Cabinet row delays (but can’t stop) ‘living with Covid’

The cabinet met this afternoon – somewhat later than planned – to rubber stamp engage in robust, collegiate debate on the Prime Minister’s plan to lift all remaining Covid-19 restrictions.

The meeting had been scheduled to take place at 10am but was mysteriously delayed at the last minute. How last minute, you ask? Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Chief Secretary Simon Clarke had already been photographed arriving at Downing Street for the meeting.

The hold-up was linked to a classic of the Whitehall genre – an argument between HRH Treasury (there ‘HRH’ is a joke predicated on your knowledge of both the unfortunate error in today’s The Sun front page and HMT’s full title) and a spending department, in this case, Health and Social Care.

The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg reports that Health Secretary Sajid Javid had asked for £5bn to maintain more free testing. This was revised down to £3bn, then £1.8bn, until finally it was agreed that any additional funding would have to come from existing budgets.

This is another ‘win’ for the Treasury, though complications may arise from where exactly that money is found, given the enormous backlog in NHS waiting lists, which currently stands at six million and could hit 11 million.

A row and slight delay to a cabinet meeting may seem like small beer compared with the actually monumental step of ditching Covid restrictions at a time when one in 20 people in England had the virus in the week ending February 12.

But such a last-minute and therefore public delay suggests deep misgivings among some ministers, not necessarily about the lifting of restrictions themselves, but over our ability to monitor and respond quickly to future waves even as we learn to live with Covid.

After all that, Boris Johnson is set to address the House of Commons at around 4.30pm, followed by a press conference at 6.30pm.

Elsewhere in the paper, Jamal Edwards launched the careers of Ed Sheeran, Stormzy and brought the sound of south London to the world. As his sudden death at just 31 is announced, Jochan Embley charts his astonishing life and legacy.

In the comment pages, Rob Rinder says enough already with ‘culture wars’ — there are real injustices out there. Rob also explains how Benedict Cumberbatch has him to thank for his Oscar nomination.

Meanwhile, Samuel Fishwick didn’t just watch Big Jet TV. He lived it. Or, put another way, how storm Eunice cured his fear of flying.

And finally, spare a thought for Eamonn Holmes, who was ‘sacked by ITV because viewers no longer liked him’.

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