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Grant Shapps has not ruled out bringing in the military to help deal with the fuel crisis.

Speaking on Friday morning, the transport secretary tried to dissuade drivers from panic buying petrol, after BP was forced to close down a handful of its forecourts.

“The advice would be to carry on as normal, and that is what BP is saying as well,” he told Sky News.

Asked in a separate interview with LBC if the military could be deployed, he said: “I certainly won’t rule anything out at all, we’ll look at all the various different contingency measures.” 

On Thursday BP said it had closed a “handful” of its petrol forecourts due to a lock of available fuel.

A “small number” of Tesco refilling stations have also been impacted, said Esso owner ExxonMobil, which runs the sites.

Shapps promised he would do what is needed to ensure that petrol gets to drivers.

“I’ll move heaven and Earth to do anything that’s required to make sure that lorries carry on moving our goods and services and petrol around the country,” he said.

He denied that Brexit was the culprit in the UK’s recent shortage of lorry drivers, arguing that the split from the European Union has helped the government react.

At a meeting a week ago BP reportedly told the Government that the company was struggling to get fuel to its forecourts.

Its head of UK retail Hanna Hofer described the situation as “bad, very bad”, according to a report by ITV News.

BP had “two-thirds of normal forecourt stock levels required for smooth operations”, she said, adding that the level is “declining rapidly”.

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Sajid Javid has defended that government’s Covid winter plan after scientists warned of a potential new wave of hospital admissions.

Scientists advising the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) warned the burden on the NHS could rise “very quickly” as people returned to their offices after working from home.

But speaking on Sky News, the health secretary said there were no “risk-free” options.

“It is right that experts are looking at what is happening and come up with their best guess of where things might go based on certain assumptions,” he said.

“We have to listen to them but eventually make what we think is the right decision. There is no risk-free decision but I think what we have announced in terms of this plan, is well thought through.”

Javid said increasing hospital admissions could trigger the government’s Plan B for tackling Covid as he refused to rule out another lockdown.

“What happens in the NHS is going to be hugely important to me, to the whole country, making sure that we don’t get to a position again where the NHS becomes unsustainable,” he said.

“If the situation – and it is an ‘if’ – gets out of control, if for example there was a new vaccine-escape variant which no-one can predict, whether it happens or not, we will of course have to act and take new measures.”

But he declined to put a number on how many cases or admissions would trigger Plan B.

Under the blueprint set out by the Government on Tuesday, Plan B includes measures such as vaccine passports, mandatory face masks and advice to work from home.

Boris Johnson was yesterday also urged by his chief scientific adviser on Tuesday to go hard and early if the pandemic significantly worsens.

Patrick Vallance said the nation is at a “pivot point” and told ministers to react swiftly if cases quickly rise, warning “you can’t wait until it’s late because you’ve got to do more”.

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Boris Johnson is mourning the loss of his mother after she died aged 79.

Charlotte Johnson Wahl, a painter, died “suddenly and peacefully” at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, on Monday according to a death notice in The Times.

Johnson once described his mother as the “supreme authority” in the family and credited her with instilling in him the equal value of every human life.

The notice in the Times says she was a “Painter. Mother of Alexander, Rachel, Leo, and Joseph; grandmother of Ludovic, Lara, Charlotte, Milo, Oliver, Cassia, Theodore, Rose, Lula, William, Ruby Noor, Stephanie and Wilfred.”

Labour leader Keir Starmer was among the first politicians to offer his condolences.

“I’m very sorry to learn of the prime minister’s loss. My condolences to him and his family,” he tweeted.

Tory MP Conor Burns said: “So sad to hear of the death of Boris Johnson’s Mum. Thoughts and prayers are with him and the whole of the Johnson clan.”

Fellow Conservative Angela Richardson added: “Sad news for the PM tonight as well as the rest of the Johnson family. Thoughts with them all.”

Conservative Party co-chairman Amanda Milling tweeted: “Thinking of Boris Johnson and his family this evening. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”

The daughter of the barrister Sir James Fawcett, who was president of the European Commission for Human Rights in the 1970s, Mrs Johnson Wahl studied English at Oxford University.

She interrupted her education to travel to America with Stanley Johnson – who she married in 1963 – before returning to complete her degree as the first married female undergraduate at her college, Lady Margaret Hall.

The couple had four children – Boris, journalist Rachel, former minister Jo and environmentalist Leo – before they divorced in 1979.

As an artist, she made her name as a portrait painter – her sitters included Joanna Lumley and Jilly Cooper – although throughout her life she painted other subjects, including landscapes.

In the years following her divorce, she refused to accept any money from her former husband, eking out a living by selling paintings. She later recalled she was “very hard up”.

