No10 denies Boris Johnson wore makeup on his HANDS during address to the nation on new Covid curbs

Downing Street has denied that Boris Johnson wore makeup on his hands during last night’s TV address, as figures show his latest statement drew only half the audience he attracted earlier in the pandemic. 

The Prime Minister was mocked on social media for sporting what appeared to be a heavy layer of makeup before going on camera, with some pictures suggesting his hands may have received some cosmetic treatment too.

One user wrote: ‘If Boris Johnson had worn any more makeup for this Covid briefing he’d be morphing into Donald Trump, which would be hilarious if it wasn’t actually his biggest goal in life.’

A second noted: ‘Damn Boris has got some serious makeup on.’

In response to a tweet from Tory MP Ben Bradley, who said it was ‘good to see the boss looking well again,’ another said: ‘Give over. More make-up than a pantomime dame.’

However, when MailOnline asked if the premier had applied makeup to his hands, a No10 spokesman said: ‘No.’

Ten million Britons tuned in to watch the premier announce new restrictions on Tuesday, but his first address to the nation back in March, when lockdown was formally imposed, attracted more than double that number. 

A body language expert told FEMAIL that Mr Johnson’s ‘stern’ expression and dramatic hand gestures during the statement ‘showed a very clear intention to try to rally the troops’.

Judi James said: ‘Re-energised, revitalised and lacking the body language signals of regret and gloom that hung like a cloud during his Commons speech in the afternoon, Boris’s gesticulation and the way he held the camera with a gleaming, stern-but-kindly eye expression during his address tonight showed a very clear intention to try to rally the troops for one last thrust to win the war.

‘Appearing at a desk to signal maximum authority for this quasi-wartime address to the nation, his forward-leaning posture and his attacking gestures suggested a desire to lean right into our living rooms to shake us into action. 

‘Apart from some comfortable meshed hands and a self-comfort thumb-rub that hinted at some anxiety behind the electric performance, Boris was purely in fight mode.  

‘His hands balled into fists so tight his knuckles whitened and within moments the fist were punching away or rattling in mid-air or even coming towards our screens on one occasion when, in his desire to rouse us, he looked almost as though he were in 3D.’

She added: ‘It was a short address but his clear objective was to look spirited and re-energised and to motivate the public with the same kind of performance he used to motivate voters for Brexit.

‘As intentional gestures go, his 33 – plus punches told us that Boris was back and leading from the front again.

‘Ritualised combat rituals like this are often letting off surplus energy, but in Boris’s case they appeared to be used for intrapersonal reasons though, i.e. to motivate and energise himself as much as his audience.

‘The contrast between his Commons speech was obvious as the expressions of regret and personal pain were gone and in their place were part-smiles and messages of huge hope.’

It comes after the Prime Minister was the subject of a deeply unflattering portrait published last week, which suggested a man with ‘misery etched on his face’ as Covid and money troubles wear down the formally ‘ebullient’ and ‘cajoling’ figure of old.

The article in the Times suggested that the combination of his own brush with death, dealing with the pandemic and personal financial concerns had taken a terrible toll on the usually jovial PM. 

Allies of Mr Johnson, who was rushed into intensive care earlier this year after catching coronavirus, responded with anger at the gloomy portrayal of the Prime Minister’s mood, fitness and health. 

One voiced dismay at the ‘brutal’ and personal nature of the briefings given to the newspaper.  

Matt Hancock said Boris Johnson is not only healthy, but ‘enormously, enormously vigorous’ in response to the claims.

He said: ‘Yes of course absolutely, he’s enormously, enormously vigorous and I think it’s important to recognise that this is a really big moment.

‘The seriousness of the decisions we take can’t be overestimated and we’re making judgments about how to protect the health of the nation and how to save tens of thousands of lives whilst balancing that with the enormous social and economic and health impacts of the measures that we have to take.

‘These are huge decisions and very weighty ones and so it’s hugely understandable that the people making them should be taking them extremely seriously.’

But the reports come just one month after the father-in-law of key Johnson aide Dominic Cummings sparked speculation that Mr Johnson was hit so severely by his own serious Covid illness in the spring that he would quit No 10 in six months’ time.

Sir Humphry Wakefield apparently let slip the remark to a visitor to the family’s 13th Century, Grade I-listed Chillingham Castle in Northumberland, with the keen horse-rider warning: ‘If you put a horse back to work when it’s injured, it will never recover.’

The reports were strenuously denied by both Downing Street and Mr Johnson himself.

However, the denials have not stopped even one senior Minister from privately speculating that the Prime Minister will not lead his party into the next Election expected in 2024. 

Mr Johnson yesterday announced a wave of new restrictions designed to stop the spread of coronavirus. 

He imposed a 10pm curfew on pubs, bars and restaurants across England from tomorrow, extended rules on the mandatory wearing of face coverings and also urged workers to work from home where they can.

Members of Sage said the curfew would not be enough to slow the rate of infection.

But Mr Johnson insisted his approach was based on trying to ‘balance saving lives with protecting jobs and livelihoods’.

However, he said he reserved the right to ‘deploy greater fire power’ should it be necessary.

Mr Johnson warned that that the curbs may have to be left in place for six months, potentially ruining families Christmases and New Year celebrations, and taking the total time spent under coronavirus restrictions of some kind up to a calendar year. 

The 10pm curfew on the hospitality sector sparked an immediate industry backlash as the UKHospitality group said it was ‘another crushing blow’ 

Chief executive Kate Nicholls said: ‘It is hard to understand how these measures are the solution to fighting the disease when Government data shows that just five per cent of infections out of the home are related to hospitality.’

At the same time Tory MPs warned there must not be another ‘major lockdown’. 

They said the decision to ditch the back to work drive will cause widespread ‘dismay’ among workers who live in ‘cramped, overcrowded accommodation’.