The REAL reason Boris Johnson is so fearful of ditching two-metre rule: Doom-monger advisers led by grim private polls, and the terror of being blamed for a new spike are paralysing the PM, write ANDREW PIERCE and RICHARD KAY

Sitting in his accustomed seat at the middle of the Cabinet table flanked by a handful of socially-distanced ministers, Boris Johnson called for order to enable a figure hovering nearby to speak. Isaac Levido hardly needed an introduction. The softly-spoken 35-year-old Australian was one of the brilliant architects of last December’s decisive general election victories. All the same, his presence at last week’s political cabinet meeting, when no civil servants are permitted to be present and at which ministers are encouraged to voice strong views about the Government’s performance, was highly unusual. But then his message was unusual too. Addressing the room and the faces on the large TV screen, where other Cabinet members had joined by video conferencing calls, he presented the outcome of a series of extensive private polling on the way voters see the Tory Government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. The numbers were sobering. ‘It would be fair to say that the polls suggested there had been a sharp decline in public support,’ says one figure. But after three months of lockdown, the spectre of mass unemployment and more than 40,000 Covid-related deaths, this was hardly surprising. What did raise eyebrows were the details behind the… Read full this story

The REAL reason Boris Johnson is so fearful of ditching two-metre rule: Doom-monger advisers led by grim private polls, and the terror of being blamed for a new spike are paralysing the PM, write ANDREW PIERCE and RICHARD KAY have 226 words, post on www.dailymail.co.uk at June 17, 2020. This is cached page on X-Buy. If you want remove this page, please contact us.