Boris Johnson has shown he needs to get a grip on the details of his lockdown plan

So now the country can see for itself why Boris Johnson has spent so long avoiding the powerful House of Commons Liaison Committee, and why he has refused to make any commitment to meet them again.

It was not a performance that inspired much confidence in the prime minister. Mr Johnson gave two messages to MPs, and the wider public, one intentional, and one unintentional.

When questioned once again about the behaviour of his discredited senior adviser Dominic Cummings, Mr Johnson thumped the table time and again as he told the parliamentarians that he wanted to “move on” from the Cummings affair. Well he might, given the damage it is doing to his own reputation, and, more importantly, to the government’s messages on public health.

However, for as long as he refuses – as he did once again – to either publish the “evidence” he said Mr Cummings showed him, or refer it to the cabinet secretary, the questions will persist. The fact that he, Mr Johnson, is satisfied with his adviser is not good enough for anyone, including the growing number of Dom-sceptics in the parliamentary Conservative Party and the cabinet, let alone the voters. So the country is not ready to “move on” from the matter.

The second message was less deliberate, which is that he simply does not have a handle on the details he needs to. No one is asking for Mr Johnson to be a walking encyclopaedia, but on many of the most urgent and crucial questions Mr Johnson was at best vague.

On the test and trace strategy, Mr Johnson plainly had little to offer on how it would work in practice. If individuals who are traced are only to be advised to stay at home, and “sanctions” for potential spreaders will only be considered, that is a weak approach. Nor will there be any enforceable way of asking those infected to disclose their own contacts, again something that will make the system correspondingly less effective.

Under further interrogation it became clear that the prime minister had no deadline for the 24-hour testing turnaround; was seemingly unaware of the well-reported issue of financial assistance (“recourse to the public purse”) for those with indefinite leave to remain; had no answer on continuing help for the self-employed; and had taken no advice on the gender impact of Covid-19 – among other things.

Mr Johnson almost, but not quite, apologised for his government’s failings, and expressed how he was “deeply sorry for the hurt, pain and anxiety” people had felt. Yet, like Mr Cummings, there was no sign of regret from him. Bad as that was, the lack of detail on display from the premier was the most worrying sight.