The COVID Diaries -115 22nd July
The Guardian has reported that the government’s flagship test-and-trace system is failing to contact thousands of people in areas with the highest infection rates in England, raising further questions about the £10bn programme described by Boris Johnson as “world-beating”.
Local leaders and directors of public health are demanding more control over the tracing operation amid concerns that their ability to contain the virus is being put at risk.
Meanwhile Johnson scored a spectacular own goal at today’s Prime Ministers question time. In response to his accusation that Kier Starmer of having “more flip flops than Bournemouth beach” when Starmer pressed him on the lack of action regarding weaknesses in Britain’s national security, Starmer replied “This is the former columnist who wrote two versions of every article he ever published.”
This was a reference to the infamous article which Boris Johnson wrote in 2016 outlining why he’d decided to campaign for leaving the EU. Rather embarrassingly, it turned out that Johnson had written a backup article outlining why he’d decided to campaign to remain in the EU, calling into question his motives for campaigning for Brexit.