This is Matthew Hancock announcing the “milestone” of an MHRA approved “vaccine” to the House of Commons yesterday. He reiterated his promise that “no vaccine will be used until its safety and effectiveness have been clearly established”. He added that the Pfizer formulation had been “subjected to the closest scrutiny of the MHRA” and been given “a clinical authorisation”. “This,” he stated baldly, “is a vaccine we can all believe in”. He finally bragged that “this is the first vaccine in the world to have achieved regulatory approval for use against Covid19”.

Mr Hancock lied to the House. He further lied to BBCNews viewers earlier in the day, as he told them, “when this vaccine is rolled out, things will get better and we will all return to normality and the things we love”. He doesn’t know that – he cannot know that – and this is…