Coronavirus: Prime minister at centre of a lockdown pincer movement

Boris Johnson's interview this afternoon really ought to have carried more significance than it did given the undoubted gravity of the moment. Behind the scenes, government sources confirm that the PM is weighing up whether he has to introduce national restrictions for a short period of time in the next few weeks. The idea, they say, a 'circuit break' would see schools and work continuing, but curbs on social lives. In a carefully worded statement, Downing Street say merely they now want to avoid any 'extended lockdowns'.