Boris Johnson considered an “aquatic raid” on a Dutch warehouse to seize Covid vaccines during the height of the pandemic, he has revealed in his memoirs.

The former prime minister discussed plans with senior military officials in March 2021, according to an extract from his forthcoming book, Unleashed, published in the Daily Mail.

The AstraZeneca vaccine was, at the time, at the heart of a cross-Channel row over exports, and Johnson believed the EU was treating the UK “with malice”.

Johnson said that he “had commissioned some work on whether it might be technically feasible to launch an aquatic raid on a warehouse in Leiden, in the Netherlands, and to take that which was legally ours and which the UK desperately needed”.

The deputy chief of the defence staff, Lt Gen Doug Chalmers, told the prime minister the plan was “certainly feasible” and would involve using rigid inflatable boats to navigate Dutch canals.

“They would then rendezvous at the target; enter; secure the hostage goods, exfiltrate using an articulated lorry, and make their way to the Channel ports,” Johnson wrote.

However, Chalmers told Johnson it would be difficult to carry out the mission undetected, meaning the UK would “have to explain why we are effectively invading a longstanding Nato ally”.

Johnson concluded: “Of course, I knew he was right, and I secretly agreed with what they all thought, but did not want to say aloud: that the whole thing was nuts.”

Elsewhere in the published extracts, Johnson denied eating cake at what he described as the “feeblest event in the history of human festivity” held to celebrate his 56th birthday during the Covid lockdown.

He did not see or eat any cake at the event on 19 June 2020, he said, adding that it “never occurred” to him or the then chancellor, Rishi Sunak, that the Partygate birthday gathering was “in some way against the rules”.

He wrote: “Here is what actually happened that day. I stood briefly at my place in the Cabinet Room, where I have meetings throughout the day, while the chancellor and assorted members of staff said happy birthday.

“I saw no cake. I ate no blooming cake. If this was a party, it was the feeblest event in the history of human festivity. I had only just got over Covid. I did not sing. I did not dance.”

Downing Street previously admitted that staff “gathered briefly” in the Cabinet Room for what was reportedly a surprise get-together for Johnson organised by his now-wife, Carrie.

Johnson became the first prime minister to receive a criminal penalty while in office over Partygate, although an investigation by the former senior civil servant Sue Gray found that neither Johnson nor Sunak was aware of the event in advance.

In the extracts from his autobiography, Johnson also said he believed he “might have carked it” when he was in intensive care with Covid without the “skills and experience” of his nurses.

Johnson spent several days in intensive care with Covid in April 2020. He described not wanting to fall asleep on his first night in intensive care “partly in case I never woke up”.

Following his release from hospital, the then prime minister spent some time at Chequers with his now-wife Carrie, and he recalled joining in with the clap for the NHS on a Thursday evening.

“I clapped with deep emotion because my lungs were telling me that I had been through something really pretty nasty, and that if it hadn’t been for [his nurses] Jenny and Luis, fiddling with those oxygen tubes all night with all their skill and experience, I think I might have carked it,” he wrote.

On his admission to ICU, Johnson said he “started to doze, but didn’t want to sleep – partly in case I never woke up, or in case they decided to perform some stealthy tracheotomy without letting me know”.

In what some might see as an unlikely union, the Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey has married a swamp tour guide from Louisiana.

The Daily Mail obtained exclusive video and photos of the 39-year-old Del Rey’s wedding on Thursday to Jeremy Dufrene, 49, in Des Allemands, Louisiana, about a 45-minute drive south-west of New Orleans.

In the video and pictures posted by the Mail the pair are seen apparently getting married in an outdoor venue by the waterside in the small unincorporated community. Del Rey wore a graceful white dress while Dufrene donned a smart dark suit.

The New Orleans news outlet nola.com reported that Dufrene and the musician, nee Elizabeth Grant, had obtained a marriage license from Lafourche parish – which is the word Louisiana uses for county – three days before the nuptials.

The couple married near Airboat Tours by Arthur Matherne, the company for which Dufrene leads tours through swamps with creatures including alligators.

