One of the big gambles that Johnson and his team has made has been to pre-order tens of millions of vaccines spread out across different potential suppliers. The big one is for the Oxford jab which is now going through its final tests with the expectation that it will soon be available.

This afternoon’s news is that approval of the Pfizer vaccine, which has also be pre-bought by the government, is set to get the thumbs up in days and a week on Monday could start to be used. The one problem with this is that it requires to be carried and stored at extremely low temperatures which means that only big hospitals with the facilities will get it first.

The Oxford vaccine has far fewer constraints on its distribution which would mean it is more widely available.

Whatever this is going to be a big plus for Boris which, no doubt, we will be reminded of at the next general election.

Mike Smithson