Frompcat just read what Politico.eu say this morning.
QUOTE
GOVE AS GOOD AS YOU GET. Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove came out fighting this morning against a damning report suggesting the government was asleep at the wheel in the crucial early stages of the coronavirus crisis. The story everybody is talking about — this Sunday Times long-read about the “38 days when Britain sleepwalked into disaster” — suggests the country was too consumed by Brexit and too hobbled by a decade of austerity to deal with the pandemic, while Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not take the threat seriously enough.
‘Grotesque:’ But Gove, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said suggestions the PM had not been on the case were “grotesque.” He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Program: “Anyone who has seen him lead the response to this crisis will know that his focus, his energy, his determination, his passion, has been to beat this virus.” And he told Sophy Ridge on Sky News: “Nobody can say that the PM wasn’t throwing heart and soul into fighting this virus … His leadership has been clear. He’s been inspirational at times.”
Cobra ‘no-show:’ Gove insisted elements of the report were “wrong” or — in a rather tepid phrase — “off beam.” He defended Johnson for failing to attend any of the first five Cobra meetings on the crisis, pointing out that the PM is not present for most Cobra meetings. They are usually taken by a relevant Cabinet minister who reports back to Downing Street. “You can take a single fact, wrench it out of context, whip it up in order to try to create a j’accuse narrative, but that is not fair reporting,” Gove protested to Marr.
Try harder: Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth told Ridge the claim the report was “off beam” was “possibly the weakest rebuttal of an exposé in British political history.” But Gove did admit: “All governments make mistakes including our own. We seek to improve and to learn.”
PM health check: Gove told Ridge the PM was “recovering well” and in “cheerful spirits.” He confirmed reports that the PM spoke to Raab on Friday. According to the Sunday Telegraph, Raab visited the PM for three hours at Chequers, along with top adviser Dominic Cummings and Communications Director Lee Cain, while other top officials like adviser Eddie Lister and Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, were there via video-conference.
END QUOTE