In 1988, she married the American professor Nicholas Wahl and moved to New York where she began painting cityscapes – which were the subject of a sell-out exhibition in 2004 – but returned to London following his death in 1996.

At the age of 40, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease but she never allowed her illness to prevent her painting, steadying herself with a walking frame as she worked.

In 2015, she was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London.

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A Labour MP has been ordered to leave the House of Commons after refusing to withdraw claims that Boris Johnson has “lied to the House and the country over and over again”.

Dawn Butler was told to withdraw from the chamber by temporary deputy speaker Judith Cummins following her remarks in a Commons debate.

It is not considered within the boundaries of parliamentary etiquette to call another member a liar.

Butler had said: “Poor people in our country have paid with their lives because the prime minister has spent the last 18 months misleading this House and the country over and over again.”

She highlighted disputed claims made by the Prime Minister, including that the link between Covid-19 infection and serious disease and death had been severed.

She added: “It’s dangerous to lie in a pandemic.

“I am disappointed the prime minister has not come to the House to correct the record and correct the fact that he has lied to the House and the country over and over again.”

I have been thrown out of Parliament for saying what we all know:

Boris Johnson has lied to the House of Commons and the country over and over again.

But I’ve got news for the Tories, I will never stop speaking truth to power! pic.twitter.com/JtBdhOSXuY

— Dawn Butler MP✊🏾💙 (@DawnButlerBrent) July 22, 2021

Cummins intervened and said: “Order! Order! I’m sure that the member will reflect on her words she’s saying and perhaps correct the record.”

Butler replied: “What would you rather – a weakened leg or a severed leg?

“At the end of the day the prime minister has lied to this House time and time again.

“It’s funny that we get in trouble in this place for calling out the lie rather than the person lying.”

Cummins intervened again and urged Butler to “reflect” on her words and withdraw them.

Butler replied: “I’ve reflected on my words and somebody needs to tell the truth in this House that the prime minister has lied.”

Cummins then read out a statement in which she ordered Butler to “withdraw immediately from the House for the remainder of the day’s sitting”.

Butler left her seat and exited the chamber.

Some Tory MPs who voted to cut the UK’s aid budget, which will take “food off the plates of starving children”, did so because they were given the “smell of a job” in government, Andrew Mitchell has said.

On Tuesday Boris Johnson saw off a Tory rebellion over its decision to slash overseas aid spending from 0.7% to 0.5% of gross national income.

In an interview with HuffPost UK’s Commons People podcast, Mitchell, a former Conservative international development secretary, said the cut would do “great damage” to the party’s electoral chances.

Mitchell praised the 25 Tory MPs who voted against the government as “heroes” after they “stood firm and stood up for Britain’s international reputation” and “for the poorest people in the world”.

But he accused many of the backbenchers who had switched sides and voted with the government as having been won over by the “seduction” of career advancement.

“Some of them agonised,” he said. “Some of them just slipped away and hoped no one would notice.”

Mitchell, who was also previously Tory chief whip, said: “I‘ve been poacher and gamekeeper.

“You prey on the frailty of human nature, you offer people who you know whose principles will be overridden if they have the smell of a job.

“I think countless new ministers for paperclips will no doubt shortly be announced.”

He added: “You prey on people’s insecurities and you know what people’s weaknesses are and that’s how you get the others on board.”

Mitchell said the cut in aid spending meant the UK had “broken our word” to the world.

“We’ve trashed Britain’s reputation,” he said. ”Literally taking food off the plates of starving children. 

“After the war, Britain kept rationing so the famine would not develop and take off in Germany. That’s what Britain is like, after a war.”

Mitchell also warned that as well as having a severe impact on the world’s poor, the move would also hurt the Tories in the polls.

“It will do great damage to the Conservative Party,” he said.

“David Cameron taught us that you don’t get an overall majority, and the Tories didn’t get an overall majority between 1992 an 2015, without being a broad church,” he said.

“Why did we get a majority in 2015? Because we won all those Lib Dem seats.

“Why did we win them? Because socially liberal conservatives, like me, care a lot about this and they felt it was safe to vote for David Cameron’s Conservative Party. 

“They felt comfortable and happy in the Conservative Party. Many of those people won’t feel like that after what has now happened.”

He said: “Boris has been brilliant at adding on the red wall seats and it’s produced some extremely able new colleagues. He has done very well on expanding the Tory DNA in that respect.”

But Mitchell added the party had to be careful not to “lose off the other end” of vot that “won’t be voting for a party” that cut aid when it “didn’t have to”.

Ian Forsyth via Getty Images

Face coverings will remain mandatory on London’s transport network including the Tube and buses after July 19, Sadiq Khan has announced.

The mayor of London has asked TfL to keep the rule in place when the national law is lifted.

