On face masks, Boris Johnson once again seems to be following rather than leading

Editorial: If wearing face coverings in shops would help to control the coronavirus, why wait to make it compulsory?

Boris Johnson has hinted face masks could be made compulsory in shops. (Parsons Media)

In the curious form of devolution that the UK has adopted, Nicola Sturgeon sometimes gets to announce things before Boris Johnson, although usually it is the other way round. On the question of requiring people to wear masks in shops, Ms Sturgeon made the announcement 10 days ago that it would be compulsory in Scotland from last Friday.

Mr Johnson seems to be proceeding more tentatively in the same direction. During Friday’s “People’s PMQs”, in which the prime minister answered questions from members of the public, he said: “We are looking at ways of making sure that people really do have face coverings in shops.”

Shortly afterwards, he was photographed in a shop and a cafe in his Uxbridge constituency, wearing a Tory blue mask. And a government “source” was quoted as saying it was a “fair assumption” that masks would become mandatory in shops and other indoor public places “within a few weeks”.