Well not quite. There is the backstory, reported by Owl on 19 March.

“The south west looks most vulnerable in terms of ratios (of projected critical care bed needs to current supply). It has the oldest population (so highest expected mortality) and lowest number of critical care beds per head of population. The modelling suggests it needs six times more than currently exists there (600 per cent).”

“On the upside, the south west currently has a relatively low infection rate. Public Health England (PHE) should be doing everything possible to keep it that way through aggressive testing and containment of new cases [If only! – Owl] (how prophetic these comments by Owl look after only three and a half weeks). If the virus gets out of control in the south west it is likely to sweep through the region’s retirement towns and nursing homes, overwhelming local hospitals.”

Howard Lloyd  www.devonlive.com 

It was confirmed today at the UK Government’s daily coronavirus briefing that a new Nightingale hospital would be set up in Exeter.

In a story already broken by DevonLive last week, the Devon and Cornwall NHS Nightingale hospital will be established to help the country’s fight against COVID-19.

It was confirmed by Ruth May, NHS chief nursing officer for England as she spoke alongside health secretary Matt Hancock and deputy chief medical officer professor Jonathan Van-Tam.

So what do we know about this new hospital?

It will be based at Westpoint Arena on the outskirts of the city, near Clyst St Mary. Westpoint – the site for the annual Devon County Show – is the largest exhibition and entertainment venue in the South West with an indoor venue for up to 7,500 people. It is located near Exeter Airport.

The site – along with one in Sunderland which was also confirmed today – is expected to be operational towards the end of April or early May and will add up to 700 beds to be used by local services if needed.

The army are helping with the construction of both.

Beds for 200

NHS Nightingale North East will have up to 450 beds initially, with NHS Nightingale Exeter adding around 200.

The military helped to set up London’s Nightingale hospital, which so far has 500 beds in place with space for another 3,500.

Similar hospitals are also opening at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre and Manchester’s Central Complex.

In Bristol, 1,000 beds will be available at the University of the West of England.

Hospital will help ‘beat the virus’

Simon Jupp, MP for East Devon, said: “I warmly welcome plans for the new NHS Nightingale Hospital Exeter based at Westpoint in East Devon.

“The extra 200 beds will ensure our superb local NHS is as prepared as possible to beat the virus.

“Opening in early May, the new Nightingale Hospital Exeter builds on existing plans to increase critical care capacity in hospitals across Devon.

“We must all play our part by staying at home to protect the NHS and save lives.”

Owl must add that this doesn’t seem to apply to the Housing and Communities Secretary  Robert Jenrick, swanning off to his second home in Herefordshire. Not the action of what Owl would call a Leader.

Sir Simon Stevens, NHS chief executive, said: “These hospitals will provide backup and support for NHS hospitals across the South West and the North East, should it be needed.

“Our local health service staff have rightly recommended we go ahead with these additional faciliites. But our ambition as a country has to be to continue to stay at home to cut infections and save lives – so that the need to actually use these Nightingale hospitals is as limited as possible.”

Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director, NHS England, said: “As the NHS faces the greatest health challenge in its history, we’re supporting patients and staff with additional capacity across the soon-to-be seven NHS Nightingale Hospitals.”

“The new sites – including the two announced today in Sunderland and Exeter – will give the NHS the best chance of ensuring coronavirus patients needing specialist care can get it, wherever they live.”

Analysis: The Housing Secretary’s visit to his second home during the lockdown means someone must decide whether he should stay or go.

“Torygraph” fails to back Jenrick. But who is in charge during the power vacuum?

By Gordon Rayner, Political Editor www.telegraph.co.uk 

When Dominic Raab faced questions this week about his authority to order a “change of direction” in Government, he was able to hide behind the fact that the issue was, at that point, largely hypothetical.

Not any more. Robert Jenrick’s decision to drive 150 miles to his second home during the lockdown – and make an 80-mile round trip to his parents’ home – means someone must decide whether he should be fired as Housing Secretary.

Only on Sunday, Scotland’s chief medical officer resigned over an almost identical lapse of judgement after it became clear her position was untenable.

Yet acting prime minister Mr Raab cannot sack the Housing Secretary: he lacks the formal powers vested in the Prime Minister, such as the ability to appoint and sack ministers, creating a power vacuum at the heart of Government as long as Boris Johnson remains in hospital.

Whether Mr Johnson is well enough to be consulted on such matters of State remains unclear.

