"Boris Johnson gets coronavirus after initially ruling out lockdown," screamed a headline in one of Spain' s national newspapers yesterday.
The view in Spain is that Britain has been rather "relaxed" when it comes to the coronavirus; introducing a lockdown much later than other European countries and allowing commuters to get on to crowded tube trains.
One cab driver told me that as a result of Britain's attitude, British tourists should be asked to show a clean bill of health before they enter Spain at the end of the lockdown.
The fact that Boris Johnson is still Prime Minister even though he is in self-isolation has also been a talking point in Spain over the last 24 hours. Johnson should step down temporarily. It is obvious that he is not in a fit state to run Britain at a time of the biggest crisis in recent history. Yes, he can run Britain from his office in Downing Street but at the moment it is more a question of reassuring the public that everything is being done and I suspect the Great British public want to know that the government has got everything under control and Johnson is leading from the front. This is not the case; the Prime Minister's ability to function as a team leader has been reduced whatever he says.
Johnson should step down at once and return to the top job when he recovers. Britain, in this hour of need, deserves a leader similar to the man that Johnson tries to model himself on, the great Winston Churchill. A leader, despite all the restrictions which have been introduced, needs to be visible and in charge and Johnson is not.