Fifty-three Conservatives opposed the tiering plan last December, the largest Covid-related rebellion to date.
“If our understanding of the virus doesn’t change dramatically again”, says Johnson, there will be “substantial opportunities” once key goals are hit.
The OBR’s horrid forecasts of an output implosion and soaring unemployment will do nothing to quell Tory resistance to tougher Covid tiers.
He is one of the few elements of continuity in what has been a turbulent year at the Government’s top table.
Fleet Street, normally a justified sceptic of men from the ministry controlling what people publish, is an enthusiast of regulating social media giants.
The Culture Secretary says he hopes to be talking directly to Mark Zuckerberg.
They should eschew the fire-and-forget approach which gave us the Electoral Commission.
Outside Westminster, Crouch’s resignation will make little impact on a Budget that has gone more or less according to plan. Inside, it may not be quite the same story.
The Government has been bold on this so far and now it must be bolder still. For some, this pause may have tragic consequences.