Despite being moved out of intensive care and onto a general ward, Downing Street appeared to suggest today that he is only communicating using gestures.

It has left the Government facing its first real-life test of how it functions in the absence of its leader.

Mr Raab has not spoken to the Prime Minister for a week. He has said that Mr Johnson left him “very clear instructions” before he was taken into hospital, but those did not, surely, include what to do in the event of a loyal Cabinet minister breaking the Government’s own rules on lockdown, which specifically state that visits to second homes are not acceptable.

Any minister who had ignored the message on staying at home and avoiding non-essential journeys would have been in trouble, but Mr Jenrick’s position is worsened by the fact that he fronted one of the daily Downing Street press conferences to hammer home that very message, before heading to Herefordshire.

For now, at least, No10 says it is backing him. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Mr Jenrick had “complied with the social distancing rules” and had not done anything wrong.

Mr Jenrick will, perhaps, be given the maximum possible leeway by Downing Street.

Mr Jenrick, together with Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, were among Mr Johnson’s earliest and most vocal supporters in the Conservative leadership race.

Five days before nominations had even opened last June, they jointly wrote an article in which they said the Tory Party faced an “existential threat” from which only Mr Johnson could save it.

Mr Johnson rewards loyalty – Priti Patel’s unexpected elevation to the post of Home Secretary in his first Cabinet was one of the most overt examples of that – but he can also be ruthless, evidenced by his treatment of Sajid Javid when he effectively forced him out in February.

If Mr Raab had the power to sack people, he would have the unenviable task of trying to weigh up what Mr Johnson would do in such a difficult situation.

The lack of any constitutional role for an acting prime minister means he has no such decision to make, and unless Mr Johnson is well enough to take on such heavy responsibilities right now, the situation could drift on, unresolved, for days.

It comes on top of repeated questions about who will take the eventual decision to ease the current lockdown.

Number 10 has said Mr Johnson is at an “early stage” of his recovery, while his father Stanley said the Prime Minister “must rest up” rather than trying to run the country from his sick bed and that there should be a “period of adjustment” before he returns to work.

According to some medical experts, Mr Johnson may need a full month off work.

There are already signs that the crisis created by Mr Jenrick may be far from over. Downing Street faced enough questions about him in today’s daily lobby briefing to suggest that journalists are not yet satisfied with the answers that have been given, meaning they are still poring over his movements looking for fresh angles to the story.

With the Easter weekend now upon us and Britons impatient to get out and enjoy the sunshine, the dilution of the Government’s “stay home” message could not have come at a worse time.

If the negative headlines continue, the pressure will increase not only on Mr Jenrick, but also on the Government to give Mr Raab a more defined, and more powerful role.

An electronics and engineering firm in Exmouth has spoken of its pride helping with the production of 30,000 medical ventilators to save lives amid the coronavirus crisis.

Becca Gliddon  eastdevonnews.co.uk 

The EuroTech Group, in Salterton Road, was tasked to produce 19,000 printed circuit boards to be used in a ventilator prototype that was specially designed to increase the supply of life-saving equipment in the UK in the coming weeks.

Circuit boards built in Exmouth have been incorporated into a newly-designed ventilator prototype, plus lifesaving equipment destined for use in the temporary Nightingale Hospitals.

The Exmouth firm joins a consortium of ‘significant’ UK industrial, technology and engineering businesses from across the aerospace, automotive and medical sectors, in producing medical ventilators for the UK.

The Ventilator Challenge UK Consortium is led by Dick Elsy, CEO of High Value Manufacturing Catapult, a group of manufacturing research centres in the UK.

Mr Elsy said: “This consortium brings together some of the most innovative companies in the world.

“Every day, their highly-skilled staff collaborate to create solutions that help millions of people, and this project is no different.

“They are working together with incredible determination and energy to scale up production of much-needed ventilators and combat a virus that is affecting people in many countries.

“I am confident this consortium has the skills and tools to make a difference and save lives.”

A spokesperson for EuroTech said: “EuroTech is proud to have the opportunity to assist in the project, having been commissioned to make 19,000 printed circuit boards.

“Despite challenging circumstances, the first batch of boards left the Exmouth factory on Monday 30th March for delivery.

“They are to be incorporated into units of a ventilator prototype, which was designed in about a fortnight.

“The printed circuit boards took less than thirty hours to produce from engineering to completion.

