Boris Johnson resists easing of coronavirus lockdown
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Boris Johnson has told colleagues that he is very cautious about easing lockdown restrictions and that his “overriding concern” is avoiding a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
The prime minister, who is recovering from Covid-19 at Chequers after several nights in intensive care, held a two-hour meeting on Friday with Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, Dominic Cummings, his most senior adviser, and Lee Cain, his director of communications.
Johnson was quoted as saying that his first priority is seeing that the UK recovers.
The PM is understood to have met his deputy Dominic Raab at Chequers on Friday to discuss the crisis.
He is thought to have told Mr Raab and other officials via video that stopping a second peak was his priority.
It comes after criticism Mr Johnson did not chair or attend five early meetings about the virus.
The PM is currently staying at Chequers – the country retreat of the prime minister – while he recovers from coronavirus, and is not officially back at work yet.
Meanwhile Tony Blair has said a clear strategy is needed to end the coronavirus lockdown as he said Britain was “too slow” in trying to suppress the outbreak of disease compared to other countries.
The former Labour prime minister said the UK needed to be “ahead of the curve” as soon as medical and scientific conditions allowed it to emerge from the lockdown into a “new normal”.
The ex-premier said: “There are two basic phases to tackling the Covid-19 crisis: suppression of the disease; and managed revival of the economy.
“The ‘normal’ that we return to will be a new normal.
