The government’s impending end to facemask laws faces a major upset today as Sadiq Khan intervenes to force mask-wearing on all TfL services. The continued mask mandate will be a “condition of carriage”, meaning TfL customers will enter into a contract with them to abide by their rules. According to amateur epidemiologist Sadiq, the mask requirement will be maintained “as long as the virus is still with us”. So forever then…

Sadiq’s new rules mean party-going young people will have to wear a mask on a potentially quiet tube carriage, then be allowed to remove them when entering a rammed nightclub.

Guido’s not sure why Sadiq thinks he now has a grasp on Covid science given his past record. At the start of the pandemic he told Piers Morgan with total conviction that there is “no risk” of catching the virus on the tube. A week later he launched an “enhanced cleaning regime”, a less-than-useful exercise given the nature of a primarily airborne virus.

In June, Sadiq then hailed victory after the government brought in the mask mandate, claiming credit for lobbying for the change – despite, as he’s today proved, having been able to introduce mask requirements at any time regardless of government policy. As he’s made clear throughout the pandemic, Sadiq continues to decide policy based entirely on how it will look PR-wise among his voters…