Dufrene and Del Rey were first romantically linked back in August when the couple was spotted holding hands at the Reading Festival in Britain, one of the country’s biggest music events.

But the pair are known to have been acquainted at least as far back as 2019, when Del Rey posted about visiting one of Dufrene’s wildlife tours. Del Rey returned to Louisiana in May earlier this year for another swamp tour, again tagging Dufrene on Instagram. And in June, she was again seen in the New Orleans area, causing waves among locals by visiting a 24-hr diner named the Tic-Toc Cafe that is not known among too many non-residents.

Del Rey is one of the world’s most famous singers, known for hits like Video Game and Summertime Sadness. Air Boat Tours by Arthur Matherne, meanwhile, has a five-star rating on Yelp from more than 240 reviews.

Brutal heat continues to plague the south-west US, with excessive heat alerts lingering long into September as parts of the region set grim new records for deaths connected to the sweltering temperatures.

Autumn has offered little reprieve for cities that have already spent months mired in triple-digit temperatures. This week, Las Vegas, Nevada; Phoenix, Arizona; and Palm Springs, California, are all grappling with severe weather, with highs that have pushed over 100F (38C). More than 16 million people in the US were under heat alerts on Friday, according to the National Weather Service, mostly clustered in the southern tips of Nevada, Arizona and California.

“Late-season heat is dangerous because people are fatigued from fighting heat all summer,” the NWS forecast office in Las Vegas cautioned in an alert, which warned of extreme weather expected to last through the weekend and into next week. “This is especially true this year,” it added, “as 2024 continues to break all-time heat records.”

Fueled by the climate crisis, and often exacerbated by concrete cityscapes that cook when temperatures rise, heatwaves are getting longer, larger and more intense.

Las Vegas had its 102nd day of temperatures above 100F on Friday, a new record for the most days in a single year. Several states, including Arizona and California, have experienced their warmest summers on record this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and forecasters are predicting that 2024 may rank as the hottest year – a record just set in 2023.

“But it’s not over,” NWS Las Vegas said on Twitter, noting the heat warnings lingering in the forecast through the weekend.

The scorching and sustained heat has taken a devastating toll; heat already ranks as the most lethal weather-related disaster in the US, and deaths are increasing. Heat-associated fatalities are growing across the south-west, where shadeless streets can grow hot enough to cause second-degree burns in seconds. As dangerously hot weather stretches past summer and into spring and fall, the risks for those who don’t have access to cooling have continued to rise.

In Arizona’s Maricopa county, home to Phoenix, 664 fatalities are believed to have been linked to the heat this year , according to public health officials, who are still working to confirm more than half of them. Southern Nevada, where Las Vegas is located, has seen more deaths this year than in any year prior, with officials confirming this week that there have been 342 fatalities linked to the heat. This surpassed last year’s record, which marked an 80% increase over 2022.

But even these tragically high numbers are believed to paint only part of the picture. Heat deaths can be difficult to track, especially among high-risk populations including in unhoused communities. “We will inevitably see this number climb,” Melanie Rouse, Clark county’s coroner, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Older people, children and people with underlying health conditions are among the most at risk, especially among those without access to air conditioning, but first responders have also reported that heat-related emergencies have been climbing for workers.

“Delivery drivers, warehouse operators, our construction trades – basically anyone who has to work outside – we have seen emergencies from them and people with regular medical emergencies, and during a normal day the heat causes them to succumb,” Scott Vivier, the deputy fire chief in Henderson, a city south-east of Las Vegas, said in July.

Vivier’s department is among the first in the region to use a new tool called the polar pod, which enables emergency responders to pack someone in ice and water while they transport them to the hospital. Vivier said it’s had an incredible impact on their ability to save lives, and that they’ve even been trained to use the pods to revive overheated pets.

Exposure to prolonged extreme heat can also have lingering effects that are harder to quantify. As residents across the south-west yearn for the coming of a cooler autumn, public health clinicians have cautioned the heat can pack a psychological punch as well, leading to symptoms like irritability, anxiety and difficulty concentrating.

