To think being over two hours late for a press conference...

[Champagneforeveryone]

is a bit of a cunty thing to do?

I completely understand that this is not an everyday occurrence, and it would be nice if things were absolutely in place before our glorious leader addressed the nation.

However, if I rocked up two and a half hours late to work it would not go unremarked on. I cannot simply choose to arrive two and a half hours late to a hairdressers appointment or to catch a flight.

Why say you will hold a briefing (which incidentally we weren't even expecting) at 4pm, then 5pm and then ever increasingly later? It seems really disrespectful to the public who are left waiting to know what will happen. Say it will be at 8pm and be done with it.

[lyralalala]

@MintyMabel

Exactly. "leaking" has been their tactic the whole way through this.

Some of us are smart enough to discern a deliberate leak from one that has caught them on the hop.

If the leak had been deliberate, it wouldn't have happened so late that it required an emergency cabinet meeting at a weekend. It wouldn't have been responded to so hastily. That presentation would have gone through far more departments to make it slicker and not look like it had been cobbled together in excel. The whole thing looked slap dash because it was slap dash.

Anyone who thinks this was a deliberate leak needs to pay more attention to the detail.

Yes of course it would. Because the presentations have been slick, clear and organised the whole way through...

It’s also not the first time they’ve had a weekend cabinet meeting, or unplanned press conference during this. It’s not the first time their tactics of leaking has caught them out.

But, don’t let anything get in the way of your massively superiority trip. If that’s what gets you through the weekend go for it....

[billysboy]

I have posted the above in error and have asked for it to be removed

[MintyMabel]

Exactly. "leaking" has been their tactic the whole way through this.

Some of us are smart enough to discern a deliberate leak from one that has caught them on the hop.

If the leak had been deliberate, it wouldn't have happened so late that it required an emergency cabinet meeting at a weekend. It wouldn't have been responded to so hastily. That presentation would have gone through far more departments to make it slicker and not look like it had been cobbled together in excel. The whole thing looked slap dash because it was slap dash.

Anyone who thinks this was a deliberate leak needs to pay more attention to the detail.

[Mumisnotmyonlyname]

I thought it was rude. Also a bit pointless by then, as the key journalists had delivered his speech anyway, minus the waffle.

[Noitjustwontdo]

whilst Andy Burnham goes underground with his £60 mill

just picturing Burnham sitting in a cave of sorts on a humongous pile of cash, rubbing his hands with glee.

[MintyMabel]

Most sensible lady on there all afternoon was the Professor from Glasgow University but I dont recall her name

Or where she is from, apparently.

Devi Sridhar is the chair of Global Public Health at The University of Edinburgh.

[Champagneforeveryone]

@nosswith

Please do not refer to Mr Johnson as our glorious leader. A man whose inactions and late decisions have probably killed more people in the UK than Nazi bombing raids is not glorious.

Fair enough, though it was meant in an ironic way rather than a reflection of his contribution to our nation

[billysboy]

Live by the sword be prepared to die by the sword

If a govt ( cummings ) is going to leak things to Kuennsberg et al when it suits dont come crying when something gets out at the wrong time

Most sensible lady on there all afternoon was the Professor from Glasgow University but I dont recall her name

[middleager]

YANBU

And if i gave a presentation with all the slides chopped off too, then people wouldn't be very impressed.

[nosswith]

Please do not refer to Mr Johnson as our glorious leader. A man whose inactions and late decisions have probably killed more people in the UK than Nazi bombing raids is not glorious.

[PigletJohn]

Does he "work" for the nation, or does the nation work for him?

[Didkdt]

I think @randomlondoner summed it up nicely.
He wasn't late though. He pushed back the time of the conference and as I said further up, in the tight and ever changing circumstances of the issues and groups involved and the time frame being pulled from under him that is acceptable.

[RandomLondoner]

if I rocked up two and a half hours late to work it would not go unremarked on

That is because you're are an insignificant cog in the your works machine, and it's your job to fit in with their requirements, which is the exact opposite of the situation here. The news industry's role is to report the Prime Minister. It's not the Prime Minister's job to provide material for the news industry. He owes them nothing, he does not work for them, they are not the boss of him.

[Pipandmum]

Goodness do you know how it works? As it was days earlier than originally intended there were probably many details to work out and getting agreement about the furlough, mortgage holiday, consulting with this authority and that ...plus for all you know maybe some other important political thing came up (or maybe Trump called offering advice on how to handle it).
Personally I bet there was an almighty row going on behind the scenes - it was what I imagined before Cummings' press conference, Boris probably shouted at him that he got himself into the whole mess and be better man up and face the cameras himself.
Teresa May must be thinking that being booted out was the best thing that ever happened to her.

[RandomLondoner]

Haven't read thread, as don't care enough, but...

I think you're nuts. The Prime Minister is the Prime Minister, if journalists and other gawpers want to pay attention to him, they can do so whenever he feels like slotting them in. And if he wants to change his mind about that, the risk of displeasing them should be nowhere on his list of priorities. His job is try and get things right, not provide timely entertainment.

[WorksTheDinerAllDay]

He got drunk watching the rugby and needed time to sober up.

[JaJaDingDong]

Partly because they were finalising the message. It was leaked so they had to do something. The PM said he still has to get Parliament to agree.
I think also partly because there was some very important rugby in yesterday and they tried to time it around that.

[wanderings]

I suspect that it did not go unnoticed that the delay kept many trick or treaters at home, while their parents were glued to the TV, waiting for Saint Boris.

[Bambooble]

But I truly believe there's very few of us that could deliver something two and a half hours later than promised with no ramifications

It depends what it is. If it's a choice of delivering 'on time' (no one knows where the reported time came from) but having nothing of value to say, or delaying when you have stakeholder agreement, a clear way forward and are confident that you can clearly convey what you need to, then it's the responsible thing to do. If you're in a job where they allow you to deliver crap just to meet an arbitrary deadline rather than being open to adjusting if it benefits the quality of the work and is reasonable, ie you haven't just sat doing nothing but you have had to wait for confirmation of X or Y then time for a new job.

[flaviaritt]

But I truly believe there's very few of us that could deliver something two and a half hours later than promised with no ramifications.

He is the Prime Minister speaking to the nation. He is one of those very few who can be late. Stop carping.

[lyralalala]

@MostDisputesDieAndNoOneShoots

I heard from a source- ex boyfriend turned Tory staffer- that it was so late because several members of the cabinet were refusing to sign off on this version of the lockdown. Chief amongst them apparently being Sunak, who I imagine is biding his time for a coup.

Sunak has been against further lockdowns and was obviously against any extension to furlough so it makes me wonder what he was offered to agree

According to Twitter the Fail are pointing the finger at Matt Hancock for the leak - I've been waiting for the moment he was thrown under the bus. That has been coming for ages.

[Guylan]

@MostDisputesDieAndNoOneShoots

I heard from a source- ex boyfriend turned Tory staffer- that it was so late because several members of the cabinet were refusing to sign off on this version of the lockdown. Chief amongst them apparently being Sunak, who I imagine is biding his time for a coup.

This sounds v feasible.

[lovelemoncurd]

I don't care I'd rather they sort the issues before telling us tbh. If that takes a little more time then so be it!

[MostDisputesDieAndNoOneShoots]

I heard from a source- ex boyfriend turned Tory staffer- that it was so late because several members of the cabinet were refusing to sign off on this version of the lockdown. Chief amongst them apparently being Sunak, who I imagine is biding his time for a coup.