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Isabel Hardman
Isabel Hardman

Prime Minister taken into intensive care

In the past few minutes, Downing Street has announced that Boris Johnson is now in intensive care at St Thomas’ Hospital after his condition with coronavirus deteriorated. He is not on a ventilator currently but has been moved there in case he needs one.  This is the statement from No. 10: ‘Since Sunday evening, the Prime Minister has been under the care of doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London, after being admitted with persistent symptoms of coronavirus. ‘Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the Prime Minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital. ‘The PM has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is the First Secretary of State, to deputise for him where necessary.

Prime Minister taken into intensive care
Isabel Hardman
Isabel Hardman

Prime Minister taken into intensive care

In the past few minutes, Downing Street has announced that Boris Johnson is now in intensive care at St Thomas’ Hospital after his condition with coronavirus deteriorated. He is not on a ventilator currently but has been moved there in case he needs one.  This is the statement from No. 10: ‘Since Sunday evening, the Prime Minister has been under the care of doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London, after being admitted with persistent symptoms of coronavirus. ‘Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the Prime Minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital. ‘The PM has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is the First Secretary of State, to deputise for him where necessary.

Prime Minister taken into intensive care
Isabel Hardman
Isabel Hardman

Prime Minister taken into intensive care

In the past few minutes, Downing Street has announced that Boris Johnson is now in intensive care at St Thomas’ Hospital after his condition with coronavirus deteriorated. He is not on a ventilator currently but has been moved there in case he needs one.  This is the statement from No. 10: ‘Since Sunday evening, the Prime Minister has been under the care of doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London, after being admitted with persistent symptoms of coronavirus. ‘Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the Prime Minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital. ‘The PM has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is the First Secretary of State, to deputise for him where necessary.

Prime Minister taken into intensive care
Katy Balls
Katy Balls

Dominic Raab kicks coronavirus exit strategy into the long grass

After Boris Johnson's admission to hospital, Dominic Raab tried to use Monday's daily press conference to reassure the public that the Prime Minister was still firmly in charge: 'I can tell you that the PM had a comfortable night in hospital, and he’s in good spirits. He’s still in hospital under observation. He is being given regular updates on developments, and he continues to lead the government. I can reassure the British people that the Government remains united in a single overriding priority, which is to defeat the coronavirus and see this nation through the challenge ahead.

Dominic Raab kicks coronavirus exit strategy into the long grass
Robert Peston
Robert Peston

What will a coronavirus ‘exit strategy’ look like?

At the daily press briefings of senior ministers, the medical and the scientific advisers, there is a reluctance to talk about a timescale for an 'exit strategy' from these unprecedentedly severe restrictions on our freedom to move around and see people - and even to discuss what that strategy might look like. The understandable priority is to get us to commit wholeheartedly to the surrender of these basic rights so that the incidence of the virus can be slashed and many lives can be saved.

What will a coronavirus ‘exit strategy’ look like?
Isabel Hardman
Isabel Hardman

Is Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet really a rejection of Corbynism?

On the surface, Keir Starmer's new shadow cabinet looks like a rejection of Corbynism. Over the past 24 hours, the new Labour leader has sacked most of his predecessor's allies such as Ian Lavery, Richard Burgon, Shami Chakrabarti and Dawn Butler. But if you run through the list of appointments, and the names of those who remain, this is still a reshuffle designed not to upset Jeremy Corbyn's allies. There hasn't been a full clear out, but the faces remaining are largely figures who were never really associated with Corbynism to begin with.

Is Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet really a rejection of Corbynism?
The Spectator

Full list: Keir Starmer’s new Shadow Cabinet

Keir Starmer, the newly elected leader of the Labour party, has taken no prisoners with his cabinet reshuffle. Corbyn allies like Richard Burgon are out, and Ed Miliband is back. Here is the full make-up of Starmer's top team: Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer: Anneliese DoddsFormerly: John McDonnellAn Oxford PPE graduate, Dodds is a long time supporter of Starmer's leadership campaign. She has served as a shadow Treasury minister since July 2017.

Full list: Keir Starmer’s new Shadow Cabinet

Today

6 Apr 2020
The Spectator

Covid-19 update: Is Boris still in charge?

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: News and analysis Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital for further coronavirus tests last night. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will take over day-to-day operations while the PM is in hospital. James Forsyth has the details.Scotland’s chief medical officer has resigned after personally breaking the lockdown guidance by visiting her second home (twice). Podcast here.It could be a month before the UK finds a Covid-19 antibody test that works, according to Oxford University’s Professor Sir John Bell.Matt Hancock has backtracked from his warning that public parks could be shut and daily exercise limited.

Covid-19 update: Is Boris still in charge?
Constantin Eckner

How Germany has managed to perform so many Covid-19 tests

Over the past few weeks there has been widespread curiosity about the German healthcare system. Since the coronavirus outbreak, the infection curve in Germany has risen just as steeply as in Italy, and the measures it has imposed are quite similar to those elsewhere. Yet, its death rate is noticeably lower. Of 100,132 Germans who have tested positive, only 1,584 have died, as of this morning. Compared to fatality rates above 6 per cent in neighbouring France, Netherlands or Belgium, that seems remarkable.

Yesterday

5 Apr 2020
James Forsyth
James Forsyth

Boris Johnson admitted to hospital for coronavirus tests

Boris Johnson has been admitted to hospital for tests after having a continuous temperature for 10 days since testing positive for coronavirus. Those close to him are keen to stress that he is in for ‘routine checks’ and that this is not an emergency admission, or anything like that. I am told the problem is that the symptoms are persistent and refusing to clear up. They are, I am informed, not getting worse. Number 10’s official statement tonight stresses that Boris Johnson remains in charge of the government. But someone who has been unwell enough with coronavirus to be admitted to hospital, albeit for tests, will clearly struggle to operate at their normal capacity. This is especially true given how draining coronavirus can be.

Boris Johnson admitted to hospital for coronavirus tests
Isabel Hardman
Isabel Hardman

Does Matt Hancock really think banning all exercise is a good idea?

Matt Hancock has threatened that the government will ban all forms of outdoor exercise if a ‘minority’ of people continue to ignore social distancing rules. Ministers had been worrying that this weekend, which is sunny and warm, would see people trying to get around the lockdown by congregating in parks. Yesterday there were reports – not all of them hugely reliable or conclusive – of large numbers of people turning up to their local parks, with police forces dispersing groups and stopping people from sunbathing.

Saturday

4 Apr 2020
Melanie McDonagh
Melanie McDonagh

Scrapping GCSEs and A-Levels is unfair and stupid

In Ireland at some point in the 1970s there was such a queue of people waiting to take their driving tests that the government of the day said, what the hell, there’s only one way to get rid of the backlog, and gave everyone with a provisional licence a full driving licence. The result was, as you might have expected: insurance companies registered that a shower of duds would be let loose on the roads that year and, for years to come, factored that into their equations when it came to assessing premiums. I worry, just a bit, that the same might be true of this year’s cohort of examination candidates now that the government, courtesy of Ofqual, the exam watchdog, has decided that, you know what – we can’t possibly let children sit actual GCSEs and A-levels what with the pandemic, so let’s just let the teachers decide what they would have got if they had sat them.

Scrapping GCSEs and A-Levels is unfair and stupid
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