Tony Blair is back on the airwaves again today, plugging his new Time to Mass Test report which argues that testing the majority of the population is “the only way to restore confidence and allow the UK to live safely alongside Covid-19.” The report has a joint foreword by Blair, William Hague, and Jeremy Hunt…

Speaking to the Today Programme this morning, the former PM told the programme that beyond testing the Government needed to be more willing to stop following and start challenging its experts.

“You’ve just got to interrogate the officials properly. And I think that what’s happened is that too much of this has just been as it were accepted, without really trying to get underneath and into the detail of what people are suggesting so that you understand where the science ends and judgements begin.”

The analysis is remarkably reminiscent of what Rory Stewart was saying in June, that the Government has been too reliant on and unquestioning of its scientific advisers. Jeremy Hunt, who co-authored the foreword to Blair’s testing report, clashed with Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty last month over SAGE advice to end community testing back in March. Suddenly it’s fashionable to challenge the experts from organisations with acronyms…