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McConnell promises a peaceful transition of power after 2020 elections

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 13:08:44 GMT

US Republican leaders guarantee there would be an orderly transition of power should their Republican fellow suffers a defeat in November’s election. Trump who will be facing Democratic challenger and former VP Joe Biden earlier on Wednesday casted a doubt on the transfer of power after questioning the transparency of ballots likely to be casted by mail. However Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell is of there would be peaceful transition of power in January as there had been since 1972. Democratic senators portray Trump as a grave threat to American Democracy.

The President currently trails behind Biden in opinions polls with under 40 days to go until the election. A large number of American voters will use their right to voted through postal ballots amidst COVID-19 pandemic this year and Trump has been raising questions about the probity of the mail-in ballot system.

In case if Trump didn’t accept the results of election happening in the backdrop of coronavirus pandemic, it would the US into a difficult territory. Biden has suggested that should this happen, military could be requested to oust the Republican from WH. Trump spokeswoman said the President would accept the result of a free and fair election open-heartedly.

Republicans

“The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th,” McConnell tweeted on Thursday. “There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792.” Senator Lindsey Graham is among the vocal Trump supporters promising a free and untainted election unlike the one Trump won in 2016.

“I can assure you it will be peaceful,” Graham told Fox News, but suggested a decision could go to the nation’s top court. “If Republicans lose, we will accept the result. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Joe Biden, I will accept that result.”

Senator Mitt Romney issued a more critical response on Wednesday, saying “any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable.”

Trump

On Thursday, Trump again question the sanctity of the upcoming polls saying he was not sure it could be “honest” because he claimed postal ballots are “a whole big scam”. The President stoked a controversy on Wednesday evening when he was inquired by a reporter if he would abide by a peaceful transfer of power “win, lose or draw” to Mr. Biden.

“I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots,” Trump said. “And the ballots are a disaster.”

When the journalist countered that “people are rioting”, Trump interjected: “Get rid of the ballots, and you’ll have a very – you’ll have a very peaceful – there won’t be a transfer, frankly, there’ll be a continuation.”

Back in 2016, Trump also refused to commit to the outcome of the elections against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton which he labelled as an attack on the Democracy. The Republican took charge of the WH after clinching the all-important electoral college vote despite losing the popular vote by 3mn ballots, a result he still raises fingers on.

Democrats Reaction

House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, the third most powerful Democrat in Washington talking to reporters on Thursday said she was not surprised at President’s remarks.

Pelosi said that the president “admires people who are perpetuating their role in government”, citing Russia’s Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“But I remind him: you are not in North Korea, you are not in Turkey, you are not in Russia, Mr. President… so why don’t you just try for a moment to honor your oath of office.”

Biden Spokesman talking to Politico said the former VP, “obviously, has participated in a peaceful transition of power before” and will do so the same after 2020 elections.

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Two police officers shot during Breonna Taylor protests in Louisville

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 12:33:21 GMT

Two officers have been shot as thousands are on roads in Louisville after a grand jury ruled no-one would be convicted for the killing of Breonna Taylor, an African American who was shot multiple times in a police raid at her home on March 13, 2020. Brett Hankison has been charged not with the homicide of Taylor but with “wanton endangerment” for firing into a neighbor’s apartment in Louisville.

Two other officers are acquitted of all the charges. Louisville Police Chief Robert Schroeder announced the condition of the personnel is not life-threatening. He confirmed that a suspect in the custody of the law enforcement. A state of emergency has been imposed in Louisville with National Guard called up to take control of the situation after the controversial ruling.

Mayor Greg has declared a 1:00-10:30 GMT curfew in the city for 3 days. Fischer earlier announced the state of emergency “due to the potential for civil unrest”. Despite the curfew coming into effect, people still gathered after 21:00. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear called on the protesters to go home.

“We know that the answer to violence is never violence and we are thinking about those two officers and their families tonight. So, I’m asking everybody: please, go home. Go home tonight,” he requested.

The Prosecutor

Under Kentucky law, someone will commit Wanton endangerment if they are found guilty of an act that depicts “an extreme indifference to the value of human life”. The lowest-level felony offender could receive a 5-year-sentence for each count. Brett Hankinson was convicted on three counts.