“EuroTech is also urgently manufacturing printed circuit boards for those customers involved in the supply of equipment for the temporary hospitals NHS Nightingale, in London, Birmingham and Manchester.”

The Exmouth-based firm’s circuit boards will be used by the Ventilator Challenge UK Consortium, which includes household names such as Dyson, Airbus and Rolls Royce, who have banded together to produce the rapid manufacture and design of the new ventilators.

Companies in the consortium have now received formal orders from the Government in excess of 10,000 units.

The consortium can now accelerate production of an agreed new design, based on existing technologies, which can be assembled from materials and parts already in production.

The firms involved have taken many of their employees away from key company projects to serve the country in its time of need.

Patients in Exeter with Covid-19 are being recruited to the largest clinical trial in the world to investigate existing medicines which might be effective against the disease.

Philip Bowern  www.devonlive.com 

The trial, known as the Randomised Evaluation of COVid-19 thERapY (RECOVERY) trial, has been rolled out across the UK. Already fifteen patients have been recruited in Exeter. The trial is being run through a partnership between the University of Exeter and the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust. Exeter is one of the 157 trial centres being coordinated nationally by researchers from the University of Oxford. There are currently no specific treatments for Covid-19.

Some existing drugs usually used for other conditions may have some benefits – but they may not. As they are already approved for other uses, the trial is able to start more swiftly than for new drugs which would need rigorous safety testing first. The new trial will provide doctors and the health service with information they need to determine which treatments should be used.

The treatments initially included in the study have been recommended by an expert panel that advises the Chief Medical Officer in England. These are Lopinavir-Ritonavir, normally used to treat HIV, the steroid dexamethasone, which is used in a wide range of conditions to reduce inflammation, and hydroxychloroquine, which is mainly used as an anti-malarial drug and the commonly-used antibiotic azithromycin.

The trial has seen research teams at the RD&E uniting to form a single workforce to ensure that patients have the best possible access to the ground-breaking Covid-19 studies being undertaken.

Dr Ray Sheridan, Consultant at the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust and Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Exeter, said: “This trial is an incredibly exciting development in the battle against COVID-19.

“In Exeter, the strong and long-standing relationship between the University and the RD&E health trust means our clinicians and scientists work incredibly well together. We don’t yet know if the drugs will work, but it’s heartening to be part of promising research on this international crisis.”The trial will be open to adult inpatients at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital who have tested positive for Covid-19, and who have not been excluded for medical reasons. All patients will receive the usual standard of care.

Patients joining the trial will be allocated at random by computer to receive one of the medicines being studied in addition to the usual care.

This will enable researchers to see whether any of the possible new treatments are more or less effective.

Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at Oxford University, told The Times she was “80 per cent confident” that the vaccine being developed by her team would work, with human trials due to begin in the next fortnight.

Alice Thomson, Rachel Sylvester, Chris Smyth, Oliver Wright www.thetimes.co.uk 

A vaccine against coronavirus could be ready as soon as September, the British scientist leading one of the world’s most advanced efforts has said.

Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at Oxford University, told The Times she was “80 per cent confident” that the vaccine being developed by her team would work, with human trials due to begin in the next fortnight.

The government signalled that it would be willing to fund the manufacture of millions of doses in advance if results looked promising. This would allow it to be available immediately to the public if it were proven to work.

With ministers struggling to find a strategy to exit the lockdown, long-term hopes of a return to normality rely on a vaccine.

Even if measures to stop the spread of coronavirus are eased in the coming weeks, officials are expecting that without a vaccine some element of social distancing, such as shielding of the vulnerable or working from home, would remain in place for a long time.

The development came as:

• Downing Street said that Boris Johnson was walking for the first time since leaving intensive care and watching films and doing sudoku puzzles as he continued to recover from Covid-19.
• The number of UK deaths from Covid-19 reached nearly 9,000, with a further 980 reported yesterday, the highest daily total so far.
• Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said that there was enough personal protective equipment for NHS staff if doctors used “no more” than necessary. More than 742 million pieces have been delivered since the outbreak began.
• More than 19,000 coronavirus tests were carried out on Thursday as Mr Hancock said there was capacity for “all key social care staff and NHS staff who need to be tested to get those tests”.
• Downing Street urged police against being “heavy-handed” during the lockdown over the Easter weekend as officers patrolled supermarkets.
• The worldwide death toll reached 100,000, according to Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

Professor Gilbert’s team is one of dozens around the world trying to find a vaccine and is the most advanced in Britain. She has been working seven days a week to rush through the development stages.

“I think there’s a high chance that it will work based on other things that we have done with this type of vaccine,” she said. “It’s not just a hunch and as every week goes by we have more data to look at . . . I would go for 80 per cent, that’s my personal view.”

Initial safety trials are due to begin soon, with further studies following around the world to see if the vaccine reduces the risk of catching coronavirus.

Lockdown makes it harder to test a vaccine when the virus is not spreading, Professor Gilbert said. However, if one of the countries in which it is trialled “turns out to have a high rate of virus transmission then we will get our efficacy results very quickly, so that is the strategy for reducing the time”.

Asked if the most optimistic scenario for a working vaccine was September, she said: “Yes and we have to go for that.” Success by the autumn was “just about possible if everything goes perfectly”.

However, she added: “Nobody can promise it’s going to work.” Manufacturing millions of doses can take months and Professor Gilbert said she was talking to the government about going into production before final results were in.

Winter flu vaccines are typically 40-60 per cent effective, although this varies depending on the annual strain. Ministers think that if a vaccine looks viable it will be worth spending tens of millions of pounds to have it ready for use given the economic cost of lockdown.

The US philanthropist Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, says that he will “waste” billions of dollars manufacturing vaccines, even though most will fail, in order to avoid a delay for any that prove successful.

 “This isn’t the first time ministers have given NHS and social care staff big promises on PPE. But there has been a mismatch between statements at Downing Street press conferences and the realities facing health and care staff on the ground.

“Staff have been raising the lack of PPE for weeks. We hope the government’s plans today deliver the adequate supplies of PPE our brave healthcare staff deserve.”

Denis Campbell  www.theguardian.com 

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has urged NHS staff not to overuse personal protective equipment, sparking criticism from doctors’ and nurses’ leaders.

“We need everyone to treat PPE like the precious resource it is,” he said on Friday. “Everyone should use the equipment they clinically need, in line with the guidelines: no more and no less.”

After weeks of criticism over the lack of vital equipment, Hancock told the daily Downing Street briefing a “herculean effort” was under way to ensure every health and social care worker dealing with coronavirus has the equipment they need.

The government does not recommend the general use of protective face masks to slow the spread of disease, and Hancock warned the public against overusing protective equipment.

He reiterated that hand washing, social distancing and staying at home are the best ways to avoid infection. “A front door is better than any face mask”, he said.

Hancock and the chief nursing officer, Ruth May, declined to give a figure for how many healthcare staff have died after contracting the virus.

The health secretary said a nationwide delivery system had been set up, with the help of the armed forces, to distribute masks, aprons and other equipment to 58,000 healthcare providers.

He said: “We’ve had to create a whole new logistics network, essentially from scratch.” Within a week, every NHS hospital would be receiving daily deliveries, he added.

The shadow health secretary, Jon Ashworth, welcomed the promise that more PPE would reach the frontline but pressed Hancock to ensure his target was met.

Ashworth said: “This isn’t the first time ministers have given NHS and social care staff big promises on PPE. But there has been a mismatch between statements at Downing Street press conferences and the realities facing health and care staff on the ground.

“Staff have been raising the lack of PPE for weeks. We hope the government’s plans today deliver the adequate supplies of PPE our brave healthcare staff deserve.”

Doctors’ and nurses’ leaders criticised Hancock’s plan as inadequate, given the growing death toll of NHS staff from coronavirus.

The British Medical Association said PPE shortages could spell “real disaster” for doctors. It also took issue with Hancock’s insistence that the NHS has enough PPE to go round but needs frontline staff to use “no more and no less” than they clinically require.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the BMA’s chair, said: “We are dealing with an unknown, highly infectious, and potentially deadly virus that has already claimed the lives of several healthcare workers, including 11 doctors in the UK.

“It is absurd that the people trained to treat this disease are the ones who are not being appropriately protected – and without them, we face real disaster.

“We note the government’s announcement this afternoon … However, PPE should not be a ‘precious resource’ and for NHS staff facing shortages of protection they need today, they don’t want to hear of a plan, but that this vital equipment is made available to the frontline now.”

Susan Masters, director of nursing at the Royal College of Nursing, also voiced scepticism that Hancock’s pledges would end the supply problems that are causing alarm among staff, and denied nurses were misusing PPE.

Masters said: “These figures on deliveries are only impressive when nursing staff stop contacting me to say what they need to use wasn’t available. The calls are still coming through – people are petrified. They have seen colleagues die already.

