Self-assured Boris is on another planet...

PUTTING the National Health Service in charge of virus vaccinations is a shot in the arm with nearly 6.4 million first doses so far given.

It is on target to jab 15m elderly and most vulnerable by the middle of next month after pricking a record 493,000 arms in 24 hours.

The speed of the rollout emphasises the foolishness of earlier catastrophic errors by the Tories.

Fatal mistakes such as elbowing aside public health officials to shower billions of pounds on profit-hungry companies in return for a test and disgrace system with a miserable record.

The public service ethos in the NHS which many Conservatives including Boris Johnson dislike ideologically, is a life-saver in a crisis.

So Labour will be right this week to wave shrouds and remind voters that the Prime Minister’s mistakes and waste have fuelled the appalling death count.

When the PM pats himself on the back, pretending he’s handled the pandemic well, he is from another planet. The crisis has in fact revealed everything that’s wrong about him: dithering, incompetence, laziness. You can add chronically poor judgement, hostility to public services, cowardice, a popularity fetish and yearning to reward cronies.

Keir Starmer’s aware how a national sigh of relief could allow Johnson to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, another reason which adds bite to his impressively reasoned assaults at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Vaccinating twice as many people once instead of half as many twice probably is best for public health.

What isn’t excusable is Johnson’s refusal to publish evidence, including any heightened risk from delayed second jabs.

Crisis reveals everything that’s wrong with the PM