London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Sep 19, 2025

Opposition leaders attack Boris Johnson over muddled messaging

Opposition leaders attack Boris Johnson over muddled messaging

Johnson accused of becoming ‘PM for England’ as MPs say lockdown advice may cost lives
Opposition leaders have rounded on Boris Johnson for sending out confusing and muddled advice that they claimed could cost lives as the government attempts to move away from the coronavirus lockdown.

MPs in the Commons criticised the change of the government’s message from “stay at home” to “stay alert”, questioned whether Johnson could still speak for the entire nation, and called for new work guidelines to be published before employees are expected to return on Wednesday.

Johnson denied that he has been acting as the prime minister of England after the administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland rejected Downing Street’s new slogan.

Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said Johnson had struggled to hold the nation together and failed to provide clarity and reassurance to concerned citizens.

“There’s not consensus either on messaging now or on policy between the UK government and those in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, not something I know he [Johnson] wanted to see but now we’re in that position, [which] raises serious concerns, with a real danger of divergence,” he said. “What the country needs at this time is clarity and reassurance and at the moment both are in pretty short supply.”

The SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, called for Johnson to accept that Scotland would continue to use the government’s previous “stay at home” message, even as the prime minister urged the UK public to “stay alert”.

“Will the prime minister confirm that he accepts and respects that in the devolved nations the advice clearly remains ‘stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives’?” he asked.

Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, asked if Johnson could confirm that he was acting as prime minister of England.

Johnson rejected the criticisms, telling MPs the government was offering good advice for the whole of the UK. But he accepted that different places may need different policies in the short term.

Johnson’s address to the nation on Sunday prompted concern from unions and opposition politicians about the lack of a clear message. The government then published further details on Monday in a 60-page document called Our Plan to Rebuild, which recommended wearing face coverings in crowded places and allowed further activities in outside spaces such as meeting friends.

The document set out a three-step “second phase” of lockdown. Starting on Wednesday, people will be actively encouraged to return to work if they cannot work from home. From 1 June, if the R rate of the spread of the virus remains below one, some schools and businesses will reopen and sporting events will be allowed behind closed doors. Potentially from 4 July, some remaining businesses such as hairdressers and social spaces such as cinemas and pubs will be allowed to reopen.

Johnson told MPs that the divergence of advice across the UK should be temporary. “The government is today submitting to the house a plan which is conditional and dependent, as always, on the common sense and observance of the British people and on continual reassessment of the data. That picture varies across the regions and home nations of the United Kingdom, requiring a flexible response.

“Different parts of the UK may need to stay in full lockdown longer but any divergence should only be short-term because, as prime inister of the UK, I am in no doubt that we must defeat this threat and face the challenge of recovery together.”

Johnson said he has asked the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) to examine when the government could safely allow people to expand their household group to include one other household. He also said parents unable to access childcare should not be expected to go to work.

Businesses across the country should be “Covid secure” and the Health and Safety Executive would enforce the rules, the prime minister said. “We will be having spot inspections to ensure businesses are keeping their employees safe.”

People should not be travelling to a second home for a holiday, Johnson said. Asked by Fay Jones, the Conservative MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, if the government’s new strategy was a green light for tourism or for people to travel to their second homes in Wales, Johnson replied: “We don’t want to see people, let me repeat, we don’t want to see people travelling to another home for a holiday or to a second home.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×