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Boris Johnson was forced to isolate himself Sunday night just as he embarked on a crucial week designed to restore calm and project an air of competition after a fierce 10th turf war.
There were concerns that Covid-19 had returned to Downing Street as a result of a 35-minute meeting between the prime minister and a group of Conservative MPs at No. 10, one of whom subsequently tested positive for the virus.
Johnson was in the photo standing next to Lee Anderson, MP for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, inside Downing Street on Thursday. The men appear to be less than 2 meters apart and none are wearing a mask.
Officials insisted that Downing Street was a Covid safe workplace, but said the NHS Test and Trace had said factors, including the length of the meeting, meant Johnson should isolate himself as a precaution.
The prime minister will have been meeting with several other figures since Thursday, including his aides Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain, who resigned this week before Johnson ordered him to leave on Friday after a 45-minute meeting at No. 10.
Johnson is expected to continue to make public statements from inside Issue 10, including about the government’s green plans. This is also a crucial week for Brexit, as negotiations with the EU reach their final phase.
Downing Street said Johnson will contact parliamentary authorities about remote participation in House of Commons proceedings. Under “hybrid” parliamentary agreements, MEPs can only participate in some proceedings via a video link. It is unclear whether he will participate in the prime minister’s questions on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for No. 10 said: “The prime minister will follow the rules and isolate himself. He will continue to work from Downing Street, including leading the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. The PM is fine and does not have any symptoms of Covid-19. “
Johnson contracted the disease himself in late March, shortly after announcing the first nationwide lockdown. Initially he continued to work in Downing Street, before his health deteriorated and he was taken to intensive care.
Others who tested positive or suffered symptoms included Health Secretary Matt Hancock, England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, former Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill and Cummings.
With a decision earlier this week on whether a Brexit deal with the EU can be struck, a Downing Street spokesman was forced to insist Sunday that the prime minister would not stray after days of turmoil.
Johnson was expected to show his determination to move forward with the “leveling off” agenda Monday in a meeting with members of the Northern Research Group of MPs, led by his former ally Jake Berry.
Later this week, with his sights set on new U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, Johnson will make a series of green announcements, which are expected to include confirmation of a plan to phase out gasoline and gas vehicles. diesel in a decade.
He also planned to work on England’s emergence from national lockdown restrictions in two weeks, after Sage (the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) warned that a return to the tiered controls system would allow the virus to re-emerge before Christmas .
Many high-level conservatives have reacted with glee to the departure of Cummings, whom they saw as a key cause of dysfunction and disorder in Downing Street. He and Cain, the communications director, had clashed with Allegra Stratton, the new press secretary, who had the backing of Johnson’s partner, Carrie Symonds.
One MP cited the decision to appoint a cabinet minister to appear on Monday’s Good Morning Britain show on ITV, which No. 10 had boycotted since April, as an example of a new and less confrontational approach under Stratton.
Former Attorney General Geoffrey Cox tweeted Sunday to highlight the claims he had made about Johnson when presenting his leadership pitch last year. These included a promise to “unify the conservative family” and offer “political leadership.” Each of the promises “is as powerful now as it was then,” Cox tweeted, in what appeared to be a call for a new beginning by the prime minister.
Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA’s union, which represents senior public officials, told the Guardian that he hoped Cummings’ departure would be a time to repair relations with Whitehall.
“If you are going to reform the civil service, you need to build strong relationships. You can’t be fighting the civil service, intoxicating the relationship, undermining people, if you want it to surrender, “he said.
“There is a dysfunction in the way the government is working: they need to restore the government of the cabinet, prevent the 10 drug traffickers from being special advisers, restore their relationship with the ministers.”
He added that the government should immediately release a report on the allegations of harassment by Priti Patel, which has been delayed for months.
Bob Kerslake, the former head of the civil service, said he hoped Cummings’ departure would mark the end of what he called the “hostile environment.”
Noting the departure of a number of senior civil servants, including Sedwill and four permanent Whitehall secretaries, preceded in several cases by hostile reports, Lord Kerslake said: . The problem has not been that the civil service is completely resistant to change, they just don’t like you going to war with them. “
With Cummings and his Vote Leave Cain ally missing, Johnson will also have to make a decision in the coming days on whether to reach a trade deal with the EU.
David frost
(@DavidGHFrost)2/4 We are working to reach an agreement, but the only possible one is one that is compatible with our sovereignty and regains control of our laws, our trade and our waters. That has been our constant position from the beginning and I will not change it.
David Frost, who is leading the negotiations for the UK government and whose own position was the subject of speculation after the resignations of Cain and Cummings, tweeted on Sunday that he would not change his solid approach to the talks.
“We are working to reach an agreement, but the only possible one is one that is compatible with our sovereignty and regains control of our laws, our trade and our waters. That has been our constant position from the beginning and I will not change it, ”he tweeted.
Environment Secretary George Eustice insisted that the departure of Cummings, considered a hardline on Brexit, would not affect the decision-making of No. 10.
A spokesperson for Issue 10 said: “This government is determined to improve opportunities for people across the country, regardless of their background or where they live in the UK.
“We were chosen in an ambitious manifesto to fulfill this agenda, investing in education, skills and our NHS, tackling crime and introducing tougher sentences for those who commit the most heinous crimes, as well as concluding our trade negotiations with the EU.
“Our agenda remains focused on this, and we will never deviate from this course as we rebuild better from the coronavirus pandemic.”
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