Ms. Taylor – a fresh victim of police brutality in US- was an emergency medical technician when she died at age 26. Her relative and BLM activists had been demanding the conviction of all three officers involved in the reckless shooting. The civil rights activities wanted each of the three white men to be charged for committing murder or manslaughter. However, the call was rejected by grand jury after examining the evidence. Judge Annie O’Connell announced the charges levelled against Hankinson on Wednesday. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron then held a news conference to shed light on the verdict. “This is gut-wrenching emotional case,” he said.

“There is nothing I can offer them today to take away the grief and heartache as a result of losing a child, a niece, a sister and a friend,” he added in a message to Ms. Taylor’s family.

Police and National Guards deployed in Louisville

The attorney said a ballistics report had found six bullets struck the victim but only one proved fatal. The investigation found that Detective Myles Cosgrove had fired the shot that killed the black woman. Cameron said it was unconcluded if Hankinson’s shots had hit Taylor but they had penetrated through the neighbor’s apartment. The prosecution observed that the two fellow officers – Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly – had been “justified to protect themselves and the justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges”.

Cameroon who happens to be the Louisville’s first black attorney general, added: “If we simply act on emotion or outrage, there is no justice. Mob justice is not justice. Justice sought by violence is not justice. It just becomes revenge.” He tried to calm down the situation by adding that FBI was still looking into the potential violations of federal law in the Breonna Taylor’s case.

Reaction

Ben Crump, a high-profile lawyer assisting the Taylor family commented on the decision as “outrageous and offensive”. Officials this month agreed to pay her family USD 12mn in a settlement bid.

Trump in White House news conference praised the ruling “really brilliant”. He praised Kentucky’s attorney who addressed the Republican party convention last month, for “doing a fantastic job”.

“I think he is a star,” he said, adding that he gave a green signal for the deployment of National Guard to Kentucky upon the request of its governor. Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat pressed the prosecution to made the evidence given to jury public.
“I think having more of the facts out there so people can see, people can truly process it, is where we need to be,” Mr. Beshear commented.

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Boris Johnson warns public of tougher restrictions if new rules are not respected

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 12:11:55 GMT

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned he would go for tougher restrictions if people do not respect the latest rules on social distancing. Addressing through a television broadcast on Tuesday night, PM Johnson said “we must reserve the right to go further” if situation goes worst. A new 3-stage measures were announced on Tuesday with Mr. Johnson warning they could go on for up to 6 months. The officer workers are being told to return back to the work from home regimen while rules on face coverings are once again made functional. Pubs, hospitality sites and restaurants will have to shut down by 22:00 BST and the number of people attending the weddings have been scaled down to halves. The penalties for breaking he rules have also been beefed up to £200 on the first offence.

Hospitality venues will also have to close the business early in Scotland and Wales but Scotland has chosen to go further with banning household to household interactions from Wednesday. Northern Ireland has also already banned households from mixing up during amid the fears of second wave. The government’s chief medical adviser Prof Chris Whitty believes it is inevitable England will have to replicate Scotland’s actions. Conservative MPs are also in favor of going after the visits to households as a “next step”, according to Nicholas Watt of BBC Newsnight.

“They don’t like it but they could probably live with it,” he said, though he added that if the government went further with restrictions on the hospitality sector “that would really create insurrection on the Tory benches”.

Mr. Johnson will have to answer MPs in the House of Commons later during questions session. His warning of tougher measures comes 6 months after the Kingdom’s COVID-19 lockdown – first imposed on March 23, 2020 – which witnessed strict curbs on movements of the citizenry to tackle the deadly disease. People were ordered to only leave their shelters for one of four reasons, including shopping for food and medicine, medical needs, exercise, and travelling to and from work “where absolutely necessary”.

In his pre-recorded address form Downing Street, Johnson said was “spiritually reluctant” to place curbs on the freedoms of Brits, “but unless e take action the risk is that we will have to go for tougher measures later, when the deaths have already mounted”. He added that while the vast majority from the masses have show compliance with the measures so far, “there have been too many breachers”. Former Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson has bashed the PM for blaming the public for the surge in cases.

