The prime minister’s self-isolation U-turn shouldn’t surprise us: his life is a pilot scheme in seeing how far he can bend the rules
It was the perfect opportunity to lead by example, and show that nobody is above the rules.
And Boris Johnson blew it. The prime minister’s first instinct, when he was pinged by test and trace on the eve of what he insists on calling freedom day, was not to model the behaviour he asks of the nation, but to try to wriggle out of self-isolating. No 10 announced that he and the chancellor (also pinged) would instead join a special pilot scheme, allowing some employees in critical industries to work as normal in exchange for testing daily.
