That Dominic Cummings tweet in all its glory can be found below:

Former No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings has claimed that Boris Johnson only let Matt Hancock resign as health secretary following 89 texts an hour from his wife Carrie.

Mr Cummings’ comments come after the prime minister suggested he sacked Mr Hancock for breaking Covid rules, despite initially refusing to dismiss him and declaring the matter “closed”.

Our reporter, Samuel Osborne, has more on this breaking story below:

The European Commission’s vice president has suggested that a deal to address the issues behind the so-called Brexit “sausage wars” could be struck in the next 48 hours.

Maros Sefcovic has hinted that an announcement is imminent on the EU agreeing to the UK’s request to extend the current “grace period” on checks on chilled meats coming into Northern Ireland from the rest of Britain.

Our Whitehall editor, Kate Devlin, has the full story below:

There is a need to “dedramatise” the rhetoric around the Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol, the European Commission vice president has told Stormont MLAs.

Maros Sefcovic said on Monday that the EU was prepared to take “bold steps” to address issues with the Protocol.

Giving evidence remotely to a special sitting of the Northern Irish Assembly’s Executive Office committee, Mr Sefcovic said the bloc was prepared to accommodate flexibilities to reduce Irish Sea trade checks to the “absolute minimum possible”.

However, he said the UK had to reciprocate by demonstrating a commitment to the “full and faithful” implementation of the Protocol.

“We are willing to consider taking bold steps if the UK government demonstrates a clear and concrete commitment to implementing the protocol in full,” he said.

Boris Johnson has suggested he sacked Matt Hancock for breaking Covid rules – despite initially refusing to dismiss him and declaring the matter “closed”.

He made the extraordinary claim despite the disgraced health secretary making clear he had resigned on Saturday – 24 hours after the prime minister kept him in post.

Boris Johnson has refused to deny using his personal email address to conduct government business amid concerns about the conduct of a sacked cabinet minister.

Asked by reporters a campaign visit to the town of Batley whether he had had also broken the rules, Mr Johnson said would not comment on the matter.

Read the full story here:

Sajid Javid has ruled out another Covid lockdown in first significant comments as health secretary, saying: “It’s going to be irreversible – there’s no going back.”

Appearing to confirm he will be more hawkish about lifting restrictions than his disgraced predecessor, Matt Hancock, he said he wanted to move “as quickly as possible”.

Read the full story here:

Labour has branded Priti Patel‘s plan to send asylum seekers to offshore immigration centres for processing as “unconscionable” and said it will oppose the policy.

The Home Secretary has reportedly opened talks with Denmark, whose government has already passed legislation to pursue a similar policy and open a processing centre outside Europe.

The Times newspaper reports that the UK and Denmark could potentially set up a shared centre in Rwanda, a landlocked country in central Africa.

For the full report click on the link below:

A government investigation is under way after Ministry of Defence (MoD) documents containing details about a British warship’s controversial voyage off the Crimean coast were found at a bus stop in Kent.

The 50-page file containing details of the Black Sea operation was discovered in a “soggy heap” behind a bus stop in Kent on Tuesday by a member of the public, according to the BBC.

The MoD said it had been informed last week that “sensitive defence papers” has been recovered by a passer-by and shared with the public broadcaster. The ministry has now launched a probe.

More on the comments from the new health secretary, Sajid Javid, who has said he unsure why there was a camera in Matt Hancock’s office.

He said he was “sure there will be more to this as the whole incident is investigated”.