An interview earlier today with my colleague Joe Pike captures the contradiction at the heart of Boris Johnson’s campaign. He wants to be seen as campaigning to lead a ‘new’ government, but the Tories have been in power since 2010. So he finds it impossible to take responsibility for four-year-old Jack Williment-Barr, left to lie on coats for hours in a Leeds hospital. As the video shows, he refuses to look at the picture of Jack – which comes across as him saying ‘I don’t want to own this’. This is certainly the political moment of the day and could be the moment of the campaign:
Tried to show @BorisJohnson the picture of Jack Williment-Barr. The 4-year-old with suspected pneumonia forced to lie on a pile of coats on the floor of a Leeds hospital.
The front desk call out a name, ‘Mohammed Ahmed!’ Four men – or boys as they claimed to be – arrive at the glass window ready for Asda food gift cards and a cash subsistence payment. It’s a small job to find the real Mr Ahmed – the one whose face matches the ID card
Robert Peston
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