“Things have improved in recent days and I credit the government with that. But the safety of nurses and care staff must not be compromised. They are pretty clear about what they need to do to stay safe and they will be angered by any suggestion they cause shortages by misusing kit.”

As well as promising to tackle what he acknowledged was the “enormous challenge” of ensuring PPE reaches those who need it, Hancock said lab capacity had been increased sufficiently to allow any health or social care worker who needs it, to be tested.

He visited a newly opened “mega-lab” in Milton Keynes on Thursday and said 15 drive-through testing centres were available.

He stressed the complexities of meeting demand for PPE against the background of rocketing global demand, and without a significant domestic supply sector.

Diplomatic staff around the world have been pressed into service trying to source equipment, Hancock said, with Whitehall officials in London trying to organise transporting it to the UK.

He praised firms, including Burberry and Rolls-Royce, which have turned their facilities to manufacturing PPE – and urged others to do so, based on requirements published by the government. “If you’ve got production facilities, and you can meet our published specifications, we want to hear from you,” he said.

Appearing alongside Hancock, May underlined the toll, both physical and mental, that treating the virus is having on her frontline colleagues. But she said they were heartened by the public’s support. “The rainbows and NHS signs in the windows lift me, and they lift my colleagues,” she said.

She and Hancock emphasised the importance of the public continuing to use the NHS for conditions unrelated to the coronavirus.

The extraordinary willingness of the British public to help out has been considered one of the few bright points of the crisis, but only a few thousand tasks are being carried out around the country so far.

Dan Sabbagh  www.theguardian.com 

NHS officials have said it has taken longer than anticipated to get the coronavirus volunteer programme up and running after many of the 750,000 who signed up complained that they had not yet been given jobs.

The extraordinary willingness of the British public to help out has been considered one of the few bright points of the crisis, but only a few thousand tasks are being carried out around the country so far.

With 2.5 million elderly and vulnerable people in the UK supposed to be receiving help from the scheme, there is concern that people who are self-isolating for at least 12 weeks could be falling through the safety net.

Neil Churchill, an NHS England administrator working on the volunteer team, explained “why it’s taking time for you to get your first asks” in a post on a Facebook group for volunteer helpers on Friday.

He said there were “a lot more [identities] to check” than initially expected, and it was only after that that “we ask people in the NHS to make referrals”. But NHS staff have also been slow to call for the volunteers to assist.

“It just takes time for info to get through to every GP practice, every pharmacist and every discharge team. Referrals are in the thousands right now and we expect they will be in the tens of thousands soon,” Churchill said.

Volunteers are registered on the Good SAM app and, when signed in, wait for an alert indicating that a job needs doing. But Facebook groups for volunteers are full of people expressing disappointment that they have waited hours without being given a task.

Dean Tonna, 57, from Leicester, said he signed up as soon as it was announced last month and was told that they would do DRB (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks and get back to him in a week. It took a bit longer than expected, but he was cleared to help last Thursday.

“I was sent a lot of instructions and have been on call ever since and in nearly 250 hours I have not had a single thing to do. On the app you can see other responders in the area and there are a good 20 people around where I am. I am not sure if they are busy but having looked on Twitter it looks like no one is doing anything.”

 War veteran, 99, receives guard of honour from nurses after surviving coronavirus – video

A total of 750,000 people signed up in less than a week at the end of March, in response to a call by Matt Hancock, the health secretary, for volunteers to help those who have been told to stay indoors for at least 12 weeks. The appeal was so successful that new sign-ups have been halted.

Volunteers have been asked to be on standby to pick up medicines from pharmacies, drive patients to and from appointments, and call to check on people isolating at home, following referrals from doctors, pharmacists and other NHS staff.

Melanie Westell, 41, from Kent, said she had signed up to volunteer two and a half weeks ago and last Friday she was told she had been accepted. “I have been on duty for 87 hours over the last week and have not had anything come through,” she said.

“The only thing I can put it down to is that when doctors or pharmacies, for example, refer vulnerable people to the service they have to fill out a form for all the services they may need.”

Some people have complained they have been rejected without clear explanation, saying they supplied or have had up-to-date criminal record checks. But others say they have been asked to help and found the experience rewarding.

The scheme is being run by the Royal Voluntary Service, with the support of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in conjunction with the NHS.

