Katy Balls

The clock may be ticking when it comes to the Brexit talks but the news dominating Westminster today relates not to legal texts but personnel changes in Downing Street. Overnight the Times and Daily Mail both ran reports suggesting Number 10's Director of Communications Lee Cain was in line for a promotion to Chief of Staff. However, shortly after the news broke, briefings against Cain (a Vote Leave alumnus who has worked with Boris Johnson in government since his Foreign Office days) began – and government sources suggested no final decision had been made.  The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg has alleged that Johnson's partner Carrie Symonds is thought to be deeply opposed to the move and made this clear privately.

Although there has been much speculation of late that Boris Johnson will struggle to forge ties with Joe Biden, the pair's relationship has got off to a promising start. After making his first phone call to America's neighbour Canada, the president-elect shared a phone call with the UK Prime Minister. A Downing Street spokesperson says Johnson used the call to congratulate Biden on his election as president of the United States and vice president-elect Kamala Harris on her historic achievement:  'They discussed the close and longstanding relationship between our countries and committed to building on this partnership in the years ahead, in areas such as trade and security – including through Nato'.

Although the Prime Minister is known to be an optimist, he was at pains to play down reports of a vaccine breakthrough in Monday's coronavirus press conference. After early findings from stage three of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine trial suggested it could prevent more than 90 per cent of people from getting Covid-19, Johnson warned of the long road ahead. He said that while the search for an effective vaccine had 'cleared one significant hurdle' there are several more to go. Johnson's caution is in part down to the fact that the Pfizer vaccine trials are not over. More data needs to be published, its safety proved and regulatory approval to be found.

After days of government ministers declining to take a public stance on the US election, Boris Johnson has congratulated Joe Biden on his victory. The Democrat's lead in Pennsylvania prompted several US networks to call the election for Biden and the Prime Minister then released a statement on social media: https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1325133262075940864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Johnson's message of congratulations came after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon sent their own messages of support. It also comes despite Donald Trump and his team insisting that the result is not final and suggesting they will contest it.

It's not uncommon for Conservative politicians to complain privately that Nicola Sturgeon has proven herself to be a better communicator than Boris Johnson during the pandemic. However, it is unusual for a Tory to say so publicly. This is what Douglas Ross did this week in an interview for ITV News.

Which Tory politician is Labour most afraid of? While it's Boris Johnson who Sir Keir Starmer most regularly goes up to bat against at the despatch box, these days Her Majesty's Opposition appear most focused on criticising Rishi Sunak. Take Starmer's speech this lunchtime to the Confederation of British Industry. While the Labour leader criticised the Prime Minister for failing to learn from coronavirus mistakes, it was Sunak who bore the brunt of his attack lines: 'Make no mistake, the Chancellor’s name’s all over this. His decision to block a circuit breaker… will now mean that businesses have to close for longer. More people will lose their job. And the public finances will be worse than they needed to be.