PM's vaccines comments set tongues wagging

Boris Johnson had his first jab a few days ago

After a day of silence and song, candles and condolence, when the country stopped to try to absorb the enormity of what's happened this last year, a more familiar, and easy-to-digest political fuss emerged.

After a press conference in Downing Street where, alongside the chief medics, the prime minister was more open, in tone at least, about the things that might have gone wrong in the last year, he went off to address a group of Tory MPs in private, on Zoom, in the Cabinet Room.

The chief whip was alongside him, I'm told, having his takeaway sandwich. (He also happens to be a farmer - but more of that later.)

With an important vote on Thursday that will extend the government's powers during the coronavirus crisis, you might have expected that the PM would have been verbally pushed and shoved a little by some of his backbenchers, frustrated by the pace of easing restrictions.

In actual fact, what has got tongues wagging was remarks that Boris Johnson made about the UK's success with vaccines, first reported in the Sun newspaper.

• PM says 'greed' helped UK's vaccines success

Discussing why the programme was doing so well, he told colleagues it was down to "greed" and "capitalism".

Several of those present have told me he quickly realised his words could be taken out of context and urged MPs to "remove that comment from your collective memory".

He then went on to spend much of the meeting repeatedly praising AstraZeneca, pointing out that it was providing the vaccine at cost.

One MP said: "I have never seen anyone withdraw something so fast."

'Big Farmer'

Another of those present told me the prime minister's "greed" comments had been intended to poke fun at the chief whip, who was gobbling his cheese and pickle while sitting next to him.

Believe it or not, the party boss of discipline, Mark Spencer, has been christened with the nickname "Big Farmer", like "Big Pharma" - the pharmaceutical companies.

And it's vehemently denied that the PM's comments were designed to stir up anything in the row with the EU.

Downing Street didn't want to comment and sources are adamant that Mr Johnson was not intending to be critical of the pharmaceutical companies in any way.

The UK government has no intention of stirring up a row with the EU over vaccines

The government has no desire to exacerbate the argument between the EU and AstraZeneca over vaccines.

With the notable exception of the Foreign Secretary's remarks last week in response to the EU Commission, ministers have been at pains to keep things calm.

The prime minister has been trying to prevent a dramatic bust-up in phone calls to EU leaders before their summit on Thursday.

And officials on both sides have been talking to see if any accommodations can be made.

But while Mr Johnson's words may have been intended as a friendly jibe at a colleague, tensions are high, and any even accidental noises off are unlikely to help.

PS A government source stressed on Wednesday morning that the PM was not talking about the UK vaccine programme in general. It's unusual to get any comment on private MPs' meetings, and shows how sensitive this all is.