Boris Johnson’s social-distancing review won’t change the fact that lockdown guidance needs to be supported by his scientific advisers

Editorial: It may well hand the PM the ammunition he seeks, but he would get more credit from the public if he were more honest about his desire to now put the economy first

Keep your distance? Two metres could become one (Getty)

Boris Johnson’s hopes of reducing the two-metre social-distancing rule to one metre have been blocked by the government’s scientific advisers, so he is now trying another route. Rather than keeping the guidance “under constant review”, the prime minister has commissioned a quick, wider investigation involving economists as well as scientists.

It is an open secret that Mr Johnson hopes this review will allow him to relax the restriction before pubs, restaurants and cafes start to open next month. In moving the goal posts after repeatedly assuring the public his government is “guided by the science”, he is seeking support for a decision he has already made in principle. He signalled his desire to move to one metre at a Downing Street press conference on 3 June – significantly, in his closing remarks, so that journalists could not ask Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, who were alongside him, whether they agreed.