Singer Chappell Roan has pulled out of an appearance at this weekend’s All Things Go festival, claiming that her situation has become “overwhelming”.

The rising star, who currently has seven songs in the Billboard Top 100, released a statement on her Instagram stories, announcing that she won’t appear at either the DC or New York City stages this weekend.

“I apologise to people who have been waiting to see me in NYC & DC this weekend at All Things Go, but I am unable to perform,” the 26-year-old wrote. “Things have gotten overwhelming over the past few weeks and I am really feeling it. I feel pressures to prioritise a lot of things right now and I need a few days to prioritise my health. I want to be present when I perform and give the best shows possible. Thank you for understanding. Be back soon xox.”

Organisers of the festival responded with a post on X, showing support, writing that “it’s important to remember that health and well-being always comes first.”.

Roan had made headlines in the last week after an interview with the Guardian in which she spoke about her thoughts on the upcoming election.

“I have so many issues with our government in every way,” she said. “There are so many things that I would want to change. So I don’t feel pressured to endorse someone. There’s problems on both sides. I encourage people to use your critical thinking skills, use your vote – vote small, vote for what’s going on in your city.”

The comment sparked pushback online and led Roan to respond in a number of TikTok videos in which she attempted to clarify her stance. While admitting she would be voting for the Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, she added: “I’m not going to settle for what the options that are in front of me, and you’re not going to make me feel bad for that.”

Roan also said: “Obviously, fuck the policies of the right, but also fuck some of the policies on the left. That’s why I can’t endorse. That’s why I can’t, like, put my entire name in my entire project behind one.”

The singer, who was recently named best new artist at the MTV VMA awards, has previously spoken about the troubles she has had with her expedited rise to fame.

In June, she broke down on stage in North Carolina, saying to fans: “I just want to be honest with the crowd. I just feel a little off today because I think that my career is just kind of going really fast and it’s really hard to keep up. I’m just being honest that I’m just having a hard time today.”

She has also released a number of statements about how she has been treated by over-eager fans who have crossed the line with “creepy” behaviour. “I don’t care that this crazy type of behaviour comes along with the job, the career field I’ve chosen,” she said. “That does not make it OK, that doesn’t make it normal. That doesn’t mean that I want it, that doesn’t mean that I like it.”

In her Guardian interview, Roan also spoke about her diagnosis of “severe depression” for which she is in therapy at the moment. “I think it’s because my whole life has changed,” she said. “Everything that I really love to do now comes with baggage.”

Roan, whose hit singles include Good Luck, Babe and Hot to Go!, has scheduled tour dates in the upcoming weeks in Tennessee and the Austin City Limits festival in Texas. She is also scheduled to be a musical guest on Saturday Night Live on 2 November.

Maggie Smith, the prolific, multi-award-winning actor whose work ranged from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to Harry Potter to Downton Abbey, has died aged 89.

The news was confirmed by her sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens in a statement. They said: “She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27 September.

“An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end. She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital for their care and unstinting kindness during her final days.

“We thank you for all your kind messages and support and ask that you respect our privacy at this time.”

Smith’s gift for acid-tongued comedy was arguably the source of her greatest achievements: the waspish teacher Jean Brodie, for which she won an Oscar, prim period yarns such as A Room With a View and Gosford Park, and a series of collaborations on stage and screen with Alan Bennett including The Lady in the Van. “My career is chequered,” she told the Guardian in 2004. “I think I got pigeonholed in humour … If you do comedy, you kind of don’t count. Comedy is never considered the real thing.” However, Smith also excelled in non-comedic dramatic roles, performing opposite Laurence Olivier for the National Theatre, winning a best actress Bafta for The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, and playing the title role in Ingmar Bergman’s 1970 production of Hedda Gabler.

