Therese Coffey has got her tongue in a twist over snogging guidelines

The work and pensions secretary has sparked further confusion over the government’s opaque advice on the omicron variant

Ministers are tying themselves up in knots as they tell us what we should and shouldn’t be doing this Christmas because of the still unclear threat from the omicron variant.

Therese Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, sparked the latest confusion over the government’s opaque advice when she told ITV’s Peston programme: “I don’t think there should be much snogging under the mistletoe! Don’t need to do things like that.” When presenter Robert Peston asked “just no snogging?”, she replied: “Well, not with people you don’t already know!”

This inevitably begged many more questions. Are we allowed to kiss relatives, close friends, casual acquaintances, lovers, former lovers, potential lovers? Of course, these will not be covered by government rules. Downing Street made clear this afternoon that snogging will not be restricted. But that didn’t stop Coffey’s unwise remarks fuelling criticism from Tory lockdown sceptics about the “micromanagement” of people’s lives.

Coffey insisted: “I think we should all be trying to enjoy the Christmas ahead of us.” In fact, she is no killjoy but the life and soul of the Tory party: she sangThe Time of My Life at a 1am karaoke session at its conference in October. But her timing was off: her appearance created controversy because it was on the day her department’s £20-a-week uplift to universal credit came to an end, after she lost a cabinet battle with Rishi Sunak.

The presenters of Radio 4’s Today programme concluded this morning they were now allowed to say “snogging” on air. Coffey will now be remembered for adding a new “s-word” to the political lexicon. Just as well when Keir Starmer seems to have ended Labour’s relationship with socialism in his shadow cabinet reshuffle.

There is a serious point behind the headlines about “killjoys” and “gaffes”. The government’s woeful mixed messaging is again leaving the public and business in limbo as they have to make decisions now about Christmas preparations. Boris Johnson wants to wait until his scientific advisers know more about omicron in two weeks, so the vacuum will be filled by speculation and more fuzzy communications when people are crying out for clear guidance.

Every minister appearing on the media will be asked whether Coffey was right about snogging. George Freeman, the science minister, drew the short straw today. He told people to “exercise some common sense” about who they kissed and where, telling LBC it was “up to all of us” to help control the spread of omicron and avoid the potential need for tougher curbs. He said his team would meet virtually for Christmas drinks over Zoom but it “slightly depends on the nature of the business” whether the same move was advisable.

Johnson will not be rushing to kiss Coffey anytime soon. Her remarks have kept the media spotlight on Christmas gatherings and thus the allegations that Downing Street held a “boozy” party in the run-up to last Christmas. Johnson has denied that lockdown rules were broken but not that an event took place.

The only crumb of comfort for ministers is that they can extend their “use your common sense” Christmas message to remind people to get their booster jab. The government has announced that it has bought more than 114 million more doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which can be tailored to tackle new variants, paving the way for a fourth jab.

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter by clicking here

That generated some positive headlines that ministers didn’t really deserve because the UK has so far delivered only 11.5 million of the 100 million doses promised to poor countries. Only 7 per cent of Africa’s population has been vaccinated, compared with 67 per cent in high income countries. Freeman insisted today that “it’s not a choice”, but it is.

As Bruce Aylward, an adviser to the director-general of the World Health Organisation, told Times Radio: “The reality is that if you leave this virus free to spread anywhere, you’re going to see exactly what people are worried about today – the emergence of new variants. The biggest bang you’re going to get for your buck with vaccines globally is getting them into places that don’t have vaccine [...] low income countries areas with low coverage need to be a priority today.”

Ministers would be better advised to address such inequality and short-sighted vaccine nationalism rather than opine on whom we should be snogging this Christmas.