Boris Johnson has blasted Dominic Cummings’ account of the UK Government handling of the coronavirus pandemic as bearing no relation to reality. The Prime Minister admitted that his Conservative Government has faced a series of incredibly difficult decisions during the COVID-19 crisis.

Mr Johnson said: “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 road map, and trying cautiously, to take our country forward through what has been one of the most difficult periods that I think anybody can remember post-war.”

He added: “We take decisions as fast as we can but we have to weigh the data.

“We’re pretty satisfied that the stages, the steps, we’ve taken so far on the roadmap have been right.

“I’m afraid we just have to wait a little bit longer to see what’s happening post step three.”

Asked if he agreed with Cummings’ allegation, the Prime Minister said: “No, I don’t think so, but of course this has been an incredibly difficult series of decisions, none of which we’ve taken lightly.”