Boris Johnson has issued a remarkable plea for everybody to “stick to the rules” on self-isolation, just hours after trying to dodge them himself.
The prime minister and chancellor Rishi Sunak were forced into a humiliating U-turn after announcing they would take part in a “get out of jail free” scheme to avoid 10 days’ quarantine as contacts of Covid-positive health secretary Sajid Javid.
After an eruption of outrage from businesses, voters and opposition politicians, Johnson and Sunak hastily backtracked and said they would not take advantage of a “special VIP lane” scheme under which they could instead take daily coronavirus tests.
In a tweet, Mr Sunak acknowledged that “even the sense that the rules aren’t the same for everyone is wrong” and said that he would consequently be going into self-isolation.
But in a video message, the prime minister made no reference to the anger and disquiet which greeted his initial decision, saying only: “We did look briefly at the idea of us taking part in the pilot scheme which allows people to test daily, but it’s far more important that everybody sticks to the same rules, and that’s why I’m going to be self-isolating until 26 July”.
The attempt to duck isolation prompted fury after a week in which more than 500,000 people were told to stay home in a “pingdemic”, forcing the closure of businesses, cancellation of trains and the suspension of a London Underground line.
The decision – denounced as “Barnard Castle on steroids” by Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey in reference to Dominic Cummings’ lockdown-busting trip to Durham – was denounced far beyond Westminster, with one business leader accusing the government of treating Britons “like mugs” and another saying it was a case of “do as I say, not as I do”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Johnson and Sunak had been “busted” in an attempt to escape the consequences of the rules they had imposed on others.
“Yet again the Conservatives fixed the rules to benefit themselves, and only backtracked when they were found out,” he said. “They robbed the bank, got caught and have now offered to give the money back.”
But there was no sign of contrition in Mr Johnson’s message, which instead focused on urging members of the public to show caution when taking advantage of his decision to lift lockdown rules in England on Monday, at a time whe Covid-19 infections are running at more than 50,000 a day.
“I really do urge everybody to stick with the programme and take the appropriate course of action when you’re asked to do so by NHS Test and Trace,” he said.
“The reason for that is we’re going tomorrow into step 4, we’re doing a big opening up. And that’s quite right. If we don’t do it now, then we’ll be opening up in the autumn and winter months when the virus has the advantage of the cold weather and we lose the precious firebreak that we get with the school holidays.
“If we don’t do it now, we’ve got to ask ourselves, when will we ever do it?
“This is the right moment, but we’ve got to do it cautiously, we’ve got to remember that this virus is sadly still out there and cases are rising.
“So please, please, please be cautious and go forward tomorrow into the next step with all the right prudence and respect for other people and the risks that the disease continues to present.”
