PM calls face-to-face cabinet meeting since lockdown – without masks
Boris Johnson will summon his first in-person cabinet meeting tomorrow for the first time since March, with members due to meet without masks despite current social distancing guidelines.
The Prime Minister’s usual Tuesday morning cabinet meetings in Downing Street have convened virtually for the last five months using video conferencing software, due to the nationwide lockdown and subsequent working guidelines.
Cabinet members are now set to meet face-to-face in a “large room” at the Foreign Office tomorrow morning to accommodate for social distancing measures, Downing Street said today.
But while MPs will be told to wash their hands before meeting, not to share water jugs, and to sit one metre apart, the PM is “not expecting” them to wear face masks, a Number 10 spokesperson said.
The move comes despite the government’s own guidelines stating that people working together should be “wearing face coverings when distances of two metres cannot be kept in indoor environments where possible”.
Asked if there would still be a “dial-in” option for ministers who would not be attending in person, the PM’s official spokesperson said he was “not aware of anyone” not planning to attend.
This means at least 22 government officials will be convening tomorrow, despite current government guidance for office work stating that “indoor gatherings should only be occurring in groups of up to two households… or a group of at most six people from any number of households”.
Downing Street said the Prime Minister’s move to restore in-person cabinet meetings was to ‘set an example to workers”, after last week unveiling a timetable to further ease lockdown measures and wind down working from home.
Johnson on Friday lifted restrictions on using public transport as part of a package of measures to encourage workers to resume their normal commutes in August.
His official spokesman told reporters today: “As we move forward with the coronavirus recovery and more people return to work in person, the PM felt that it was right for the Cabinet to come together and have a face-to-face meeting.
“Essentially we will be following all the Covid-secure guidance we set out for businesses when they are considering having this kind of meeting.’
He added: “It is a large room that has been chosen in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and it will be properly ventilated and in terms of the steps which are being taken there will be a supply of hand sanitiser and members of the Cabinet will have individual water jugs and glasses and they will be socially distanced. So that will be to a minimum of one metre.”