Day: March 20, 2020

    One hundred days have passed since Boris Johnson re-entered Number 10 after winning the general election. Here’s a look at the key players who have supported the PM in office. Dominic Cummings The PM’s de facto chief of staff was credited with creating the take back control slogan in the 2016 referendum, and is thought to have been central to the Brexit messaging in the election campaign. Mr Cummings rose to notoriety in politics first as an adviser to Michael Gove and then as campaign director at the official Brexit group. He has come under public criticism in recent months over the treatment of Government special advisers and suggested a trio of cartoon crime fighters would do a better job than the Cabinet before February’s reshuffle. The PM’s director of commu...

    The government has unveiled what will happen to exams this year after announcing school will be closed from today. In a statement on the government website they revealed that GCSEs, AS and A Levels will be awarded in July based on mock data, individual assessment and prior attainment. Students can also sit exams early in next academic year or summer 2021. The Department for Education said that this year's A-level and GCSE grades will be indistinguishable from those provided in other years. It said it would also aim to ensure that the distribution of grades follows a similar pattern to that in other years, so that this year's students do not face a systematic disadvantage as a consequence of these extraordinary circumstances. Teachers will be asked to take into acc...

    Boris Johnson has called on the UK public to be considerate when they shop amid more scenes of stockpiling and panic buying in supermarkets around the country. The plea came as Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged the UK to stay home to save lives, warning that Covid-19 will keep spreading as long as people continue to socialise. Meanwhile, schools across the UK are set to shut their doors today. The wide-sweeping closures will affect the majority of schools, although staff are being asked to provide care for vulnerable children and those whose parents are key workers. Later today, Chancellor Rishi Sunak is today set to unveil an emergency package aimed at protecting workers’ jobs and wages as they face hardship in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.