Boris Johnson has arrived back at Number 10 poised to resume charge of Britain’s fight against coronavirus tomorrow.
The Prime Minister will chair the daily 9.15 war cabinet and may even put the wheels in motion for an early easing of restrictions.
Allies tonight claimed that he is keen to ‘modify’ elements of the lockdown if the scientific guidance affords him the wriggle room.
Mr Johnson was whisked through the rear entrance of Downing Street at around 6.30 this evening without fanfare, travelling in a humble Volkswagen people carrier rather than his ministerial Jaguar and police motorcade.
Exclusive MailOnline pictures show him greeting a security guard at the gate before heading inside the building flanked by his personal protection.
After 15 days recuperating from his own coronavirus battle at Chequers with pregnant fiancée Carrie Symonds, Mr Johnson has told colleagues he is ‘raring to go’.
His return relieves Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab of command after three weeks deputising for the stricken premier.
The PM comes back to Westminster facing restlessness on both Tory and Labour benches for the government to publish a lockdown exit strategy, as well as splits emerging in his own cabinet.
Boris Johnson has arrived back in Number 10 ahead of his return to work tomorrow following his battle with coronavirus, MailOnline can reveal
Mr Johnson was flanked by his security detail as he headed into the rear entrance of Downing Street
The Prime Minister was pictured entering via the back of Downing Street where he smiled to a security guard before heading inside
He returns to Westminster facing restlessness on both Tory and Labour benches for the government to publish a lockdown exit strategy
Mr Johnson, 55, was discharged from St Thomas’ Hospital in London two weeks ago after spending five nights inside including three in intensive care.
He made a brief stop-off at Number 10 to record a message to the nation – where he thanked NHS staff for saving his life – before heading to his grace-and-favour country home in Buckinghamshire.
There, he has steadily been increasing his workload by making calls with ministers, looking through his papers and hosting Zoom video conferences.
But his return to Downing Street, much earlier than some experts had predicted given the life-threatening severity of his illness, puts his hand firmly back on the tiller as the cabinet faces tough decisions over whether to ease the lockdown.
Mr Johnson is reportedly bullish about easing some of the restrictive measures if the scientific advice affords him wriggle room.
An ally of the PM told the Telegraph: ‘May 7 is the day when the government is legally obliged to review the lockdown measures but if Boris wants to change the restrictions earlier than that, or at least announce something before that, then he could go sooner.’
Number 10 did not confirm if Mr Johnson will front tomorrow’s daily coronavirus press briefing.
Nor did they reveal if he will face off against Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs on Wednesday.
Sir Keir has been urging the government to publish a road map out of lockdown, writing a letter to the PM calling for ‘an adult conversation about what comes next’.
Grumblings are also echoing through the Conservative ranks, with six Tory donors and a slew of MPs demanding restrictions be loosened.
There are growing signs the public is getting agitated with life under lockdown amid a slight increase in travel and scenes of people pouring into parks in the warm weather.
Top of Mr Johnson’s challenging to-do list will be to decide whether to extend the current measures when they expire on May 7.
In Mr Johnson’s absence, ministers have displayed a united front in refusing to fuel speculation of when the country can take baby steps out of lockdown.
Mr Raab, whose role as first secretary saw him fill in for Mr Johnson, this morning scolded ‘irresponsible’ demands for the government to sketch out an exit strategy.
He will take back the reins days after Britain’s deaths passed the grim 20,000 milestone, now standing at 20,732 after a further 413 fatalities were reported today.
The number of cases also rose by 4,463 to 152,840 following 29,058 tests, a figure the re-energised PM will be keen to ramp up to hit the government’s 100,000 target by the end of April.
The Prime Minister was poised to return to work as:
- It was revealed everyone entering Britain will now face a mandatory two-week quarantine under plans being drawn up by the government;
- Ministers have ordered up to 50 million new immunity tests to be produced in the fight against Covid-19;
- Dominic Raab admitted a coronavirus vaccine is ‘unlikely to come this year’ despite human trials starting this week;
- The Foreign Secretary also blasted ‘irresponsible’ Tory donors, MPs and Keir Starmer for demanding the government publish a lockdown exit strategy;
- A tracker app showed coronavirus was spreading in Britain weeks before first case was spotted – and says we already passed peak of the bug on April 1;
- Epidemiologist Prof Neil Ferguson, who is on the Sage group of advisers, warned 100,000 people could die of coronavirus if the lockdown was lifted and ‘shielding’ of elderly;
- A top microbiologist said ministers repeating the mantra they are ‘following the science’ could be doing to to blame scientists for ‘anything that goes wrong’;
- People flocked in their droves to DIY stores despite rules banning all non-essential outings;
- Britons in lockdown were braced for more bad news as the country will be hit with weeks of rain from today as the heatwave ends.
Mr Johnson was whisked through the rear entrance of Downing Street at around 6.30 this evening without fanfare, travelling in a humble Volkswagen people carrier rather than his ministerial Jaguar and police motorcade
Mr Johnson steps out of the dark minibus before heading inside one Downing Street’s vast network of inter-connected buildings
Mr Johnson will also return to find his cabinet split over how to map a path out of the lockdown after a source insisted: ‘Boris is tightening his grip. You are going to see much greater clarity, energy and purpose now.’
