Inside Politics: Coronavirus special | Boris Johnson sets 12-week target to turn the tide

Sign up here to receive this daily briefing in your email inbox every morning

Friday 20 March 2020 09:08 GMT

Boris Johnson says worst of crisis over in three months if people follow the rules

Imagine there’s no virus. It’s getting hard to do. The self-isolating actress Gal Gadot led a celebrity sing-a-long of the John Lennon classic on Instagram – and not everyone is here for it. There’s been a similar lack of enthusiasm for the bedroom concerts offered up by Chris Martin and Miley Cyrus. It’s not really the time for cheap and cheerful reassurance, as our prime minister knows all too well. Boris Johnson has told the nation he cannot promise the worst will definitely be over by June – but he does hope we can “turn the tide” on the outbreak in the next 12 weeks. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing during the coronavirus crisis.

Inside the bubble

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock on what to look out for at Westminster today:

All eyes will be on the chancellor Rishi Sunak, set to make an announcement about more emergency economic measures – this time aimed at protecting workers’ jobs and wages as they face hardship during the pandemic. Boris Johnson will also give another of his daily press conferences, so we will hear if he is ready to take tougher measures to ensure more social distancing in London.

Daily briefing

THIS TOO SHALL PASS: Boris Johnson used his latest press conference to set a three-month target for significant progress. “I cannot stand here and tell you by the end of June we will be on a downward slope … what I can say is this is going to be finite, we will turn the tide and I can see how we can do this in the next 12 weeks.” The PM offered glimmer of hope by saying scientists expect to start trials for a vaccine against the virus within a month. Johnson also said a “game-changer” antibody test was “coming down the track” which could identify whether somebody had become immune to the disease. The PM’s spokesman rejected the idea of an imminent lockdown in London. But there is a sense of No 10 staff hunkering down, after photos emerged of camp beds and a bulk order of toilet roll getting delivered to Downing Street. Meanwhile, the government has released a list of key workers, so parents know if they can send their children to “skeleton” schools. It includes those in the bank, IT and phone industries, as well as public service broadcasters.

TOP UP THE WORKERS: Rishi Sunak is set to announce an income subsidy package in a bid to protect millions of jobs, after negotiations with business groups and the unions went on into the night. According to The Times, one option under serious discussion is for the state to underwrite 60 per cent of the average national wage for every worker. Labour released its own plan for the state to underwrite up to 90 per cent of wages if companies commit to keeping staff on – suggesting we follow the lead of Denmark, where the government has already promised to cover the bulk of salaries for the next three months. Tory MP Greg Clark, the ex-business secretary, suggested we could simply “reverse” the pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) system so the state gives employers the money to cover wages. Will there be an increase in statutory sick pay, at least? Asked on BBC’s Question Time if he could get by on the sum of £94.25 per week, health secretary Matt Hancock bluntly admitted “no”.

STAY WHERE YOU ARE: If there was any doubt at all Brexit trade deal talks are off for the foreseeable future, the EU’s negotiator Michel Barnier revealed he tested positive for the coronavirus. “I’m fine, morale is good,” he said. The foreign secretary Dominic Raab continues to insist there are no plans to extend to the transition period, however. Raab also told a committee of MPs on Thursday that British citizens overseas should “think very seriously” about staying where there are for now. With at least 300,000 Britons currently in other countries, the minister conceded it was an “epic challenge” to get them back. Elsewhere, former PM Gordon Brown said the crisis has been dominated by too much “populist nationalism” and called for more international co-operation. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres did likewise. “Global solidarity is … a moral imperative,” he said. The number of confirmed coronavirus deaths around the world is now more than 10,000, with confirmed cases nearing the 250,000 mark, according to Johns Hopkins University.

NEWS FROM THE NORTH: The latest from Italy is very bad, with the authorities confirming on Thursday another 427 deaths in a 24-hour period. The country has passed a bleak milestone, with the coronavirus death toll of 3,405 now surpassing the official Chinese figure. Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, a virologist at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, said Italy’s high death rate could be explained, in part, by the near-total breakdown of the health service in northern regions. Almost two-thirds of the deaths have been in the Lombardy alone. “That’s what happens when the health system collapses,” he said. Italians continue to share the message “andra tutto bene” – everything will be alright.

NEW DAWN RISING: Mercifully, China offers some real hope. Officials there say they have “seen the dawn” of an end to the epidemic, after the country reported zero new cases of local infection for the very first time since the outbreak began. The lack of new local transmissions in Hubei province – where Covid-19 is believed to have first transmitted among humans – was hailed as a landmark in the global fight to contain the disease. The draconian lockdown in the city of Wuhan is still in place, however, and will be lifted only if no additional cases are reported for two consecutive weeks.

ALL MY TRIALS: Donald Trump has said he has plans for a trillion dollar rescue package in an attempt to save the economy from collapse. The president also announced efforts to clear “red tape” and accelerate tests for drugs which could be used to treat coronavirus. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said the Malaria drug Hydroxychloroquine would be tested for treating COVID-19 “in a very large clinical trial.” California, meanwhile, has announced a state-wide “stay at home” order to fight the spread of the disease. “This is a moment we need to make tough decision,” said governor Gavin Newsom – who said 40 million Californians should venture outside only for essential jobs, food errands and some exercise.

On the record

“There is nothing I can say that will undo the suffering ... on behalf of this and successive governments I am truly sorry.”

Home secretary Priti Patel apologises the Windrush scandal after a report concluded it was ‘forseeable and preventable’.

From the Twitterati

“Fascinating to see the anonymous Twitter accounts mobilise to defend Boris Johnson. This is not at all a political point, this is objectively a poor performance … lacking in clarity and leadership. These moments are tests of our leaders, we expect them to lead.”

The HuffPost’s Jess Brammar doesn’t think much of the PM’s latest press conference…

“This is too important to personalise but Boris Johnson is very bad at delivering a straight message. His journalistic and political careers have been about irony, metaphor, hints, codes and winks. Nothing in his life has prepared him for sincerity or seriousness.”

…neither does former No 10 adviser Matthew O’Toole.