Boris Johnson was not trying to take the public for “fools” by initially avoiding having to self-isolate, the vaccines minister has said. Nadhim Zahawi said on Monday the prime minister realised it would be “wrong” for him and chancellor Rishi Sunak to use a pilot scheme to ditch quarantine. But the government was forced into a hasty u-turn amid an angry public backlash at its two most senior figures should receive special treatment. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday, Zahawi said: “No-one is taking anyone for fools. The row came as Johnson appealed to people to exercise their new freedoms with caution as most mandatory lockdown restrictions in England were lifted.

Source: Huffington Post July 19, 2021 09:45 UTC