On A-levels and quarantine, Boris Johnson has to work harder to take the country with him

Editorial: Asking hundreds of thousands of people to isolate for 14 days, at such short notice, requires a bit more than a shrug and a: ‘Well, you knew the risks when you went’

The prime minister is entering a dangerous phase. The clear cases of injustice suffered by individual students in the exams fiasco are undermining public confidence in his government’s basic competence. The imposition of quarantine on returning holidaymakers threatens a quieter but equally serious backlash.

Unless Gavin Williamson, the over-promoted education secretary, can set up an appeals procedure that resolves the worst cases within days, to allow students to secure university places this year, he will destroy any illusions that his government could run a whelk stall. It is astonishing that, with five months to prepare, Mr Williamson failed to make Ofqual publish its plans for assigning grades well in advance so that some of these problems could have been anticipated.

On quarantine, the danger to the government and to the country is less visible but no less important. Asking hundreds of thousands of people to isolate for 14 days, at such short notice, requires a bit more than a shrug and a: “Well, you knew the risks when you went.”