Politics

Boris Johnson will not hold coronavirus crisis meeting until Monday


Boris Johnson has been accused of shirking responsibility after it emerged he will not hold an emergency Cobra meeting on the coronavirus outbreak until Monday and is spending the weekend at his country retreat, Chequers.

Despite No 10 claims that the PM is keen to “check” everything is being done to prepare as the virus spreads through Europe, he will not chair the meeting for three days and no details of his engagements over the weekend have been released.

From Friday to Sunday, the PM’s spokesperson said Johnson will receive daily updates on a range of government issues from flooding to the coronavirus. He is working from Downing Street on Friday morning and will head to Chequers for the rest of the weekend.

Monday will be his first time chairing a Cobra meeting on the virus.

Earlier this week Jeremy Corbyn labelled Johnson a part-time prime minister for spending the parliamentary recess at Chevening, another government grace and favour mansion, while the coronavirus crisis continued and large parts of the country were affected by flooding.

The prime minister’s deputy official spokesman said: “If you look at the increased number of cases on mainland Europe, the prime minister is keen to check over on Monday to ensure that everything that can be done, is being [done].”

Asked what was preventing the PM from holding a meeting sooner, he said: “There are daily meetings between Public Health England and the Department for Health and interested departments, the chief medical officer, the chief scientific officer – those meetings happen daily and will continue to happen. The prime minister will hold a meeting of Cobra on Monday.”

Johnson visited doctors and nurses at Kettering general hospital overnight between 11pm and 3am to hear about how the NHS was preparing for the virus. No media were able to attend.

It has also emerged that the PM is not personally planning on visiting any flooded areas over the weekend.

His spokesman added: “There was a visit from the environment minister yesterday. We are continuing to respond to the flooding and there is a significant amount of operational activity across the country.

“The Environment Agency teams continue to work 24 hours a day and we will continue to help those that are affected and help those people get back on their feet. The PM is receiving daily updates on this but as we’ve said before it’s been led out of Defra.”

Labour’s leadership contenders all criticised Johnson for the three-day wait for the Cobra meeting.

Rebecca Long-Bailey said: “The first duty of any prime minister is to protect people, but whether it’s protecting the public from natural disasters like floods, or public health emergencies like the coronavirus, Boris Johnson is consistently awol. Our NHS is already at breaking point, this government has to come up with an immediate plan to reassure us that it can cope.”

The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, said Cobra must be convened as soon as possible and that the government has a responsibility to provide leadership and assurance on the country’s preparedness.

Lisa Nandy, who is also in the running to replace Corbyn, said the “prime minister is nowhere to be seen”.

“The people of Britain deserve better than a part-time prime minister.”

The former chancellor, George Osborne, also weighed in to mounting criticism of Johnson’s leadership on the coronavirus, saying that ministers should give daily briefings to the press and appear on all major media channels.

He tweeted on Friday morning: “The British government now needs to go on to a ‘war footing’ with the coronavirus: daily NHS press briefings, regular Cobra meetings chaired by the PM, ministers on all major media shows.

“The public is fearful, wants information and needs to know their leaders have got a grip.”

The shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, criticised the government’s ban on ministers appearing on certain BBC radio programmes, describing it as “childish”.

The prime minister’s deputy spokesman said they had spoken to a range of media outlets recently.

Johnson’s appearance at prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday was the first time he has been seen in public for 12 days.

After spending the recess in Chevening, he attended Tuesday night’s lavish Winter Party, formerly known as the Black and White Ball, for party donors.

The event held in Battersea saw prizes auctioned off, including two games of tennis with the prime minister.



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