“The public have been extremely compliant and obedient,” he told BBC’s Newsnight.

He continued: “But the message has not always been clear and it is preposterous of the prime minister to even suggest in his speech that the problem here is somehow the public”.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Hunt, former health secretary appealed for more “unifying messages” form the four units of Kingdom. Present at BBC’s Newsnight, he said there had been problems with the way the government is disseminating the messages about eh pandemic to the public, pointing out “different messages coming out from local and national government and different messages from the devolved administrations and the administration in London”.

“Wherever possible it is much better to stick together, because simplicity of messaging is one of the things that will make the biggest difference in terms of complying with the rules,” he said.

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Trump to name Supreme Court nominee by the end of the week

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 11:03:37 GMT

US President Donald Trump has announced he will nominate a replacement to Ruth Bader Ginsburg by the end of the week and called on the Republican members of the Senate to support the name given by him for the Supreme court judge before November’s election. The plan has opened a new battleground for Republicans and Democrats before the Nov 3, 2020 election. The position for the Supreme court justice went vacant after the death of liberal stalwart and feminist judge Ginsburg who passed away on Friday aged 87. Trump has vowed to fill the seat with a conservative appointee.

The Republican appears to have garnered enough backing to secure the approval for Supreme Court choice. If the thing go in Trump’s favor, the president will be able to cement a right leaning majority on the court for decades which could be detrimental to the ideological balance practiced by 9-member court in their crucial verdicts and rulings on the key issues in US law.

What is Next?

On Monday, the president hinted on coming up with a new member on Friday or Saturday following the conclusion of the memorial services for Ginsburg. “The bottom line is we won the election, we have an obligation to do what’s right and act as quickly as possible,” Trump said while talking to Fox News. The president on Monday held a private meeting at the WH with Amy Coney Barrett, an appeals court judge in Chicago. Barret also has the support of anti-abortion conservatives.

Once the president finalizes a nominee, it is the Senate’s job to conduct a confirmation vote. The Judiciary Committee reviews the pick first and vote to send the nominee to the floor for a full vote. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnel has confirmed he will conduct a vote before the election in November. Democrats have accused McConnel and his compatriots in the house of hypocritic conduct. After the death of conservative justice Anthony Scalia in 2016, McConnel and his fellow Republicans boycotted for a vote to confirm a nominee put forward by then-Democratic President Barak Obama on the fears that he will opt a justice with Democratic-lineage.

Obama named Merrick Garland months before the elections in February of 2016 but McConnel opposed the idea and maintained the moral high ground that Supreme Court justices should not be installed in the election year. The Republican majority leader in 2017 also changed the Senate rules to simple majority (51 votes) for the confirmation of nominees. Fast forward to Sep 2020, with a Republican President in WH, the Senate leader in the same breadth endorses the decision as both WH and Senate are run and dominated by GOP members.

Can Republicans do it?

Trump’s plan to install a Judge on the conservative-bend got a boost when on Monday Corey Gardner and Charles Grassley representing Colorado and Iowa respectively in the Senate announced their backing for a new nominee before elections. Republican currently maintain a slim 53-47 majority in the house.

Lindsey Graham, who chairs the Senate Judiciary committee, on Monday, said he would be “leading the charge to make sure that President Trump’s nominee has a hearing, [and] goes to the floor of the United States Senate for a vote”.

Mitt Romney of Utah has yet to decide while Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine have agreed with a delay in vote.

Reaction from Democrats

Clearly unhappy by the Trump’s plan, House speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled she might influence what happens next with the confirmation. Talking to NY Times, Pelosi said, she had “arrows in her quiver, in the House quiver” but didn’t explain.

Trump’s Democratic challenger Joe Biden said the President had “made clear this is about power, pure and simple”.

The United States Constitution allows Americans the chance to be heard – and their voice should be heard… they should make it clear, they will not stand for this abuse of power,” the former VP added.

“I appeal to those Senate Republicans – please follow your conscience, let the people speak, cool the flames that have been engulfing our country.”

Addressing a vigil for the late justice, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren who earlier withdrew from the Presidential race to endorse Biden drew cheers from the crowd for blasting Republican over the nomination.

