Johnson rejected the claim made by Dominic Cummings that tens of thousands of people died unnecessarily because of mistakes made by the government. He also repeated his longstanding claim that the government followed the scientific advice. He said:



"At every stage we’ve been governed by a determination to protect life, to save life, and to ensure that our NHS is not overwhelmed. And we’ve followed to the best we can the data and the guidance we’ve had."

But yesterday Cummings set out in detail how Johnson ignored scientific advice in September to order a second lockdown. This has been very well documented, and is not seriously contested.

Johnson sought to draw a line under the controversy about whether or not he said he would rather see “bodies pile high” than order a third lockdown. In the Commons last month Johnson denied making that comment, or remarks to that effect. But yesterday Cummings said he heard the PM say it. Asked today if he did say he would rather see “bodies pile high” than order a third lockdown, Johnson replied:



"I have already made my position very clear on that point. I’m getting on with the job of delivering the road map that I think is the sensible way forward."

Asked if Cummings was telling the truth, Johnson sidestepped the question. Asked if that meant he was not contesting with what Cummings said, Johnson replied: “I make no comment on that.”

Viewers might concluded that, if Johnson did not say that remark, or anything to the same effect, he might be denying it more forcefully.

Johnson said the government did “everything we could” to protect care homes.

He claimed that some of Cummings’ evidence was wrong - without giving details. Asked if Cummings was right to say Johnson was not fit to lead the country, Johnson replied:



"I think that it’s important for us to focus on what really matters to the people in this country and I think, if I may say so, that some of the commentary I’ve heard doesn’t bear any relation to reality and what people want us to get on with is delivering the roadmap and trying, cautiously, to take our country forward through what has been one of the most difficult periods that I think anybody can remember."

He said he could not see anything currently in the data to suggest the planned lifting of remaining restrictions in England on 21 June would have to be delayed.



He said the government had always expected cases to rise around now. But the government was still looking at the data to see quite what effect the vaccines were having on keeping people out of hospital, he said. He said:



"I want to stress that we always did expect to see an increase in cases, that was always going to happen."

So what we need to understand is to what extent the vaccine programme is starting to make a real difference in interrupting the link between infection and hospitalisations and serious illness and death.

Now, clearly, the vaccines are having a big impact already.

The question is, how big, how reliable are the vaccine fortifications, and what we do know with the variant is the vaccines work against it, particularly with two doses.

Yesterday’s UK government dashboard figures showed case numbers up 18% week on week.