Two years, 43 U-turns: How the Prime Minister has caved in

Two years, 43 U-turns: How the Prime Minister has caved in over and over again

Boris Johnson’s government has performed more than 40 U-turns since winning the 2019 general election. 

In the past two years, despite commanding a large majority in the Commons and strong support in the polls, the Prime Minister has been forced by public outrage, campaigns and opposition from his own backbenchers to cave in on everything from lockdowns to sackings.

2020

January 31: Mr Johnson privately says the ‘best thing would be to ignore’ Covid-19, but is soon forced to take steps to combat the pandemic

March 12: Mass community testing is scrapped, in the face of World Health Organisation advice, only to be reintroduced in the autumn

The Prime Minister has been forced by public outrage, campaigns and opposition from his own backbenchers to cave in on everything from lockdowns to sackings

May 20: Cleaners, porters and social care workers belatedly included in a scheme granting leave to remain in UK to relatives of foreign-born NHS staff who died from Covid

May 21: PM forced to end the £400 NHS surcharge for health and care workers from overseas

June 3: Ban dropped on MPs voting by proxy if they were shielding

June 9: Plan to reopen all primary schools by the end of term abandoned

June 16: Free school meal vouchers extended to summer holidays after campaign led by football star Marcus Rashford

Students from Codsall Community High School march to the constituency office of their local MP Gavin Williamson, former Education Secretary

June 18: Centralised NHS contract-tracing app scrapped after Government finally concedes it will not work

July 2: Promise of quarantine-free ‘air bridges’ watered down with only a handful of countries exempt

July 14: Government makes face masks mandatory in shops, long after they were introduced on public transport

July 14: Chinese tech firm Huawei banned from providing equipment for 5G phone networks, after initially being allowed to work on them

August 10: Regional approach to contact tracing allowed, after ministers persisted with centralised system

Advice against wearing face masks in schools scrapped just days before term begins

Free school meal vouchers extended to summer holidays after campaign led by football star Marcus Rashford

August 15: PM insists A-level results judged by algorithm are ‘robust’ but within days it is announced that grades will be estimated by teachers instead

August 21: Eviction ban extended for another four weeks

August 25: Advice against wearing face masks in schools scrapped just days before term begins

September 7: Badger culls approved in 11 areas, in breach of recent promise

September 22: PM tells staff to work from home ‘if possible’, weeks after telling Cabinet it was ‘quite right’ that people were returning to the office

October 31: Month-long ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown announced after weeks of ministers ignoring calls from scientists for fresh restrictions

November 5: Furlough extended again until March

November 8: Free school meals extended again after more pressure from Rashford

December 19: PM cancels Christmas for millions having previously insisted it would be ‘inhuman’

January 4: National lockdown introduced a day after schools reopened

January 27: Shake-up of workers’ rights post-Brexit axed, days after it was said to be going ahead

March 12: Government decides to ‘call in’ controversial decision to approve a coal mine in Cumbria, having previously chosen not to intervene

April 20: Ministry of Defence excludes torture and genocide from curbs on prosecution of troops serving overseas, in wake of criticism by peers

Owen Paterson who has has resigned as the MP for North Shropshire 

April 22: Cabinet Office announces it will probe leaking of texts between PM and tycoon James Dyson, 24 hours after No 10 said it was unnecessary

May 25: Official guidance scrapped that had told residents in North West to avoid leaving their homes

June 26: Mr Johnson refuses to sack Health Secretary Matt Hancock for having an affair with an aide and declares the matter ‘closed’, only to accept his resignation the next day

July 12: Tory MPs given a free vote on planned foreign aid cuts, after initial refusal, in attempt to quell rebellion

July 13: Foreign aid budget slashed despite Conservative manifesto promising to keep it at 0.7 per cent of GDP

July 14: PM calls for action against those who boo sports stars for taking the knee, having previously suggested it is acceptable

July 17: France dropped at the last minute from list of destinations where returning double-jabbed travellers can avoid isolating

July 18: PM and Chancellor Rishi Sunak forced to isolate after initially attempting to evade quarantine by claiming to be part of a pilot testing project

July 21: UK tries to redraw Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit deal, agreed less than two years earlier

July 22: Critical workers exempted from isolation as the ‘pingdemic’ takes hold, despite earlier being included

August 2: Complex ‘amber watchlist’ idea for countries with rising Covid levels scrapped

August 20: Ministers backtrack on refusal to support 125 Afghans who guarded the UK embassy in Kabul

Mr Johnson refused to sack Health Secretary Matt Hancock for having an affair with an aide

September 8: Rise in national insurance announced in breach of manifesto promise

September 8: Triple lock on pensions axed for a year, breaking another manifesto pledge

September 12: Vaccine passports dropped for nightclubs weeks after No 10 said it would press ahead with them

September 24: Thousands of foreign lorry drivers invited to the UK, in a rethink of strict immigration rules

October 26: Water firms told to do more to stop raw sewage entering rivers, above, after Tory MPs initially tried to dismiss social media outrage

November 4: Despite whipping MPs to vote to tear up the sleaze rules, Government forced to abandon plans for a new standards committee

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