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“It is common sense for people in confined spaces to wear a face mask, out of respect and courtesy for others.”

Boris Johnson, House of Commons

7 July 2021

Facts

When asked by Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions, ahead of the end of lockdown restrictions, about the government’s choice not to proceed with mandatory mask-wearing, 

Boris Johnson said: “It is common sense for people in confined spaces to wear a face mask, out of respect and courtesy for others.”

Later that day, the Prime Minister was photographed leaving Wembley Stadium without a face covering, in the back of his ministerial Range Rover despite his driver, security detail and even wife Carrie masking up. 

Verdict

Though Mr Johnson was not lying, his comments drew attention yet again to his own and his government’s double standards. 

To quote the Prime Minister’s own words in the House of Commons a few months earlier: “There is nothing more frustrating for the vast majority who do comply – the law-abiding majority – than the sight of a few brazenly defying the rules.” Again and again the Prime Minister calls for standards of behaviour from the public which he has no intention of obeying himself.

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