Despite claiming on Friday that he accepted Matt Hancock’s apology and “considers the matter closed“, today Boris had this to say on Hancock’s resignation:

“Well I read the story on Friday and we’ve got a new Health Secretary in post on Saturday, and I think that’s about the right pace to proceed in a pandemic.”

Which doesn’t exactly sound a display of “full confidence”…

Boris also poured cold water on ending lockdown before July 19:

“Although there are some encouraging signs; the number of deaths remains low and the number of hospitalisations remains low … we are seeing an increase in cases so we think it’s sensible to stick to our plan to have a cautious but irreversible approach.”

Sajid Javid is expected to make a full announcement on this later today. Looks like it won’t be necessary now…