EXCLUSIVE BY JONATHAN MCEVOY: The 35-year-old was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire and grew up on a council estate before becoming grand prix racing’s first black driver.

On Wednesday morning the premier had a three-hour ‘crisis meeting’ with health bosses and police chiefs to discuss which restrictions to impose on five million residents of Australia’s biggest city.

Revellers in Tier 2 towns and cities were celebrating their freedom last night on the final weekend before Christmas while millions of others were plunged into tougher lockdown restrictions.

The new Tier 4 restrictions will hit those in London and the South East just days before Boris Johnson’s five-day ‘Christmas bubble’ easing was set to begin.

Google, by far the most lucrative of the ten Big Tech companies in the EU’s sights, is staring down the barrel £1.2 billion penalties at the maximum end of draft legislation set out by the EU on Tuesday.

NHS executive Chris Hopson has urged Mr Johnson to exercise ‘extreme caution’ before putting any region into a lower tier and said any relaxing of rules ‘will trigger a third wave’.

Donald Trump supporters have voiced outrage after the Supreme Court refused to hear a case to throw out millions of American votes in the election.

Matt Hancock today ruled out loosening coronavirus restrictions on New Year’s Eve as he insisted the Government’s relaxed measures are ‘just for Christmas’.