ON TWITTER

#GAVINWILLIAMSON

The UK Health Secretary refused to say if he offered his resignation over the downgrading of English A-level results and subsequent U-turn.

@Bluntmace said: “I know a lot of people are calling for his head, but whether he resigns or gets pushed I can’t help feeling that this government is like one of those mythical hydras in the sense that lopping off one monstrous head just eventuates in another one sprouting out in its place.”

@jasonlane009 added: “Of course he isn’t going to resign, neither will Dominic Cummings, Matt Hancock, Priti Patel, Michael Gove, Robert Jenrick or Boris Johnson. These are known in the Conservative Party as the Magnificent 7 of cock ups and lies. @Keir_starmer, now is the time to challenge them.”

@orwellianmelon tweeted: “Of course he won’t. MPS don’t resign simply because they’re incompetent anymore. They just keep repeating the same lie over and over until they are reshuffled into another position for which they are under-qualified and incompetent to undertake.”

@Stsimon95 said: “We need some new blood in the government as this current lot of ministers are so bad, calling them Mickey Mouse is an insult... to Mickey Mouse.”

#DIDOHARDING

Baroness Dido Harding, who runs NHS Test and Trace in England, is interim head of the UK government’s new Health Protection Institute.

@Bolsoverbeast Denis Skinner said: “She is married to Tory MP John Penrose, who sits on the advisory board of think tank 1828 which calls for “the NHS to be replaced by an insurance system and for Public Health England to be scrapped. Well. That’s stage 1 completed...”

@bglendenning tweeted: “An object of total ridicule after her utter failure at Talktalk. Then put in charge of the failed Track + Trace ... now getting another plum gig from @Matthancock.”

@andynorthcott wrwote: “So many questions about Dido Harding. Was there a job spec? How did she meet the criteria? Who else was considered? What is the salary? What the actual [heck].”

@Unpub writes said: “The UK’S Covid-19 response is now effectively in the hands of the unelected Dominic Cummings and Dido Harding.”