Steerpike

Matt Hancock has announced that the government has managed to meet its 100,000 coronavirus tests a day target. The Health Secretary confirmed at a Downing Street press conference that on 30 April, Public Health England carried out 122,347 tests – suggesting the government not only reached its target in time, but also over-delivered. But look at the small print and there were barely 73,191 people tested yesterday. There is another mysterious second category, now introduced, that takes the figure over 100,000. Here's the graph: So what's the trick?

Oh, the joys of Twitter, brimming with experts ready to share their razor-sharp analysis of the day's events. Today's question? Why Boris Johnson wouldn't be doing Prime Minister's Questions. The social media site was this morning awash with pundits speculating as to the reason for the PM's last minute absence and delivering their blistering hot takes on what the non-attendance means.  The real reason, however, became obvious just minutes after No. 10 confirmed that the PM would not be attending the weekly Commons grilling – Johnson's fiancé Carrie Symonds has just given birth.  Not that the Twitterati were able to wait a few minutes to gather their thoughts.

The House of Lords may be the place of hereditary peerages, woolsacks and arcane procedures, but today the Chamber ventured into the 21st century when it trialled virtual proceedings for the first time, using Microsoft Teams. Peers across the country dialled in to a giant conference call chaired by the Lord Speaker, as ministers fielded questions from living rooms and kitchens. And while things went surprisingly well considering the the average age of the House is 70 and the technology was being used for the first time, there were a handful of rather amusing incidents along the way.

So far things have gone rather well in Westminster as Parliament for the first time allows MPs to ask questions over the Zoom video conferencing software.  Over in Wales though, it appears Assembly members might be struggling a bit more with the technology. This afternoon, the Labour Health and Social Services Minister, Vaughan Gething, didn't realise his mic was on and accidentally announced to the world his dissatisfaction with the proceedings. The Labour politician was caught on mic asking the crowded Zoom call: 'what the fuck is the matter with' one of his fellow Assembly members.  Whoever said that politics wasn't civilised? Watch here: https://twitter.com/Alain_Tolhurst/status/1252987981163630594?

Today, the House of Commons finally reopened for business, after it closed its doors early in March due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus. Those who tuned in to the first debate since the break found a rather unusual spectacle awaiting them. Only a handful of MPs and officials turned up to the sparsely filled Chamber, which was filled with tape markings and warnings to ensure that all members remained socially distanced. But arguably the stranger sight, was to see the Commons’ arch-traditionalist Jacob Rees-Mogg leading the debate on behalf of the government for future Commons proceedings to take place via video link.

Was Matt Hancock shrugging off Coronavirus in late January? An 'insight' article in the Sunday Times which has spread like wildfire online accuses him of doing so. The virus was making its way over the world, it says, but 'it took just an hour that January 24 lunchtime to brush aside the coronavirus threat. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, bounced out of Whitehall after chairing the meeting and breezily told reporters the risk to the UK public was “low”.

It was a tale of two interviews on the Today programme this morning. First up on the show was Neil Ferguson, professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London, who has been instrumental in forming the UK government’s response to the coronavirus crisis, and whose virus modelling led to the current lockdown being put in place.  On the show, the professor received an almost deferential line of questioning from Sarah Smith with his views seemingly taken as near-Gospel as he declared that a 'significant level' of social distancing could have to be maintained indefinitely until a vaccine becomes available.  Then came along the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock.

There's nothing like a national crisis to get your priorities in order. With the coronavirus death toll in the UK passing 10,000 this weekend, one government adviser has said Britain could be on course to be the worst performing country in Europe when it comes to overall fatalities. So, surely this is the issue on which the Labour party has spent the bank holiday Monday campaigning? Actually, no. Instead, Labour bods – and new Labour leader Keir Starmer –  have busied themselves with their favourite topic of old: internal party politics. A seemingly leaked internal report alleges that anti-Jeremy Corbyn sentiment within Labour thwarted the party's effort to tackle anti-Semitism.

Most people are delighted at the news that Boris Johnson's condition has improved enough for him to come out of intensive care. But not union boss Steve Hedley. Hedley, the assistant general secretary of the RMT Union, wrote on Facebook: 'I don't want to offend you, but if Bojo pops his clogs, I'm throwing a party. I hope the whole cabinet and higher echelons of the Tory party have been touching various bits of him.' Unfortunately for Hedley, his comments were picked up by LBC's Maajid Nawaz, who confronted him live on air.  https://twitter.com/LBC/status/1248580466577477632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Hedley promptly hung up but the RMT has since announced that he has been suspended and is under formal investigation. Oh dear...

This week Keir Starmer's formed his new Shadow Cabinet replacing several Corbynista stalwarts with his own favoured MPs on the frontbenches. As a result the Labour party has lost some of the ‘titans’ and ‘heavyweights’ of the Corbyn-era, who are no longer shadowing the great offices of state. To commemorate their departure, Mr Steerpike is compiling the best moments of their careers in opposition. On Monday, Mr S highlighted Richard Burgon’s greatest hits, after he was booted out as Shadow Justice Minister. Today we look at Diane Abbott, who announced in advance of Starmer's election that she would be stepping down from the role. Her successor is Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds.