BORIS JOHNSON’S statement on Saturday about being “humble in the face of nature” when dealing with Covid-19 is tantamount to an admission of failure of policy.

Six weeks ago he was advised that a “circuit break” should be imposed on the country. This was ignored and the advice suppressed until the minutes of the SAGE committee were released three weeks later.

Mr Johnson even derided the leader of the opposition at the time for asking why the advice just made public had not been acted upon.

And now we have a month of lockdown. We are used to being three weeks behind the curve – but being six weeks behind recognising the seriousness of one’s own scientific and public health advice is a new one! It is incompetence on a major and grave scale.

Is the man still ill, I wonder?

D Duell, Durham.