Boris Johnson’s uncomfortable lockdown anniversary

There is little to celebrate in today’s first anniversary since Britain went into lockdown, but Boris Johnson did try his best to mark it with a positive message about what was to come. The Prime Minister held a press conference in Downing Street this evening where he told the public that he wanted to ‘to thank everybody for their courage, your courage, discipline and patience’, and promised that the government was on track to meet its vaccination targets. He closed by saying: ‘And cautiously but irreversibly, step by step, jab by jab, this country is on the path to reclaiming our freedoms.’

It was striking that he wanted to look forward, speaking about much of the pandemic in the past perfect tense, even though it is very much still happening. Even more striking was that both he and chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, warned that there would be another surge of the virus soon.