Boris Johnson is safe from challengers for now – the vaccine news has changed the mood in Westminster

Last week there were rumblings of a leadership contest to unseat the prime minister; this week is different, writes John Rentoul

Boris Johnson in the House of Commons this week (Reuters TV)

You can almost feel the air going out of parliament as people exhale with relief about the vaccine. Yes, there is a bit of a domestic going on in 10 Downing Street. But the announcement that one of the vaccines works and is likely to be available soon has already changed everything. 

It is no use the prime minister suddenly giving up his boisterously optimistic addendums to serious policy announcements. Normally Boris Johnson desperately tries to cheer people up after announcing that, “alas”, he has to impose restrictions he really doesn’t want to impose, by saying there is a technological fix just around the corner and it will all be over one day.

This week, however, he had to try desperately to downplay the euphoria about the vaccine, as he and Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer, solemnly warned people that it is too early to relax our strict adherence to the lockdown measures.