Not making the promised June 21 lockdown end is going to be controversial

Not making the promised June 21 lockdown end is going to be controversial

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Yet again Boris & co are over-promising and failing to deliver Many of the front pages this morning give a taste of the likely reaction if the June 21st lifting has to be put back. The big question here is how much the government will get the blame. Clearly ministers have to take into account the spread of the new variant and its likely health implications but so many had planned their lives around lockdown finally coming to an end…

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Reaping the Whirlwind

Reaping the Whirlwind

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Accusations of lying flew around the Select Committee room – mostly directed at Matt Hancock. A Minister who, if Cummings is to be believed, could not be trusted, indeed was not trusted by the Cabinet Secretary. Or others.(Apparently. We have yet to hear from Mr Sedwill.) Indeed, judging by how often Cummings was asking the PM to sack his Health Secretary, it’s a wonder anyone in government had any time to worry about dealing with the pandemic so busy were…

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Dom gets the front pages that he clearly wanted

Dom gets the front pages that he clearly wanted

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What’ll be the political impact? As expected the appearance by Dominic Cummings before the Commons committee yesterday totally dominates the front pages. The big question is what will be the political impact. That is hard to say at this stage. The Tory peer and elections expert, Lord Hayward. always says that it takes about a fortnight for events that dominate the news to impact on the polls. In any case three weeks today we have real life test with the…

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Following the explosive testimony by Dom Cummings Matt Hancock now betting favourite to be next Cabinet exit

Following the explosive testimony by Dom Cummings Matt Hancock now betting favourite to be next Cabinet exit

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Firstly an apology. I was totally wrong when I predicted yesterday that the Dom Cummings appearance today before MPs would be a damp squib and would not live up to its billing. In fact the event broadcast live for several hours was at times totally compelling and we learned a fair bit about how Johnson’s Number 10 worked and what the dynamics were. It will be referred to many times in the future. We underestimated Cummings whose testimony was reinforced…

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Local lockdowns by stealth – it is all looking rather chaotic

Local lockdowns by stealth – it is all looking rather chaotic

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A big problem with bringing in new lockdowns is that so many people are now vaccinated and don’t feel the same risk or believe that they could be spreaders. The major fact needs to be repeated that in terms of hospitalisations the pandemic has just about been stopped. I live in one of the affected areas and my reading is that it is going to be very difficult to impose and maintain travel bans on a voluntary basis. Many people…

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