PM adopts new serious persona as he gets tough over virus at last

Last night, after a week of pleading and sighing, Boris Johnson finally got tough. Seriously tough. For the previous seven days, the Prime Minister had been politely “advising” the public to stay in, and to avoid crowds. Packed-out pubs and markets, however, suggested that his message hadn’t got through to everyone.

In matters of life and death, Mr Johnson was learning, mere “advice” was not enough. Instructions on how to avoid spreading a deadly disease to thousands could no longer be presented as if they were optional.

No doubt it pained Mr Johnson to be stricter. But he had clearly decided that, with lives at stake, there was no alternative but to lay down the law. No policeman, after all, tiptoes up to a gang of criminals and murmurs: “I say, chaps, hate to butt in – but would you mind terribly not committing all these murders? I don’t want to be too draconian about this. But the latest scientific advice suggests that murdering people poses a serious threat to their health.

“Obviously, this is something we’re keeping under review. But if we suspect people aren’t following advice on not committing murder, I’m afraid we may consider it necessary to introduce tougher measures. Anyway, wonderful to see so many of you out enjoying the fresh air in this dark alley tonight. Have a lovely evening.”

That type of approach, it seemed, wasn’t going to cut it. The Prime Minister knew that this time his message had to land. So, instead of the usual teatime press conference, he delivered a televised address to the nation at 8.30pm sharp.

There he was in No10, behind a desk in almost headmasterly fashion, hands clasped, stare unflinching. “From this evening,” he grimly intoned, “I must give the British people a very simple instruction: you must stay at home.”

This was a new tack. For the first time since the crisis began, his language was clean and clear, rather than weak and woolly. No burbling and gabbling. No more wincing and stammering and staring awkwardly at the floor. No more smirking leniency, like a middle-aged father desperate for his sons not to think him uncool.

However unwilling Mr Johnson may have been to go this far, his message last night was firm and frank. This, he declared, was a national emergency. The police would have the power to fine transgressors, and to disperse larger groups. After making that last announcement, he swallowed hard. No doubt a lot of viewers did, too.