Late Tuesday night in the United States, Reuters announced the news, citing the Telegraph, which suggests that Prime Minister Boris Johnson aims to take “direct control” of the government’s management of the coronavirus epidemic (COVID- 19) in a Downing Street reorganization.
Key quotes
The move will see two centralized committees, covering strategy and operational delivery, shaping the British government’s approach to the epidemic, the newspaper added.
The committees will replace four ministerial implementation groups, which were formed at the outset of the coronavirus crisis and covered health, foreign affairs, the economy, business and public services.
Prime Minister Johnson will chair the strategic committee while Cabinet Minister Michael Gove will chair the new operations committee.
The changes will allow some of Johnson’s best team members to focus on Brexit negotiations ahead of the July deadline, when Britain decides to extend the transition period beyond this year.
The newspaper also reported that a regular meeting of the COVID-19 government, which was held every morning, was being suspended.
FX implications
While the news should have helped the GBP / USD pair, the cable remains essentially unchanged around 1.2550 at press time.