COVID-19: Boris Johnson elbows aside cabinet ministers to offer route out of lockdown to restless Tory MPs
We had a treble helping of the PM within six hours - but it's important to note what he didn't say as well as what he did.
Wednesday 27 January 2021 22:59, UK
You always know when a political crisis is really serious or there's a big announcement coming: the prime minister elbows some poor beleaguered cabinet minister aside and makes the big statement his or herself instead of the hapless minister.
But, in making his statement on when schools in England might reopen, Boris Johnson elbowed aside not just one cabinet minister but two.
The Health Secretary Matt Hancock had been due to make a House of Commons statement. His name was on the Order Paper.
And despite the statement being about schools in England reopening, the embattled Education Secretary Gavin Williamson - already facing calls to be sacked - wasn't even in the running.
Was this a sign the prime minister has lost confidence in him and his days are numbered? Almost certainly.
There was no sign of the bungling Mr Williamson at the Downing Street news conference either.
Instead, Mr Johnson was flanked by the familiar faces of top scientist Sir Patrick Vallance and the popular and straight-taking medic, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam.
So we had a treble helping of the prime minister within the space of six hours: his second 5pm Downing Street news conference in 24 hours, coming after an ill-tempered Commons clash with Labour's Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs and again during his Commons statement.
After his sombre tone at the previous evening's news conference, when the UK death toll tragically topped 100,000, this time the PM came over as sympathetic to the concerns of parents, his voice was soft at times and it was a carefully-pitched teatime address to people watching at home.
He admitted that 8 March is the earliest that children can start going back to school in England. It depends on a lot of things going right, he said.
So 8 March is a target, nothing more, really, and a lot of targets have been missed by the government during this pandemic.
There were lots of promises from the PM, such as continuing free school meals, tutoring and help in catching up, as he tried to make the best of the announcement that home schooling in England is now set to go on for at least another six weeks.
He was challenged on the contradiction of his claim on 4 January that schools are "vectors for transmission" and his insistence now that "schools are safe", but he ignored the question.
But midway through the PM's news conference, the charismatic JVT, the best communicator among all the government boffins, brought it to life.
Answering a question about children and COVID, he rattled off a series of short, snappy questions with yes or no answers.
Can children get COVID? Yes. Can they get ill with it? Very rarely. Can they transmit it? Yes. Do teachers get COVID? Yes.
Already something of a cult figure during this pandemic, the burly, pinstripe-suited deputy chief medical officer for England is a reassuring presence at these news conferences. He speaks clearly in language everyone can understand.
Later JVT revealed that he has now helped out with vaccinations at three sites in the Midlands, where he lives.
Imagine rolling up your sleeve for your jab and looking up to see who's wielding the needle and it's that bloke off the telly!
For the prime minister, however, this was a fairly low-key performance. He seemed keen to avoid controversy.
For instance, the Brexiteer PM resisted the temptation to wade into the row between the European Union and AstraZeneca.
He talked about international partnerships and multinational effort. No doubt his private view is much more X-rated and critical of Brussels.
But just like in his news conference 24 hours earlier, there was no acknowledgement of mistakes from the PM.
His aim was to highlight his plans on schools reopening and he didn't appear to want to be drawn on other issues.
For those watching on TV, there will be relief among parents and teachers that the government has finally provided some clarity on the date when schools will start to reopen, even though it's only a target.
His pledge to set out his plans for a route out of lockdown restrictions in England the week after parliament's half-term break sounded like a sop to Tory backbenchers demanding a swift easing of the current shutdown.
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On this, the prime minister is obviously - and understandably - more concerned about demands from his own MPs than those from Sir Keir and other opposition leaders.
No doubt Mark Spencer, the government chief whip, has warned the PM that Conservative MPs - and not just the shouty leaders of the COVID Recovery Group and the veterans from the Tories' libertarian Right - are getting restless.
The government knows it can almost certainly rely on Labour support for lockdown measures when it comes to Commons votes, but doesn't want to suffer the embarrassment of a big Tory rebellion.
It's also important to note what the prime minister didn't say as well as what he did.
It's now clear - and was confirmed later by Downing Street - that there will be no easing of any other lockdown restrictions in England before 8 March.
The PM was clear that it's schools that will reopen first. And 8 March is only the beginning of schools re-opening.
So that means pubs, restaurants, non-essential retail, hairdressers and other businesses are going remain closed for many more weeks. The PM can expect more grief on that from his backbenchers.
But no doubt when hospitality, shops and other businesses do eventually reopen, on that occasion the prime minister will elbow the Chancellor Rishi Sunak aside and announce the good news himself.
Over three nights Sky News will host a series of special programmes examining the UK's response to the pandemic.
Watch COVID Crisis: Learning the Lessons at 8pm on 9, 10 and 11 February.