Born in 1934, Smith grew up in Oxford and began acting at the city’s Playhouse theatre as a teenager. While appearing in a string of stage shows, including Bamber Gascoigne’s 1957 musical comedy Share My Lettuce opposite Kenneth Williams, Smith also made inroads on film, with her first substantial impact in the 1958 Seth Holt thriller Nowhere to Go, for which she was nominated for a best supporting actress Bafta. After starring in Peter Shaffer’s stage double bill The Private Ear and The Public Eye, Smith was invited by Olivier to join the nascent National Theatre company in 1962, for whom she appeared in a string of productions, including as Desdemona to Olivier’s Othello in his notorious blackface production in 1964. (Smith repeated the role in Olivier’s film version the following year, for which they were both Oscar-nominated.)

In 1969 she was cast in the lead role of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, the adaptation of the Muriel Spark novel about the Edinburgh schoolteacher with an admiration for Mussolini; Smith went on to win the best actress Oscar in 1970. Later the same year she starred in Ingmar Bergman’s production of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler for the National Theatre in London’s West End; the Evening Standard’s Milton Shulman described her as “haunt[ing] the stage like some giant portrait by Modigliani, her alabaster skin stretched tight with hidden anguish.” Another Oscar nomination for best actress came her way in 1973 for the Graham Greene adaptation Travels with My Aunt, and an Oscar win (for best supporting actress) in 1979 for California Suite, the Neil Simon-scripted anthology piece in which she played an Oscar-nominated film star.

Smith continued her successful parallel film and stage careers in the 1980s. She starred opposite Michael Palin in A Private Function, the wartime-set comedy about food rationing, co-scripted by Alan Bennett, and had a colourful supporting role as gossipy cousin Charlotte Bartlett in Merchant Ivory’s A Room With a View, for which she was nominated for yet another Oscar. She followed it up with The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, a character study in which Smith played the unmarried, frustrated woman of the title. On stage she played Virginia Woolf in Edna O’Brien’s 1980 play at the Stratford Festival theatre in Canada, and in 1987 starred as tour guide Lettice Douffet in Peter Shaffer’s Lettice and Lovage. She also reunited with Bennett for his Talking Heads series on both radio and TV, playing a vicar’s wife having an affair.

Film roles continued to roll in: she starred alongside Joan Plowright and Cher in Franco Zeffirelli’s loosely autobiographical Tea With Mussolini, a dowager countess in Robert Altman’s country-house murder mystery Gosford Park, and opposite Judi Dench in Ladies in Lavender, written and directed by Charles Dance. She also accepted the prominent role of Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter film series, appearing between 2001 and 2011 in every instalment apart from Deathly Hallows Part 1. Meanwhile she achieved arguably her most impactful TV role as the countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey, created by Gosford Park writer Julian Fellowes – reprising the role in two standalone cinema films, released in 2019 and 2022. Having played the role on stage in 1999, Smith enjoyed a late career triumph in The Lady in the Van, Alan Bennett’s memoir about the woman who lived on his driveway.

Smith was married twice: to fellow actor Robert Stephens between 1967 and 1975, and Beverley Cross between 1975 and his death in 1998.

Two Just Stop Oil activists have been jailed for throwing tomato soup over Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers after one of them told a judge she would “accept whatever sentences I receive with a smile”.

Phoebe Plummer, 23, was sentenced to two years in prison for causing an estimated £10,000 worth of damage to the artwork’s frame at the National Gallery in London in 2022. Her codefendant, Anna Holland, 22, received 20 months for the same offence, but will serve only half in custody.

Passing sentence at Southwark crown court on Friday, the judge, Christopher Hehir, told them: “You two simply had no right to do what you did to Sunflowers and your arrogance in assuming otherwise deserves the strongest condemnation.”

In October 2022, Plummer and Holland had gone to room 43 of the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square and hurled two tins of Heinz soup over the 1888 painting, one of Van Gogh’s most famous works, before gluing themselves to the wall beneath it.

In July, they were found guilty of criminal damage by a jury after three hours of deliberations. Judge Hehir told them at the time to be “prepared, in practical and emotional terms, to go to prison”.

Plummer was further sentenced to three months in jail for interfering with national infrastructure by taking part in a slow march along Earls Court Road in west London in November 2023. Her codefendants in that case, Chiara Sarti and Daniel Hall, received suspended sentences and community work orders.

