Did Boris Johnson do anything wrong by cycling in the Olympic Park on Sunday?

It would have been Allegra Stratton’s second day of televised briefings as the prime minister’s press secretary yesterday, if the start of White House-style news conferences hadn’t been postponed. So the nation did not get to see her answering questions about one subject that particularly interested journalists, which she did on a telephone conference call instead. 

“You all know how much he loves his bike,” she said, when asked if the prime minister regretted going on a bike ride in the Olympic Park in east London on Sunday. “I can’t comment on where the prime minister exercises, for security reasons,” she said when asked if he would be doing it again. “It was in accordance with the guidelines.” 

She and the civil service spokesperson took it in turns to answer, or not to answer, questions such as: was Boris Johnson driven to the Olympic Park, seven miles from Downing Street; will the government be issuing a more specific definition of what “local” means in the guidance about staying local; was there anyone with him on a bike in the park; can anyone go to someone else’s garden for exercise, in the way the prime minister goes to the garden of Buckingham Palace? 

“We are encouraging people to do exercise,” said Stratton. “Everyone should be doing it once a day if they can.” On how to interpret the rules, the No 10 spokesperson added: “We have always trusted the public to exercise good judgement.” 

The guidelines are sparse, saying: “You can leave your home to exercise.” One person may exercise with one other person from another household, but should stay two metres apart. “This should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area.” As “local area” is not defined, and as the guidelines say nothing about travelling to a place to take exercise, the prime minister doesn’t seem to have broken them. And if he didn’t breach the guidelines, he won’t have broken the law, as the guidelines are more restrictive. 

So what is all the fuss about? Partly there is a journalistic desire to catch out people in authority (which led to Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer, being unfairly criticised for eating alone in a restaurant when working away from home before the March lockdown). But journalists also reflect a strong feeling among the public that other people are not keeping to the rules. 

This tends to focus on the behaviour of people outdoors, because it is visible, despite the fact that outdoor activity remains relatively safe, even with the new variant of the virus, as explained by Muge Cevik, a virology clinician at the University of St Andrews: “A recurring theme on social media and in the news is shaming people for spending time outside, when really this is one of the safer places.”

More justifiable, therefore, was the outcry over photographs posted by No 10 of yesterday’s cabinet meeting. The meeting was held by videolink, so cabinet ministers apart from Johnson appeared on a screen, but it involved the prime minister; Simon Case, the cabinet secretary; Dan Rosenfield, the chief of staff; and other officials gathering in the cabinet room at 10 Downing Street, keeping (nearly) two metres apart from each other, but not wearing face coverings. Nor did it look as if the windows of the cabinet room (the ones once shattered by an IRA mortar) were open, although they were out of the picture. 

Given the importance of the prime minister setting an example, it seems more relevant that he should be photographed wearing a mask indoors and opening windows for ventilation than that he should be criticised for going for a bike ride.