No 10 tweet calling for questions ahead of Covid press conference backfires spectacularly

The request did not go down well.

One user asked: “Where is Dido Harding and can she repay the money she was given to set up the Test/Trace/Isolate system that has spectacularly failed?

The New European contributor Jonathan Read followed up: “The situation is now more serious than the last lockdown in March, so why are the daily briefings only twice a week?”

Justin Lewis asked if the prime minister had “any regrets” about relaxing restrictions over the summer. 

On news people should avoid sitting down during their daily outdoor exercise routine, one user quipped: “If my back goes while out for my daily dose of exercise, should I use a bench to rest, or fall to the floor and wait until it passes?”

@Spike8Rack added: “Will you immediately act on the advice you get from this tweet? Or will you wait 2-10 weeks before doing anything, like usual?”

There were also questions about Dominic Cummings and the prime minister’s father.

Nick Galdstone tweeted: “Why did you let Dominic Cummings breach the first lockdown and invest so much political capital defending the indefensible so that you have no power nor moral authority now to impose necessary controls?”

Olly Gibbs probed: “Why has @BorisJohnson’s dad had the second dose of the vaccine whilst our frontline nurses treating positive patients on a daily basis have to wait 12 weeks?”

One user, by the name Jingle Bens, had a suggestion for Downing Street’s communication department.

“Whoever decided that this was a good idea is definitely getting the sack tomorrow. The responses are… colourful.”