Plummer gave a 20-minute address to the judge in mitigation, in which she cited Emmeline Pankhurst, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela as examples of people who had been criminalised while fighting for justice.

“On 14 October 2022 and in November 2023 I made the choices to take actions that I knew would likely lead to my arrest and prosecution,” she said. “I made those choices because I believe that non-violent civil resistance is the best, if not the only, tool that people have in order to bring about the rapid change required to protect life from the accelerating climate emergency and the political decisions being made that pour fuel on the flames and which sentence us all to a catastrophic future.

“Whilst of course there are reasons why my life and the lives of people I love and care for would be easier if I don’t receive prison sentences today I don’t intend to go into detail about these, my choice today is to accept whatever sentences I receive with a smile, knowing that I have found peace in doing what I can to defend countless millions of innocent people suffering and dying.”

She added: “I chose to peacefully disrupt a business-as-usual system that is unjust, dishonest and murderous.”

In passing his sentence, Hehir said he took into account not only the damage actually caused to the frame, but the potential for even greater damage to be caused to the painting had the soup seeped behind the glass that covered it.

Discussing the potential sentence earlier in the hearing, Hehir said: “This seems to me a case where section 63 of the sentencing code is relevant because it requires in assessing the seriousness of the offending to consider not only the harm that was caused but the harm that could have been caused. That harm could have been irreversible damage or even destruction of the painting itself if soup could seep through.”

Hehir noted that gallery staff had immediately taken the painting away to examine it and ensure it had come to no serious harm.

The boss of a Tesla factory has defended the decision to send managers to the homes of workers on long-term sick leave.

In recent weeks, a director of Tesla’s electric car plant in Germany sent managers to check up on about two dozen employees who have continued to be paid while being on sick leave over the past nine months.

André Thierig, the plant’s manufacturing director, said the home visits were common practice in the industry and that the company simply wanted to “appeal to the employees’ work ethic”.

The move by Elon Musk’s US-headquartered carmaker has sparked outrage at the trade union IG Metall, which represents a proportion of the 12,000 workers at the Berlin-Brandenburg gigafactory.

The union has campaigned against what it has alleged are harsh working conditions with “unreasonably” long hours and a poor health and safety record.

“Employees from almost all areas of the factory have reported an extremely high workload,” said Dirk Schulze, a regional director at the union. “When there are staff shortages, the ill workers are put under pressure and those who remain healthy are overburdened with additional work.

“If the factory’s overseers really want to reduce the level of sickness, they should break this vicious circle.”

Sick leave rates at the factory on the outskirts of Berlin, which the union says operates with a “culture of fear”, have commonly hit 15% or higher.

The union has said that there is a “culture of fear” that has caused stress and sick leave among workers.

However, Thierig said some workers were taking advantage of Germany’s labour protection laws.

He said that among the factory’s 1,500 temporary workers, who operate under similar conditions to full-time employees, the average rate of absence through illness is just 2%.

“In our analyses of attendance at work, some phenomena have become obvious: on Fridays and late shifts, about 5% more employees take sick leave than on other weekdays,” Thierig said. “That is not an indicator of bad working conditions because the working conditions are the same on all working days and across all shifts. It suggests that the German social system is being exploited to some extent.”

The company had identified about 200 members of staff who were still being paid but had not turned up for work at all this year. “They submit a new sicknote from the doctor at least every six weeks,” he said.

Last October, Tesla rejected claims made by IG Metall that health and safety provisions at the factory were not adequate.

The factory, which is in Grünheide, south-east of Berlin, was opened in 2022 and is the electric car manufacturer’s first in Europe.

Musk, the Tesla chief executive, cited Brexit uncertainty as a factor in deciding against building a factory in the UK.

Tesla has been contacted for comment.

The Environment Agency has warned drivers their cars can be swept away in just 30cm (12in) of water as more than 60 flood warnings were issued in England after heavy rain overnight, with further downpours to come.

