‘Submarine’ Boris Johnson FINALLY surfaces to face PMQs

Boris Johnson will finally surface to face a grilling from MPs today amid the Coronavirus crisis and flooding misery.

Mr Johnson will take PMQs in the Commons after more than a week in which he has barely spoken a word in public.

The premier has come under fire for failing to visit the scene of flooding across England – instead choosing to stay at the opulent Chevening residence in Kent during the parliamentary recess.

But allies insist Mr Johnson’s presence would only have disrupted efforts by emergency workers to ease the impact of the extreme weather.

They have also defended his approach of delegating the response on floods and Coronavirus to Cabinet ministers, saying it is a more effective way of governing than trying to micromanage from No10. 

Flood-hit communities have lashed out at the government for its response to the severe weather conditions that have blitzed the country, and criticised the PM for his no-show in struggling areas such as Yorkshire, South Wales and the South West.

Storm Dennis hit on Saturday February 15, causing transport chaos as high-winds cancelled flights and rain lashed the sodden ground.

Just 12 hours later, and after torrential downpours overnight, various parts of the country were flooded, and 11 days later have still not been visited by Mr Johnson.

Anger has been growing over the way the government has reacted since the bad weather first started three weeks ago when communities in Yorkshire were flooded after Storm Ciara, in scenes reminiscent of Boxing Day 2015. 

Yesterday Mr Johnson hosted Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz at Downing Street as one of the hardest hit areas in the country, Shrewsbury slammed him for not visiting the flood-stricken area.

Mark Davies, 59, who runs Darwin’s Townhouse B&B in Shrewsbury, said he had suffered thousands of pounds of damage and had been unable to obtain insurance.

Asked about the Prime Minister’s absence in the crisis, he said: ‘Boris Johnson should make some sort of nod to acknowledge all the devastation.’  

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Mattt Hancock has been the face of the government’s response to the Coronavirus – which experts now fear could become a full-blown pandemic.

There have been signs of tensions between the Department of Health, which handles domestic public health, and the Foreign Office, which has responsibility for relations with other countries and helping Britons abroad. 

Mr Hancock appeared to contradict government travel advice yesterday when he suggested he personally would not travel to northern Italy, where there have been a rash of cases of the virus. 

The Foreign Office later changed its advice to urge against ‘all but essential’ travel to the affected areas.