“Mitch McConnel and his henchmen believe that they can ram through a Supreme Court Justice only 45 days from Election Day,” she said. “What Mitch McConnel does not understand is that this fight has just begun.”

Top Contenders for the Post

Deputy White House Counsel, Kate Comerford Todd, Atlanta-based 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals judge, Barbara Lagoa and Amy Coney Barret of Chicago-based 7^th Circuit Court are the key contenders for a potential replacement of Ginsburg.

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Ellen DeGeneres opens the new series of her show with an apology

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 10:58:21 GMT

Ellen DeGeneres has just premiered a fresh season of her talk show with an apology and has admitted that “things happened here that never should have happened”. On Monday, The Ellen DeGeneres Show made a return to the screens in US for the first time since allegations surfaced about a toxic work environment on sets.

“I take this very seriously and I want to say I’m so sorry to people it affected,” the host said. She added that the necessary changes have been introduced following an investigation. Three top show producers were dismissed from their jobs on the accounts of bad conduct.

DeGeneres opened the show with her signature deadpan comedic tone, saying to the camera: “If you are watching because you love me, thank you. If you are watching because you don’t love me, welcome.”

With gritting teeth, she said she had enjoyed a “great summer – super terrific”. But soon changed the tone to address the misconduct and sexual harassment claims on the sets that tarnished the reputation of her program.

“I learned that things happened that should never have happened,” said Ellen.

“If I have ever let someone down, if I have ever hurt their feelings, I am sorry for that.”

The talk show host admitted that as a moderator of the her show with all the power and privilege she has with her it was her responsibility to oversee what was happening under her. “We have made the necessary changes and today we are staring a new chapter,” she informed the audiences. Ellen announced that DJ Twitch has been raised to the ranks of co-executive producer. She joked that earning the nickname of “be kind lady” – the sign-off quote of her show – was a tricky position to be in”.

“If you want to give yourself a new nickname or title, don’t go with the ‘be kind lady’. Don’t do it.”

But DeGeneres claimed that opposite to the news and reporting in “the press and social media… the truth is that I am the person that you see on your TV”. She continued: “I am also a lot of other things. Sometimes I am sad, I get mad, I get anxious, I get frustrated, I get impatient and I am working on all of that. I am a work in progress.”

She said she wanted “every single one” of the 270 staffers involved with her program to “be happy and proud to work here”.

Ellen had already issued an apology to staff via email, earlier in July, saying she was “committed to ensuring this does not happen again” and that followed with a further apology through a video meeting with her team in August. A spokesperson for Warner Brothers confirmed the talk show have sacked the executive producers Kevin Leman and Ed Glavin and also fired co-executive producer Jonathan Norman in August. In a story published earlier this year by Buzzfeed News, the employees at the show had alleged the existence of hostile working environment, racism and sexual harassment at the sets. Some said they had been sacked for taking bereavement days. Since its debut in 2003, Ellen DeGeneres show has bagged over 60 Emmy Awards.

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Biden says Trump’s move to replace Ginsburg is an abuse of power

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 11:02:39 GMT

Joe Biden, the Democratic challenger of President Trump for November Elections has blasted his rival for a move to replace the later Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a haste ahead of General elections. The Republican President currently in charge of WH has announced he will next week nominate a woman for the replacement of the late Judge.

Biden has appealed the Republicans in Senate to postpone the confirmation vote for the replacement of longstanding justice. Earlier, Ginsburg, a liberal icon and feminist standard-bearer passed away on Friday aged 87. Democrats concerned with the move think the vote will disturb the balance in the country’s highest court which already represents the conservative majority. The ideological balance of the 9-member court is critical to its rulings on the issues of key importance in the country.

Biden

Addressing at the Constitutional Center in Philadelphia on Sunday, the former VP alleged that the President had “made clear this is about power, pure and simple”.

“The United States constitution allows Americans the chance to be heard – and their voice should be heard… they should make it clear, they will not stand for this abuse of power,” he said.

“I appeal to those Senate Republicans – please follow your conscience, let the people speak, cool the flames that have been engulfing our country,” he said.

“Don’t vote to confirm anyone nominated under the circumstances President Trump and Senator McConnel created. Don’t go there.”

Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have rendered their support for the delay in the voting until after November’s presidential election. If two more Republicans back the idea in the house they will be able to block or at minimum delay a confirmation vote as the GOP – with six seats – don’t have the majority in Senate. If the vote is a tie, the United States constitution permits VP Mike pence to drop a tie-breaking vote.

In a bid to avoid the deadlock on the swearing in of the new justice, the McConnel has contacted Republicans for the support and has already secured the backing Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, a potential swing vote. On Sunday Alexander said the US Constitution “gives senators the power” to exercise their vote on a Supreme Court nomination at any time including election year.

Biden has expressed that if he won the Presidential vote, Trump’s nominee should be withdrawn and he would then consult senators from both parties before tabling his choice. The Democrat added that it would not be right to present his choice of potential Supreme Court nominees as this could politicize their nomination making them vulnerable to political attacks. But he assured his first choice for the supreme court “will make history as the first African American woman on the court”.

Trump on the Replacement of Ginsburg

Trump has pledged to nominate Ginsburg’s successor “without delay”.

“I think it should be a woman because I actually like women much more than men,” he expressed his choice at a campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina on Saturday.

Earlier, the Republican lauded two judges who serve on federal courts of appeals as the potential replacements for Ginsburg. The Judges Barbara Lagoa and Amy Coney Barrett are both conservatives who would change the balance of upper echelon of Judiciary in favor of conservatives or Republicans.

Democrats have vehemently voiced their opposition to the idea of any nomination before the conclusion of November’s election arguing that Senate Republicans blocked their President Obama’s nominee for the top US court during his last term. In 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel justified the disagreement on grounds that it was an election year. However, on Friday McConnel said he will approve of any nomination put forward by Trump and bring it to the confirmation vote in Senate without waiting for elections.

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WeChat: Judge blocks decision to ban the app in US

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 10:55:32 GMT

A US Magistrate judge has thwarted a government attempt to ban the Chinese messaging and payments app, WeChat. The Judge Laurel Beeler noted the blocking of the app contradicts the right to free speech guaranteed through the constitution’s first amendment. The US Department of Commerce had earlier on Sunday announced the ban on WeChat and its removal from all the app stores and platforms in US.

Trump administration considers the ban necessary on the national security grounds. It maintains that black out of the app will safeguard US interests and would discourage the owners of the app to pass the user data to Chinese state. Both WeChat and Beijing have denied the allegations. Tencent, the company behind the application had previously lamented the US decision and called the ban “unfortunate”.

The ruling comes after TikTok, another Chinese app mend its relations with White House reaching a deal with Department of Commerce to partner with US conglomerates Walmart and Oracle in order to continue their business.

A petition submitted from a group of US WeChat users was approved for hearing by court. The group challenged the President’s executive order to shut down the messaging app in America. US Justice Department argued that blocking the executive order would “frustrate and displace the president’s determination of how best to address threats to national security”.

However, San Francisco Judge, Laurel Beeler noted that “while the general evidence about the threat to national security related to China is considerable, the specific evidence about WeChat is modest”.

In a statement issued earlier, the US Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the decision to bar the app in the country was taken “to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data”. It alleged that WeChat “collected vast swathes of data form users, including network activity, location data, and browsing and search histories”.

Friday’s statement from the DOC criticized the Beijing saying, the Chinese Communist Party “has demonstrated the means and motives to use these apps to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the US”. Tencent, the conglomerate holding the app said the messages sent and received using the app are completely encrypted and private.

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United States to ban Chinese applications WeChat and TikTok

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 12:14:33 GMT

US Department of Commerce has an issued an order to ban TikTok and WeChat from app stores in the country from Sunday unless President Trump reserves it through a last-minute deal. The ban will bar citizens of United States from downloading the messaging and video-sharing applications through any app store on any platform. Trump administration has alleged the companies are posing serious national security threats and could pass the data of US users to Chinese government. However, both Beijing and its companies have denied the accusations.

As per the new order, WeChat will terminate its operations in US on Sunday but people will still be able to use Byte-dance made TikTok until Nov 12, 2020 when it would also be fully shutdown.

