed.
However his Cop26 adviser and former press spokeswoman Allegra Stratton quit this afternoon, after a video emerged of her holding a mock press conference and joking about the party.
The video has angered the public and opposition MPs, who say it shows that Downing Street does not follow the rules they are setting for the public.
Mr Johnson paid tribute to Ms Stratton during his press conference, praising her for her work on Cop26.
Standing in the same location as the now infamous video, he said there was "no excuse" but added that Ms Stratton had been a “fine colleague”.
He said: "Allegra Stratton has resigned and I wanted to pay tribute to her because she has been, in spite of what everybody has seen, and again, I make no excuses for the frivolity with which the subject was handled in that rehearsal that people saw in that clip.
“There can be no excuse for it. I can totally understand how infuriating it was.
“But I want to say that Allegra has been a fine colleague, has achieved a great deal in her time in Government, and was a particularly effective spokesman for Cop26 – she coined the coal, cars, cash, trees agenda and helped to marshal and rally the world behind the agreement.
“If you’ll forgive me, I wanted to say that because it is a sad day for her, as well as an infuriating event for many people around the county.”
Mr Johnson said that he had asked the head of the civil service, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, to look into “what took place on December 18” rather than other alleged parties.
“As for other events, dates … as far as I’m aware, to the best of my knowledge we have followed the rules throughout,” he said.
“Indeed, as far as I’m aware, the rules were followed on December 18 as well."
Despite being challenged on why the investigation would not cover an event on November 27 at which Mr Johnson is said to have been present, the Prime Minister avoided the question and shook his head as he was asked about it.
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