Liz Truss tests positive for Covid hours after appearing in packed Commons with Boris

31 January 2022, 20:42

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has tested positive for Covid just hours after appearing on a packed Tory front bench with Boris Johnson in Parliament.

She had arrived in the Commons as Boris Johnson fought for his job after Sue Gray's Partygate probe was published.

Tory ministers has flanked Mr Johnson as he tried to rally MPs from his own party and convince an ever-more sceptical public that he is the man to lead the UK.

Among the front benchers was Ms Truss, who tweeted later on Monday: "I tested positive for Covid this evening.

"Thankfully I've had my three jabs and will be working from home while I isolate."

Read more: 'Deeply disappointed': Tory MP quits Govt role over Partygate saga

Read more: Boris says sorry as Partygate report slams No10's 'failures of leadership'

She joins the Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, in isolating. He said earlier on Monday, in a strikingly similar statement: "Yesterday I tested positive for Covid and will therefore be watching my brilliant colleagues at oral questions today instead.

"Thankfully I've had my three jabs and will be working from home while I isolate."

Ms Truss had also updated MPs on the Ukraine crisis in the Commons chamber and then went to a meeting of the Conservative parliamentary party which Mr Johnson addressed.

She had been due to go with Mr Johnson to Ukraine on Tuesday. The PM is set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Read more: Read it in full: Sue Gray's much-anticipated Partygate report

Covid guidance does not require people who come into contact with positive cases to isolate if they are fully jabbed but they are asked to take one rapid lateral flow test every day for a week.

It means Tories who were close to Ms Truss, including Mr Johnson, do not need to automatically isolate.

Most recently, Mr Johnson went into isolation after a family member tested positive. It was said his daughter Romy caught Covid and been "badly hit", but was recovering.

He remained defiant despite growing calls for him to quit on Monday, and senior civil servant Ms Gray's report – despite being stripped down at the request of the Metropolitan Police – savaged the "failure of leadership" in No10 and the Cabinet Office.