BORIS Johnson has been condemned after he bunked off to his country estate for the weekend – despite the first British coronavirus death.
The man who died was one of the travellers quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, stationed off the coast of Japan.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who has died in Japan and are in contact with local authorities. Our sympathies and thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.”
Health authorities ordered a 14-day quarantine for all on board the Diamond Princess, which had an original population of 3711 passengers on February 5.
Passengers who had tested negative were allowed to disembark at the end of the two weeks.
Princess Cruises, which operates the Diamond Princess ship, has offered their condolences to the British man’s friends and family.
However, officials at Number 10 confirmed that the Prime Minister would be spending the weekend at Chequers, his lavish grace-and-favour country retreat.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: British tourist dies on cruise ship in Japan
The Tory leader will then hold an emergency COBRA meeting on Monday.
The Prime Minister’s deputy official spokesman said: “If you look at the increased number of cases on mainland Europe, the Prime Minister is keen to check over on Monday to ensure that everything that can be done, is being [done].”
Asked why he a so-called emergency meeting wasn’t happening for another two days, the spokesman said: “There are daily meetings between Public Health England and the Department for Health and interested departments, the chief medical officer, the chief scientific officer – those meetings happen daily and will continue to happen. The prime minister will hold a meeting of Cobra on Monday.”
It has also emerged that Johnson is not personally planning on visiting any flooded areas over the weekend.
His spokesman added: “There was a visit from the environment minister yesterday. We are continuing to respond to the flooding and there is a significant amount of operational activity across the country.
“The Environment Agency teams continue to work 24 hours a day and we will continue to help those that are affected and help those people get back on their feet. The PM is receiving daily updates on this but as we’ve said before it’s been led out of Defra.”
READ MORE: Coronavirus tests in Scotland hit 500 but no confirmed cases
The SNP’s deputy leader at Westminster, Kirsty Blackman repeated criticism of Johnson made by Jeremy Corbyn earlier this week, calling the Tory chief a “part-time Prime Minister”.
She added: “With the coronavirus and flooding crisis hitting the UK, it beggars belief that the lazy Tory leader is yet again nowhere to be seen and seems utterly disinterested in the damage being done.
“Instead of relaxing in his lavish grace-and-favour country estate, Boris Johnson should get back to work and get a grip on the situation.
“When a crisis hits, people need confidence that their government is responding – Boris Johnson is utterly failing that basic test of leadership.”
Around 500 tests for coronavirus have now been carried out in Scotland but at the time of going to print there are still no confirmed cases north of the border.
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