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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Matthew Dresch

Tories' £13 self-isolation benefit covers just 5 minutes with Boris Johnson's trainer

The Tories' meagre £13-a-day self-isolation benefit would cover just five minutes with Boris Johnson's new personal trainer, Mirror Online can reveal.

The Prime Minister's 'performance coach' Harry Jameson charges an eye-watering £165-an-hour, the equivalent of £2.75 a minute.

It is in stark contrast to the paltry amount being offered by the government to low-income workers who need to self-isolate in high-risk areas.

These individuals will be able to claim £130 for a 10-day period if they test positive for Covid-19, although critics say the sum is nowhere near enough to live on.

Mr Johnson's new trainer is quoted as charging an hourly rate of £165 on the website of the luxurious Rosewood London hotel, where he is reportedly the 'personal trainer in residence'.

The Rosewood also offers a £1,999 deal called 'The Jameson Retreat', which covers a two-night stay at the hotel and daily training sessions with the man himself.

Individuals eligible for the government's new self-isolation benefit will receive just a fraction of this princely sum.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said the £13-a-day payment leaves people without enough to live on, while a Labour politician one of the local lockdown areas described it as a 'slap in the face'.

Mr Burnham said: "It’s good the Government has at last acknowledged the problem of people who can’t afford to self-isolate.

"But this sadly isn’t the solution. It leaves people without enough to live on. We need a scheme like Jury Service where wages are covered."

The 'performance coach' is helping Mr Johnson lose weight (harryjamesonpt / Instagram)

Although workers can still claim statutory sick pay, Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits on top of the benefit, many believe it is still not enough.

Mr Burnham added: “The health secretary has already said that he couldn’t live on statutory sick pay (SSP) at £95 a week. So how can an announcement like this work?”

Mohammed Iqbal, Labour leader of Pendle Borough Council in Lancashire, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "The figures that the Government have introduced are really a slap in the face for those people who sadly test positive and there is no incentive in my opinion for those people to self-isolate.

The Rosewood also offers a £1,999 deal called 'The Jameson Retreat' (harryjamesonpt / Instagram)

"If you’re a manual worker who’s not able to do their job from home, normally getting paid the living wage or the minimum wage, the Government are now going to say to you we’ll pay you £4.55 an hour.

"Not acceptable."

However, Health Secretary Matt Hancock today argued £13-a-day is enough when combined with other benefits, despite it taking weeks to claim Universal Credit.

He acknowledged that some people are losing out on their income from not being able to work, adding that the payment is 'set at the level of statutory sick pay in order to make sure people don’t lose out from doing the right thing'.

Government critics claim the new £13-a-day benefit is nowhere near enough to live on (PA)

Mr Hancock said: "We are introducing it in Oldham and Pendle and Blackburn with Darwen in the first instance.

"These are the areas in the country where the rates are the highest and we have the highest level of intervention, the strongest local lockdown if you like.

"And we’ll roll that out from next week and then obviously monitor it very closely and of course we speak to all of these people through NHS Test and Trace.

"One of the pieces of feedback we got was we need to put in extra support for people who we are asking to self-isolate and we will be finding out how that goes."

Mr Johnson, 56, hired his personal trainer to help him lose weight after he almost died from coronavirus, which is aggravated by obesity.

The Prime Minister is said to be 'really serious' about his weight loss journey and was spotted jogging around Westminster with the coach this week.

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