It's asserting himself in a new post, and before an election. On the plus side, there's three(?) more weeks for more data to become available, to see if that's right or not. BBC say he said they see no reason to go beyond 19th July, which is a subtly different phrasing that still allows an out if needed.
I'd have certainly thought a 'cautiously optimistic' tone would have been more sensible, though, and the irreversible comment is naive at best... although they seem adept at pointing out things are beyond their control whenever they do reverse an irreversible decision!