Flooding disrupted rail services in England and Wales on Thursday morning and caused the M5 motorway to be closed in both directions in Gloucestershire.

The Met Office has a yellow warning in force for heavy rain covering the southern half of England and Wales, with the Midlands worst affected. At 8am on Friday, the Environment Agency (EA) issued 66 flood warnings in England and a further 121 flood alerts.

Caroline Douglass, the EA’s executive director for flood and coastal erosion, advised motorists not to drive through submerged patches of road.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said: “Don’t take a risk and drive through flood water, because it only takes 30cm to float your car … It’s probably about half the height of your tyres.”

Douglass said drivers tended to underestimate the risk: “They think a car is very heavy object and hard to move. But 30cm is not much water. And many of these waterways are much more fast-flowing than people will realise.

“It really doesn’t take much to make a vehicle float, and so in that case, it will be swept away. We really don’t want to see the sorts of tragic circumstances, we’ve seen this year and in previous years.”

She urged people to avoid walking near rivers or watercourses over the weekend, and to keep their pets and children safe.

Douglass said the agency was particularly concerned about flooding in the Midlands. “Over the last week or so, we’ve seen heavy thunderstorms and downpours, which have saturated particular areas. And then, as we move over the weekend and into next week, we’ll see more traditional winter rainfall that is more widespread and, unfortunately, that’s then going to be landing on already saturated ground. The Midlands are [likely] to be the most affected.”

According to the Met Office warning, wet conditions could lead to difficult driving conditions and road closures, homes and businesses are likely to be flooded and there some communities could be cut off by flooding.

Avon fire and rescue service said it was working with National Highways: South-West to rescue people stranded on the M5 in Gloucestershire after heavy rainfall flooded the motorway.

National Highways said the M5 was closed northbound between J16 and J14 and the southbound carriageway was shut between J14 and J15 as emergency services worked to clear the flooding.

Councils and emergency services in Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire confirmed a number of road closures and reassured residents they were working to keep people safe overnight.

Tewkesbury borough council, in Gloucestershire, has been handing out sandbags to residents to help protect their homes against flooding.

National Rail warned passengers that the wet weather could affect train journeys in England and Wales on Friday. There would be no trains to and from Aberystwyth until 1pm, and and the line between Ledbury and Hereford was also blocked on Friday morning.

On Monday, Hurricane John hit the southern Pacific coast of Mexico, having intensified from a tropical storm to a category 3 hurricane in less than 24 hours.

John made landfall with sustained winds of 120mph, causing destructive storm surges. However, it quickly weakened back to a tropical storm, with sustained winds falling to 50mph by Tuesday morning. John moved relatively slowly, leading to more than 400mm of rainfall in a few days. This rain brought widespread flooding, leading to mudslides in which two people are reported to have died.

Having moved slightly east out to sea again, John is expected to restrengthen and return to hurricane status as it continues slowly north-east along the Mexican coast, bringing similarly heavy rainfall. It is expected to dissipate into Saturday, but further rain and heavy showers are expected to feed across southern parts of Mexico over the weekend. This means that some parts of the south-west of the country could receive more than 700mm within a week.

In India, the city of Pune in western Maharashtra state also saw devastating flooding this week. The city recorded its third wettest September day since 1901, as more than 130mm of rain fell in 24 hours. Such totals are not uncommon during the monsoon months of June, July and August, but is unusual in late September.

Monsoon season has appeared to be slower to retreat in recent years, making late September downpours less of a rarity. This week’s high rainfall totals were due to an excess of moisture over the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, combined with a low-pressure system across the region. Further heavy rain is forecast in the coming days.

In Europe, another wave of cold is expected to hit northern and western parts this week, less than two weeks after the last cold snap. As low pressure clears to the east in the coming days, a more northerly airflow will bring Arctic air southwards, reaching as far as Portugal by Friday. Temperatures are widely expected to be 5-10C below average for the time of year across much of northern, western, and parts of central Europe into this weekend. Heading into next week, temperatures will briefly return closer to average, before falling below the seasonal norm again by the middle of the week.