“Virtually every week another job or public sector contract is handed to a friend of the Conservative Party behind closed doors. It’s unfair – and it shuts out much of the talent we need properly to handle the crisis.”

Sir Philip Rutnam, who was the Home Office’s permanent secretary, quit earlier this year, accusing the Cabinet minister of a “vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign” against him.

A 1km restricted zone has been put in place around the site to limit the risk of the disease spreading.

"Article 61 of the Magna Carta appeared in the 1215 version but had been removed by the time it was reissued in 1216. It did not exist by the time Magna Carta was made statute in 1297. It’s relevance to a soft play centre in 2020 is, shall we say,...

“They failed to learn. They failed to listen. And they failed to lead. The result is tragic – but all too predictable.”

“Being an independent bookseller has for so many years been such a David v Goliath battle that it feels slightly disconcerting when someone at last hands you a bazooka instead of you peppering away with your slingshot.”

"If I had to ask one thing of you it would be this. Please, never go to bed feeling like you don’t have a role to play in this life because, believe me when I tell you, the possibilities are endless."

“This is not the only politician this year to have expressed opinions regarding unproven therapies and doubtless not the last and there have been some prominent doctors behaving similarly too – but if we are to avoid harming people and wasting time and resources we need to do this properly."

Data released last week showed that two in five close contacts of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England are still not being reached by the Test and Trace system.