Watch: Minister’s mixed messages on remote working

The government’s messaging on the coronavirus has left a lot to be desired in recent days – with confused statements on the easing of lockdown and the efficacy of face masks becoming the norm.

Now it appears that even the government’s own ministers are struggling to keep up. On Monday, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland was interviewed by ITV, and was specifically asked about the guidance on working from home. Last week, Boris Johnson appeared to change the government’s position when he told members of the public that they should ‘go back to work if you can’. Despite this, the official guidance still states that the public should work from home where possible.

Robert Buckland appeared to fully embrace that contradiction in his interview. At first he asserted, mirroring the government guidance, that the public should ‘work from home, if you can.’

Though that was rather undermined when he said, less than a minute later: ‘yes, come back to work’.