Boris Johnson has confirmed most of the remaining lockdown rules, including the face covering law, in England will end on Monday.

While it will no longer be a legal requirement, the government has said people will still “expected” to wear masks in indoor enclosed spaces.

But Khan said the prime minister’s decision had “put Londoners, and our city’s recovery, at risk”.

“I’ve repeatedly made clear that the simplest and safest option would have been for the government to retain the national requirement for face coverings on public transport,” he said.

“This is why, after careful consideration, I have decided to ask TfL to retain the requirement for passengers to wear a face covering on all TfL services when the national regulations change.

Khan added: “By keeping face masks mandatory we will give Londoners and visitors the reassurance and confidence to make the most of what our city has to offer, while also protecting our heroic transport workers and those who may be vulnerable and rely on the network to get around our city.”

The mayor’s request means masks would remain mandatory on the Tube, buses, trams, the DLR, the Overground and TfL Rail services.

The government’s decision to scrap the face mask law has been criticised by Labour as well as many scientists. 

Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has said the mask law should remain in place.

Graham Medley, the chairman of the Sage modelling subgroup Spi-M, told the BBC on Tuesday mask-wearing is only effective “if everybody does it”.

“I understand the government’s reluctance to actually mandate it. On the other hand, if it’s not mandated it probably won’t do any good,” he said.

In its most recent advice to ministers, published on Monday, Sage experts said a “very rapid” return by people to pre-pandemic behaviour would put the NHS under pressure.

“Maintaining interventions such as more people working from home, the use of masks in crowded indoor spaces, and increasing ventilation, would contribute to transmission reduction and therefore reduce the number of hospitalisations,” the scientists said.

In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has announced she will go ahead with plans to further ease coronavirus restrictions next week.

But she said face masks will likely remain for “some time to come”, as she claimed lifting all restrictions right now “would put all of us at greater risk”

Angela Merkel has opened the door to double-vaccinated Britons travelling to Europe without having to quarantine “in the foreseeable future”.

The German chancellor spoke after talks with Boris Johnson at his Chequers grace-and-favour mansion.

In a joint press conference, Merkel said: “We think that In the foreseeable future those who have received double jabs will then, according to our classification, and Britain obviously is a high incidence area, will be able to travel again without having to go into quarantine.”

But Merkel said she had “grave concern” over the size of the crowds being allowed into Wembley for Euro 2020 football matches.

Johnson hit back, arguing that football matches are going ahead in a “very careful and controlled manner” with testing of attendees.

The prime minister also insisted the UK’s vaccination programme had allowed the country to build up a “very considerable wall of immunity” against Covid.

But their clash came after nearly 2,000 coronavirus cases in Scotland were linked to fans travelling to London to watch the nation’s 0-0 draw with England, although 397 of the 1,991 infections involved supporters at Wembley.

Around 42,000 fans were allowed into the national stadium to watch England defeat Germany 2-0 on Tuesday, which Johnson could not resist mentioning at the press conference.

Wembley will also host both of the tournament’s semi-finals and the final next week, with more than 60,000 supporters permitted to attend the matches in the 90,000-capacity stadium.

Merkel said: “I can only say this on my behalf and with grave concern, I’ve also said this to the prime minister – we in Germany decided to allow fewer people to attend games in the Munich stadium.

“The British government obviously will take its own decision but I am very much concerned whether it’s not a bit too much, yes.”

Johnson replied: “Of course we will follow the scientific guidance and the advice if we receive any such suggestion but at the moment… the position is very clear in the UK, which is that we have certain events which we can put on in a very careful and controlled manner with testing of everybody who goes there.

“And the crucial point is that here in the uK we have now built up a very considerable wall of immunity against the disease [through] our vaccination programme.”

He said 85% of people and more than 63% have had now had two Covid vaccine jabs.

“Since you get more than 80% protection from one dose and 93% protection from two doses, as you can tell there is a very great degree of resistance to the virus in the UK population.

“The way you can tell that is if you look at the distinction between the graphs that show cases and the graphs that show serious illness and deaths – there you are seeing a big change since the vaccination programme began.

“That’s why we are on this roadmap back to normality.” 

Meanwhile, the PM joked that Germany had broken with its tradition of beating England in football tournaments.

Noting Merkel’s 22 visits to the UK during her time in power, the Johnson said: “In the course of that time some things have changed beyond recognition but for much of your tenure it was certainly a tradition, Angela, for England to lose to Germany in international football tournaments.

“I’m obviously grateful to you for breaking with that tradition, just for once.”

Merkel responded: “Obviously this was not a voluntary offer on my side to create the right mood for this visit but I have to accept it.

“You deserved it but we were a little bit sad but now the best of luck to the British team.”