THE fact the Prime Minister Boris Johnson is engaged and having a baby with partner Carrie Symonds is of no interest - of far more importance is how he is actually doing his job.

Predictably certain national papers rushed to put it on the front page at the weekend - despite all the major news events going on.

Some argue that when the PM has written about people’s private lives, once describing the children of single mothers as “ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate”, why should his not be of interest?

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But in 2020 the private lives of politicians really should be of no importance. Only on rare occasions, for example conflict of interests involving taxpayers money, does a private life become relevant and have a real public interest.

The timing of the announcement was interesting. Ms Symonds’ pregnancy appears to have been well known for a while among national journalists, so for it to be made public at a time the government was coming under criticism was certainly convenient timing.

A lot of the recent criticism have been valid, as it appears to me the PM has been slow to act and respond to developing crises.

For instance before Christmas the PM visited South Yorkshire to see the flood hit communities.

As we all know two weeks ago, Worcestershire and others elsewhere starting suffering similar damage from widespread flooding. But this time there has been no PM visit. So what was different? I would imagine because there was no election campaign going on.

And then there is coronavirus, causing concern worldwide with attempts to contain its spread, and develop a vaccine.

It became obvious very quickly it was only a matter of time before it would arrive in Britain, and here it is rapidly spreading by the day. When there is a risk of deaths, there is no time to waste.

And yet it wasn’t until Friday we finally got the announcement that the PM would be calling an emergency meeting of Cobra. An ‘emergency’ meeting that was held three days later, yesterday morning.

Meanwhile the potential disastrous no deal Brexit outcome now appears to be right back on the table, and more likely than ever.

The PM needs to get his act together and fast.