During a three-hour Chequers summit, which included Mr Raab, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill and aides including chief adviser Dominic Cummings and No 10 Director of Communications Lee Cain, Mr Johnson was given a detailed briefing on the policy work being carried out on Covid-19.
Mr Sunak presented an economic blueprint based on the ‘best practice’ that has been shown to work in countries such as Switzerland, Denmark and Germany.
It is understood the Chancellor briefed Mr Johnson on a four-point plan to reopen non-essential shops, change working patterns and then open schools – as well as making ‘hygienic measures’ a permanent fixture in Britain’s workplaces.
Mr Sunak highlighted plans in Austria where shops over 400 sq m (4,300 sq ft) and hardware stores and garden centres have already reopened, while in Germany hairdressers are open as long as staff and clients wear protective clothing.
And he championed the Czech Republic’s five-stage plan to lift all domestic restrictions by June 8, with particular focus on the country’s plans to start by opening farmers’ markets and car dealerships.
Boris Johnson as he participates in a national ‘clap for carers’ just days before he was moved to St Thomas’ hospital
Why IS it taking so long for deaths and infections to come down? New cases decline by just a third in three weeks
The UK has taken three weeks to reduce daily coronavirus cases by around a third in a ‘disappointingly’ slow decline that may be due to ‘inadequate access to personal protective equipment’.
The daily number of infections has fallen from 5,903 at its peak on April 5 to 4,913 yesterday.
This rate of decline lags behind other countries in Europe – including Germany and heavily-hit Spain and Italy – when compared to the three weeks following each nation’s peak of infections.
Professor Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia said one of the reasons could be due to greater access to personal protective equipment abroad.
It comes as leading British scientists poured cold water on hopes of ending the lockdown, warning the cases figure first needs to be in the hundreds, not thousands.
The UK yesterday passed the 20,000-death milestone in the outbreak as a further 813 deaths took the official total toll to 20,319, while cases hit 148,377.
Prof Hunter from Norwich School of Medicine at UEA told MailOnline: ‘If you look at most of the other countries, not all, but certainly most are showing a much steeper decline than we are.
‘We are definitely seeing a slower impact than most of our European neighbours.’
The academic said it was not immediately clear why other countries’ declines were steeper than ours, but said he had some theories.
He said: ‘I suspect that some of this is around issues potentially around inadequate PPE for health service and care workers.’
He added: ‘It would not surprise me if some of this number of deaths was driven largely because of the spread not necessarily in the general population but in the elderly and vulnerable and that would be related to inadequate infection prevention.’
Reports last week said Mr Johnson’s serious illness had turned him from a ‘hawk’ who supported an early exit from the lockdown into a ‘dove’ who regarded the protection of the NHS as the overwhelming priority.
But that interpretation is disputed by one Minister, a close ally of the Prime Minister, who said: ‘I don’t think that is right. He is going to start showing some leg on leaving lockdown.’
The Minister added: ‘The PM is moving in tandem with public opinion. I think public opinion is getting ready for things to change.
‘Businesses that weren’t meant to have locked down are saying they are going to start up again.
‘People are doing it already. You can’t keep the lockdown going for ever because people are bored and people want to get out.’
In reference to the elderly, the Minister said: ‘Surely there comes a point at which you say: ‘There may be a risk, but thank you very much – I will take that risk myself. I want to see my grandchildren.
‘I don’t want to live for four years as a hermit’. Meanwhile, young people are beginning to feel, ‘I’m 20, I’m fit, my chances of getting anything are negligible. Why am I locked down?’ ‘
Sources said that in the coming days, Mr Johnson would ‘immerse himself in briefings with his team and set out his priorities for the week ahead’. The Prime Minister is also expected to grill Secretaries of State on their departments’ progress in tackling the virus.
A No 10 insider said: ‘The Prime Minister has been doing all the right things and following his doctor’s advice to come back to work, and he is raring to go. He has told the team he will be back at his desk on Monday morning – it’s given everyone a huge lift.’
Cabinet Ministers warn that for all the planning available, eventually Mr Johnson will have to make a ‘horrible political decision’ about what he believes to be an acceptable level of community infection rates going forward.
One said: ‘It’s very clear that what this comes down to will be what is his tolerated transmission rate? Is it 1,000 new cases a day – 4,000?
That is a decision that needs to be taken by the whole Cabinet, not just four stand-ins,’ referring to the so-called ‘quad’ of Ministers who have been minding the shop for Mr Johnson – Mr Raab, Mr Sunak, Matt Hancock and Michael Gove.
The Minister added: ‘The decision comes down to will we have a high tolerance for infection, where things really get back to normal, or a low tolerance where the social distancing carries on for months and we always stand two metres apart.
‘There is a middle path, but that is a decision for politicians now, not scientists. They have set out the consequences, now it is time to decide. It is an inherently political decision.’
Other Ministers are urging the PM to ‘bind Labour’ into any decision on lifting the lockdown to avoid the opposition ‘weaponising’ any future increase in cases.
One said: ‘Keir Starmer is offering to be a grown-up here and work with us, and we should call him out on that.’