1 February 2021
Obiter’s deep throat in Whitehall has revealed why departments are refusing to publish their submissions to the Faulks review. An overheard conversation at the Department of Administrative Affairs apparently went something like this (with apologies to Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay, authors of Yes Minister):
‘Minister you will recall your insistence that, rather than merely adumbrating the current staff shortage at the Department of Administrative Affairs, the submission to the inquiry should outline in detail the precise types of judicial review application that cause the most difficulty for government policy and the tactics to which the department resorts in order to defeat them.’
FAIR do’s, we learned quite a bit from the Johnson state visit north of the locked-down border. We know the blonde bumbler can open the lid on a box and remove the contents under instruction. It’s clear, he’s mastered the complicated art of the elbow bump. And he’s found a foolproof way of stopping those he meets adopting unacceptably rude expressions – just get them all to mask up. Previously, when he’s ventured over Hadrian’s wall, his praetorian guard have whisked him to stage managed locations in the north east. This had the inestimable advantage of putting him in contact with the minimum number of actual electors, given that so few of them ever vote for his party, and those who do tend to cluster mainly in that wee blue corner.
This interview was suggested by the interviewee, Sadiq Khan. Not because he wanted to promote his campaign for re-election as London mayor. We barely discussed it. He wanted to talk about mental health; his, mine and everyone else’s. Fear not, we also talk Trump, Brexit, Sir Keir Starmer and whether Labour can win the next election. But mental health and men was the reason he wanted to reach out to
GQ.
He had seen my BBC documentary on depression, in which I spoke of how I use a jam jar to manage my mental health, and got in touch after reading my book,
Submitting.
It’s also anticipated that the Prime Minister will praise the rollout of the vaccination, with two million more citizens vaccinated in the past week.
His speech will come a day after home secretary Priti Patel unveiled stricter fines for those breaking lockdown rules, with £800 fines issued to those in England who attend house parties.
What time is Boris Johnson speaking?
The prime minister is scheduled to address the public and the press at 5pm.
Where can I watch his press briefing?
Boris Johnson s briefing will be available to watch live on BBC News.
You can watch online through BBC iPlayer here, while Sky News has a live YouTube stream here.