Reacting to the decision, TikTok said it was disappointed in the order and could not agree with the commerce department orders as it had already levelled up the transparency responding to the reservations made by Trump administration.

“We will continue to challenge the unjust executive order, which was enacted without due process and threatens to deprive the American people and small business across the US of a significant platform for both a voice and livelihoods.”

WeChat’s parent organization Tencent called the newly enforced restrictions and unfortunate but said they would continue to work with US government “to achieve a long-term solution”. The ban placed from the Department of Commerce is an extension of President’s executive orders signed in August. It gave the US-based businesses a deadline of 45 days to server ties with Chinese companies active in United States. If a planned partnership between Oracle and ByteDance is successfully negotiated and approved by Trump the app will be available and safe to work across US. Trump told reporters on Friday he believed a deal could be reached with TikTok owners quickly adding that while he demands “security from China,” TikTok was “an amazing company, very very popular.”

“Maybe we can keep a lot of people happy but have the security we need,” he said.

The Order

“At the president’s direction, we have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data,” the US Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement.

DOC acknowledged the security challenged posed by the Chinese applications but admitted that the threats coming from TikTok and WeChat were not identical but said that each warranted “vast swathes of data from users, including network activity, location data and browsing and search histories.”

With the order coming into effect on Sunday, people in US will be not be able to utilize the app (WeChat) for funds transfer or send/receive payments to/from people in United States. However, TikTok users will still be able to run their apps normally but would not receive and download news updates processed by the developers of the application.

“The President has provided until Nov 12, 2020 for the national security concerns posted by TikTok to be resolved.” The commerce department said. After this point, some technical transactions will be banned on the app and functionality will be affected, said Wilbur Ross in an interview given to FBN. He assured that the TikTok will stay intact until Nov 12, but WeChat will be shut down for all practical purposes from Monday midnight.

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Boris Johnson says UK is seeing second wave of COVID-19

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 12:06:07 GMT

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed UK is “now seeing a second wave of coronavirus, adding: “It’s been inevitable we’d see it in this country.” The Premier said he did not “want to go into bigger lockdown measures” but suggested strict social distancing measures would be necessary to combat the second wave of infections. A new 3-phase set of restrictions is on the cards to avoid a nationwide lockdown but could impose measures to block household to household transmission.

The first-tier would ensure the maintaining of current set of social distancing the Kingdom is currently working with. The second stage would encompass what is currently being held in northeast of England i.e., curfews on hospitality sites and a complete ban on public meetings including those between households. The final third phase could involve full-fledge shutdown.

If the plan is implemented, “Tier two” restrictions are expected to take over on a region-by-region basis, but would eventually spread across the Kingdom. London Mayor Sadiq Khan admitted it was “increasingly likely” that 9mn people in the capital will need to follow the regulations currently active in north-east of the country and might be adopting additional measures as the cases grow.

BBC has been briefed about the imposing of 3-tier mechanism. It shared that governments shielding policy was also being thoroughly reviewed and announcement about a new decision could be made to effectively protect the vulnerable. The new decisions will include a much more tailored tactic to combat the virus. With the COVID-19 expected to be more lethal in the second wave during the winters, officials are already considering the measures that could last until the spring. It has been reported earlier that the government is looking at bringing a short period of tighter lockdown across the country in next week and that the tighter rules will also involve closing of hotels, bars and other hospitality venues. The decision comes at a time when UK has recorded new 4,322 active cases on its soil.

Public Health England’s medical director Yvonne Doyle warned of “far worse things to come” as UK recorded a host of new cases.

“Clearly when you look at what is happening, you’ve got to wonder whether we need to go further than the rule of six that we brought in,” the prime minister said, referring to measures introduced on Monday.

He added that “the British people have done an amazing job – they’ve brought that peak down by discipline” but that “people find it difficult to keep this up, it’s difficult to maintain that discipline for a long time”.

Speaking in Oxfordshire, PM Boris Johnson said the government would keep “everything under review’ but a second national lockdown was “the last thing anybody wants”.

“We want to keep schools open. We want to keep the economy open as far aw we possibly can, we want to keep businesses going. The only way we can do that is, obviously, if people follow the guidance.”

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