All the different travel advice UK ministers have given

Go and travel, but don’t go and travel.

As Britain launched its new ‘traffic light’ system for international trips amid the pandemic, ministers found themselves in a tangle over whether or not the public should actually pack their bags and head for the airport.

POLITICO tried to keep track of the lines over the past few weeks.

February 22: Boris Johnson’s “roadmap” for easing Britain’s lockdown is published, but it defers details on global travel to a report later in the year.

April 9: The Global Travel Taskforce report on getting international travel going again safely is unveiled, with a new “traffic light” system listing countries according to COVID risk, with ‘red’ for high-risk, ‘amber’ for moderate, and ‘green’ for low-risk. The report says ministers will “help build confidence and clarity for consumers by clearly and simply explaining the rules,” and stresses the need for “clear and consistent communications.”

May 7: Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announces holidaymakers in England will be able to travel to 12 countries and territories, including Portugal, Gibraltar and Israel, without having to quarantine on return under new rules entering into force May 17. Quarantine at home, as well as “stringent” testing, is required for anyone returning from “amber” destinations, and the Department for Transport says people should not be traveling to countries rated amber or red for leisure. Britain, Shapps says, has to be “necessarily cautious.”

May 17: New travel rules kick in as England eases a host of COVID restrictions.

May 18, morning: Environment Secretary George Eustice tells the BBC there may be “reasons” for going abroad to amber list countries, including visiting family and friends. “We don’t want to stop travel altogether and the reason … that we have the amber list is there will be reasons why people feel they need to travel either to visit family or indeed to visit friends,” he said.

May 18, lunchtime: Boris Johnson slaps down his environment secretary, saying: “It’s very important for people to grasp what an amber list country is: it is not somewhere where you should be going on holiday. And if people do go to an amber list country – they absolutely have to for some pressing family or urgent business reason.”

May 18, afternoon: Health Minister James Bethell tells peers looking for clarity: “Traveling is dangerous, and that is not news to us or to the people who get on those planes in the first place. The ultimate sanction here is that, particularly as we go into the summer, we tell people: traveling is not for this year. Please stay in this country.”

May 18, evening: Just to keep Brits on their toes, Welsh Secretary Simon Hart tells Times Radio that while amber list countries are only for essential travel, “some people might think a holiday is essential.” And he adds: “I can think of a quite a lot of people who do think that.”

May 19, morning: Education Minister Gillian Keegan says people need to be “sensible” and avoid visiting countries on the amber list unless for “special circumstances.” The rules, she points out, are not enforced by legislation, but only serve as guidance. Keegan told Sky News: “I have a house in Spain. I lived in Spain for eight years. I’m desperate to go to Spain. But right now, it’s not the time to go to Spain.”