WATCH: Johnson – ‘I’m absolutely amazed at how badly prepared the government was for this pandemic’

Former Health Secretary says Labour Government was ready for swine flu, with safety equipment set aside.

WATCH: ‘A government of national unity is not on the cards’ – Hancock

However, the Health Secretary says he has a very constructive relationship with Jon Ashworth.

Daniel Hannan: There will come a point at which the cost of containment will outweigh the cost of the virus

That grim calculation must at some point be made. Refusing to face it is not an act of high-mindedness, but of dereliction.

David Gauke: The virus – and my journey from serving as Lord Chancellor to volunteering to stack shelves

Plus: Treasury and Work & Pensions lessons. Greenlighters v the rest. Remembering Attlee’s surplus. And: the key question now is “how”, not “what”.

John Redwood: Why I, as a strong supporter of the market economy, back the Government’s emergency economic measures

The reason we will get away with it again, as we did in the banking crash, is that there is so much deflation around, inflation is not a problem.

John Redwood: Why the Government’s response to the virus can’t be settled by the science – with decisions made by epidemiologists

Many of these matters can only be made on the basis of imperfect information. The advantage of the elected official making the ultimate decision is one of accountability.

British politics begins self-isolation

It froze up during Brexit stasis, thawed when Boris Johnson won his majority – and is closing down again as the coronavirus advances.

Coronavirus 1) We should ease the rules that restrict volunteering

Given that older generations will be most affected by an outbreak, we must encourage young people to volunteer their help.

John Redwood: Lessons for managing civil service obstruction from the Thatcher years. And my role as head of her Policy Unit.

There were plenty of Yes Minister routines and scripts to live through then as now. Much of the system did not like the privatisation programme.

Beware the Eye of Johnson

It is straining to be bigger and better, and see further, faster. But the lesson of the story is that it can’t see everywhere at once.

Reshuffle 3) Chris White: It isn’t just Ministers who get fired. A third of SpAds are set to lose their jobs.

There will be some bruised personalities on the backbenches who will need careful managing over the next few months, and I hear that Spencer is already on the job.

Johnson’s reshuffle. If he isn’t Thinking Big it should be Kept Small.

Let Sunak and Dowden join Jenrick at the top table. And that should be about it. If the Coronavirus takes off, Ministerial changes will be the least of our worries.

The Treasury fights back. How it plans to drive radical reform – and become “the Government’s internal think tank”

Would the Government have the bottle for planning, childcare and police overhauls – and will Downing Street sign up to this plan anyway?

Neil O’Brien: So you want to level up. In what way? And how will you do it?

Measuring people’s incomes needs to be part of measuring progress – but we need to be careful, because different measures give different results.

White hot heat of the technological Cummings?

This new government seems to want to concentrate its energies on giving Britain a cutting edge. Will it succeed where others have failed?