Boris Johnson news – live: ‘Shameful and crass’ PM refuses to apologise after blaming care homes for coronavirus deaths, as UK resumes arms sales to Saudi Arabia

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of events at Westminster and beyond.

‘Cowardly’ PM accused of trying to re-write history after blaming care homes for high death toll

Boris Johnson is coming in for some considerable criticism after he appeared to blame care home owners for the high coronavirus death toll in their facilities.

“We discovered too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have,” the PM claimed on Monday.

The National Care Association called the suggestion a “huge slap in the face”, while the National Care Forum described his remarks as “hugely insulting”.

This morning the chief executive officer of Community Integrated Care, Mark Adams, expressing his anger at Mr Johnson’s “cowardly” and “appalling” remarks – and claimed there had been a “travesty of leadership” during the health crisis.

Adams told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “To be honest with you if this is genuinely his view I think we’re almost entering a Kafkaesque alternative reality where the government set the rules, we follow them, they don’t like the results, they then deny setting them. It is hugely frustrating.”

Russia ‘reserves right to retaliate’ new British sanctions

On Monday Dominic Raab announced that 25 Russians and 20 Saudis implicated in the murders of whistle-blowing auditor Sergei Magnitsky and journalist Jamal Khashoggi – as well as those responsible for the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and those running prison camps in North Korea – will be on Britain’s first post-Brexit sanctions list.

The foreign secretary said the UK would take action against the “thugs of despots and henchmen of dictators”.

No response yet from Saudi Arabia, Myanmar or North Korea, but Moscow has threatened has retaliatory moves. The Russian embassy in London warned: “The Russian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures in connection with Britain’s hostile decision.”

China warns trade will suffer if Huawei decision reversed

It wasn’t so long ago Boris Johnson hailed a “golden age” in Sino-British relations. The age appears to be over.

Beijing’s ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming said the PM’s path to citizenship offer to almost three million Hong Kongers amounted to “gross interference” and warned that denying Huawei a role in the 5G network would “send a very bad message” to other Chinese firms.

Elsewhere this morning, The Daily Mail reports that Christopher Steele – the ex-spy behind the Trump-Russia dossier – has helped compile a new document claiming Beijing has been trying to “capture” members of Britain’s elite to win support for Huawei.

Sunak accused of watering down green spending pledges

Rishi Sunak has been accused of watering down a Tory manifesto pledge with a £1bn programme to plug energy-leaking buildings – after the party promised £9.2bn would be spent.

The chancellor is set to unveil a new voucher scheme in the “mini-budget” on Wednesday to allow homeowners to carry out £5,000-worth of energy-saving home improvements

But the cash is a fraction of what was promised and is also a fraction of the tens of billions being spent on a green recovery in Germany and France, campaigners warned.

Greenpeace said it was “much less than was committed to”, while the Green Alliance argued it “does not live up to the government’s own ambitions”.

Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has more details:

Don’t indulge Huawei ‘conspiracy theory’, Beijing advisor warns No 10

Dr Huiyao Wang, president of the Centre for China and Globalisation and an adviser to the Chinese government, urged the UK not to indulge in any “conspiracy theory” about technology firm Huawei.

The comments come after suggestions the government could reverse its earlier decision and block Huawei involvement in the roll-out of Britain’s 5G network.

Dr Wang told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “You can see what the US is doing in starting a trade war – China doesn’t want to have a trade war, it has been forced into those kind of things.

“But it is not good. It puts you on the downward spiral. We don't want to see that happen. The UK is a country that invented a lot of trade formats and now it is getting more independent, has a lot of soft power.

“It should really take a lead on safeguarding the multilateral trading system, including technology usage around the world, rather than going back to conspiracy theory and really has no hard evidence and no proof and to deny a company of the most advanced technology in the world.”

Barnier and Frost hold one-on-one face-to-face Brexit talks

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier is in London on Tuesday for talks with his UK counterpart David Frost.

Last week, discussions between the two sides on a post-Brexit trade deal broke up early with “significant differences” remaining. But Barnier and Frost will meet face-to-face today before talks with the rest of their teams on Wednesday.

Frost said last week that though the ability to meet in person had given “extra depth and flexibility” to the discussions, there was more to do. Barnier said that while Brussels had engaged “constructively”, officials needed to see an “equivalent engagement from the UK side”.

“Our goal was to get negotiations successfully and quickly on a trajectory to reach an agreement,” he said. “However, after four days of discussions, serious divergences remain.”

It had been hoped the face-to-face meetings – agreed following a high-level conference call last month between Boris Johnson and the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen – would inject new momentum into the process.

The PM has been adamant he will not allow the discussions to drag on into the autumn, arguing that British businesses and citizens need certainty on the way forward before then.

David Frost and Michel Barnier in Brussels last week (Reuters)

Huawei denies trying to target ‘useful idiots’ of British elite

More now on the claims that China has been accused of trying to persuade influential individuals to support Huawei’s integration into the UK’s 5G network.

A controversial dossier – reportedly compiled with the help of former MI6 spy Christopher Steele – claims high-profile people were targeted to act as “useful idiots” for Beijing.

The Daily Mail reported that the 86-page document commissioned by a US film producer Andrew Duncan claimed politicians and academics were among those in the UK whose backing China sought to secure.

Huawei was said to be described as “Beijing’s strategic asset” in the report.

A spokesman for the Chinese telecoms giant described the allegations as “unfounded”, and said they were part of a “long-running US campaign” against the company.

The spokesman addedd: “We categorically refute these unfounded allegations, which do not bear scrutiny and are regrettably the latest in the long-running US campaign against Huawei.”

Piers Morgan calls PM ‘disgusting’ for care home comments

Piers Morgan has labelled Boris Johnson “disgusting” over comments the prime minister made suggesting some care homes properly follow procedures during the Covid-19 crisis.

Johnson sparked widespread anger after he said “too many” in the care home sector “didn’t really follow the procedures”.

Morgan accused the PM and other ministers of attempting to “shift the narrative” around the UK’s high coronavirus death toll. “I think it’s honestly disgusting. What we’re seeing now is the blame game.”

He added: “The prime minister and Matt Hancock and other ministers are starting to shift the narrative away from themselves and their decisions to other people like Public Health England, NHS England the care homes – everyone but the government is going to end up being blamed for this by the government.”

Former chancellor worried by Tory ‘outbreak of anti-Chinese sentiment’

Philip Hammond said the UK should not be distancing itself from China while “loosening ties” with Europe. The ex-chancellor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Right now, the UK is in the process of loosening its ties with trade partners in Europe in the name of expanding its global reach.

“It seems to me this is not a time to be wanting to weaken our trade links with the world’s second largest economy.

“We have to find a way, and I think we have done it in the past with many countries, of continuing to trade, continuing to invest and welcome investment from countries with which we have frank disagreements about political issues.”

The ex-foreign secretary said he is “concerned about the outbreak of anti-Chinese sentiment within the Conservative Party” and called its rise “alarming”.