A crucial week of decisions that could define the PM’S premiership

Back in the hot seat after recovering from coronavirus, Boris Johnson is under pressure to relax the UK’S lockdown restrictions

BORIS JOHNSON’S arrival back at his 10 Downing Street desk yesterday kickstarted a crucial week in the coronavirus crisis that will do so much to set the tone of his premiership over the next few years.

The Prime Minister returned with a pledge to “refine the economic and social restrictions” that have kept millions of people at home and mothballed the British economy.

Speaking outside No 10, he made clear that he could not “spell out now how fast or slow or even when those changes will be made” but he did promise to say more “in the coming days”.

The comments set the stage for a highly pressured few days for Mr Johnson. His Government is already committed to reviewing the coronavirus lockdown by Thursday next week.

But all eyes are now on a meeting of his full Cabinet this Thursday – which is expected to sign off a blueprint to vary the lockdown rules.

For millions of Britons, this clarity about a way out of lockdown could not come soon enough. There was evidence at the weekend of an uptick in more people travelling in cars, possibly in defiance of restrictions.

That came as polling for The Sunday Telegraph showed that approval for the Government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis had fallen for the second week in a row, albeit from a healthy 59 per cent to 52 per cent.

Sir Graham Brady, who as chairman of the 1922 Committee is Conservative MPS’ unofficial shop steward, said that while he was delighted to see Mr Johnson return, he was also “impatient to see the lifting of restrictions as soon as it is safe to lift them”.

Mr Johnson made clear that he recognised this unease, telling viewers in his address that “I understand your impatience, I share your anxiety” and pledged to be more transparent about the Government’s thinking. He headed straight from his address to chairing the daily Covid-19 meeting of his most senior Cabinet ministers. The discussions were described as “quite high level” but not “particularly detailed”.

The PM has already asked for blueprints from Government departments setting out how ministers could lift restrictions in their areas of the economy while also ensuring social distancing continues. He spent the rest of yesterday catching up with No10 colleagues, reading official papers and planning the rest of the week.

One priority is to bring opposition parties into the Government’s thinking on easing restrictions. Mr Johnson is expected to meet with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, possibly in the House of Commons tomorrow, while other meetings are planned with the leaders of other opposition parties next week.

The meeting with Sir Keir – the first time the pair will have sat down faceto-face since the new Labour leader was elected – will be pivotal in attempts by Mr Johnson to create a national effort to beat the virus. But other leaders are not waiting for Mr Johnson to start cross-party talks. In Edinburgh, Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, said her government will issue guidance on wearing masks later today. The issue of masks is just one of the areas being considered by Mr Johnson’s team of scientific advisers on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) which meets later today and Thursday. A report was submitted to ministers last week.

Tomorrow, Mr Johnson is expected to face Sir Keir in Prime Minister’s Questions for the first time, although No 10 has declined to state explicitly whether he will be there.

The Government had been expected to say on Thursday whether it had hit the target set by Health Secretary Matt Hancock to be carrying out more than 100,000 Covid-19 tests a day.

Yesterday No10 warned that the figures would not be ready until early next week due to a delay in gathering the necessary data.

Top of Sage’s agenda when it meets on Thursday will be whether the Government’s five tests that must be passed before the lockdown can be lifted have been satisfied.

There is already evidence from the Government that the first four may have been met or are on the verge of being satisfied: making sure the NHS can cope; a sustained fall in the death rate; the rate of infection falling to manageable levels; and ensuring supplies of personal protective equipment can meet future demand.

However, in a poll by the Royal College of Physicians, one in four doctors said they are having have to re-use protective kit meant to be worn just once.

That leaves the fifth – that ministers can be confident any adjustments to the lockdown would not risk a second peak – as still to be satisfied in what will be essentially a political judgment call.

Mr Johnson used his address to pledge that there will be “the maximum possible transparency” about how these decisions will be made.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, welcomed the comments, saying: “We need to bring people into the Government’s confidence, explain to them, don’t treat them like children.”

He added: “The balance point – where getting Covid under control and still having an economy to grow as soon as we get to that point – is going to be an enormous judgment call.”

Last night Prof Chris Whitty, the Government’s chief medical adviser, started to deliver on that promise of greater openness when he said that each of the tests would be judged against whether satisfying it did not increase the chances of cases rising.

He told the nightly Downing Street coronavirus news conference: “How those different bits go together is one for ministers – we can provide data saying ‘here are some combinations of what we can do’. There will be some difficult choices.”

As Mr Johnson starts work in this crucial week, he will know that he cannot afford to overdo it. No10 insisted that the workaholic Prime Minister was fit and well to return to work on the advice of doctors.

But ministers remain concerned. One told The Daily Telegraph: “We are hoping that he has left it long enough and he is completely better. But with this disease – some people say that they suddenly get struck down weeks later by immense tiredness, or some sudden pain.”