Almost immediately after the demise of rule-breaker Matt Hancock as Health Secretary, his replacement Sajid Javid caught Covid.

Catching it was unfortunately too easy. But for his close contacts pinged by the NHS app, doing the right thing was not something they initially contemplated. Far from self-isolating, both Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak decided that the rules didn’t apply to them and suddenly, they became part of a mysterious pilot scheme that would allow them to circumvent the rules.

The reaction to this bare-faced hypocrisy was one of fury and it led to a U-turn at a speed that even Lewis Hamilton would have been proud of.

It’s not the first time that Boris Johnson and his chums have exploited their position to lord it over the rest of us. It is one rule for them and another for everybody else. “Don’t do as I do, do as I say!”

The Prime Minister’s then special advisor Dominic Cummings thought it was perfectly okay to drive hundreds of miles to Durham from London and then take a drive to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight when everybody else was urged to stay at home. Boris Johnson condoned it, refused to condemn it, let alone sack him.

This government is all over the shop, resembling a shopping trolley careering out of control down the aisles.

In contrast to all this chaos, we all saw the moving image of Her Majesty, the Queen dignified and alone observing social distancing at the funeral of Prince Philip adhering to Covid restrictions. What a fine example she set. If the rules apply to the Country’s Head of State, then Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Matt Hancock and the rest of the Tories must follow them too, just like the rest of us.

  • Cllr Asif Khan is chairman of Watford Labour Party