Leaked messages show Boris Johnson bemoaning prospect of masks U-turn

Advisers tell then PM it is ‘not worth an argument’ over why Scotland has different school mask rules to England

Boris Johnson bemoaned the likelihood of “another U-turn” over face masks in schools after advisers said it was “not worth an argument” over why Scottish schools would enforce them in the classroom but not schools in England.

In leaked WhatsApp messages from a Telegraph investigation, the then health secretary, Matt Hancock, also said No 10 did not want to change the “rule of six” for meetings to include children during lockdown, even though another minister said there was “no robust rationale”.