A spokesman for the RVS said the scheme would expand in numbers over the coming days and weeks: “It will be a gradual and developing process as more healthcare professionals, pharmacists and local authorities refer people who need help in greater numbers.”

The row over the Cabinet minister accused of breaking lockdown rules escalated last night after neighbours rubbished claims that the mansion where he is staying is his main home. 

David Churchill  www.dailymail.co.uk

The row over the Cabinet minister accused of breaking lockdown rules escalated last night after neighbours rubbished claims that the mansion where he is staying is his main home. 

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick, a key player in the Government’s coronavirus response, claimed he had not flouted his own advice by travelling 150 miles to the Herefordshire property because it was the family home. 

But one of Mr Jenrick’s close neighbours described claims this address was his primary home as ‘codswallop’. 

The Daily Mail has been told the Jenricks spend most of their time at their £2.5million townhouse in London, where the children attend school. 

The Newark MP also states on his website that he lives ‘in Southwell near Newark, and London’ – with no mention of Herefordshire. 

Neighbours at the £1.1million Herefordshire residence insisted they rarely saw him. One said: ‘We might see him on the odd weekend but the family are not even here every weekend, let alone full time. 

‘Mr Jenrick has had builders working on the house for much of the last three years.’ 

Neighbours at the £1.1million Herefordshire (St Peter and St Paul’s in Eye, Herefordshire) residence last night insisted they rarely saw him. One said: ‘We might see him on the odd weekend but the family are not even here every weekend, let alone full time’

Another neighbour confirmed builders had been a regular fixture at Eye Manor, which Mr Jenrick bought in 2009 and is 120 miles from his constituency. 

They said: ‘It’s a fact the family come here occasionally at the weekend, but they do not live here year-round. 

‘The children are at school in London for one thing, and both parents have demanding jobs that they could not do from here ordinarily, one would think. 

‘I suppose you could say this house is more like their holiday home.’ 

A Government source confirmed Mr Jenrick had ‘moved his family to his second home’. 

Another source close to the family in the capital said they lived at their Westminster address during the week. The distinction matters as the Government issued lockdown instructions on March 23 stating people should not visit second homes ‘for isolation purposes or holidays’. 

But Mr Jenrick travelled to his second home from London on March 29 following a press conference he gave in Downing Street. 

He has also faced criticism after it emerged he visited his parents another 40 miles away last weekend in a Shropshire village. 

Mr Jenrick said he was dropping off medicine and food and did not enter their home. But he has previously urged people to rely on the NHS for delivering medicines. 

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘The Secretary of State set out in two different statements the reasons for the journeys that he made and we are confident he complied with the social-distancing rules.’ 

But Mr Jenrick’s opposite number in the Shadow Cabinet, Labour MP Steve Reed, believed the minister had still not explained why he needed to travel across the country from London. He said: ‘It would appear he could have stayed self-isolating with his family in London to prevent that further travel.’ 

Former defence minister and Tory MP for neighbouring Broxtowe, Anna Soubry, tweeted: ‘He totally ignored his own instruction to #stayhome which he repeatedly said in media interviews and from the No10 podium. 

‘It smacks of arrogance and senior ministers must practise what they preach.’ 

Mr Jenrick is understood to have claimed his family moved to Herefordshire on March 20, before lockdown rules were announced. 

The 38-year-old faced controversy when he ran for his Newark seat in a 2014 by-election after declining to mention his and his City lawyer wife’s £6million property portfolio, which includes a £2.3million flat in Marylebone, central London.

He presented himself as a ‘father, local man, son of a secretary and small businessman and state primary school-educated’ candidate. 

His party CV omitted to say he went to a £13,000-a-year private secondary school. At the time, he promised to move his family to Newark, saying he was ‘almost sure’ he would sell the Herefordshire house. 

Despite also having a rented property in his constituency, which he bills taxpayers £2,000 a month for, locals have told the Mail they do not see him as much as they would like. Last night Mr Jenrick declined requests for further comment. 

On Thursday he told the Mail: ‘My house in Herefordshire is the place I, my wife and my young children consider to be our family home and my family were there before any restrictions on travel were announced. 

‘I have been working in London… putting in place the system to shield the group most vulnerable to coronavirus. 

‘Once I was able to work from home it was right I went home to do so and be with my wife and help care for my three young children. 

‘I will be staying at my family home until Government advice changes or if I am needed in person in Westminster before the parliamentary session resumes after the Easter recess.’