This has been an incredibly difficult time for the UK Government, indeed any government, as the scale of the pandemic has stretched health, economic and political resources to the limit.
But in the UK, as the incidence of Covid-19 begins to recede, things seem to be getting tougher for those in control, despite palpable success to date in managing the NHS through the crisis. Evidence of errors made as the pandemic emerged is starting to mount. A complacent initial response to the crisis, a brief dalliance with herd immunity, insufficient supplies of PPE and poor testing capabilities have all been well-documented. But as the UK registers the highest death toll in Europe, the scale of errors made in social care, which now account for almost half the recorded deaths make gruesome reading. It seems care homes may have been sacrificed to protect the NHS. The Government is on the back foot and Labour leader, Keir Starmer, is ruthlessly quoting back to ministers their initial, misguided, advice.
There are other errors too. The Johnson broadcast on 10th May was unnecessary and caused confusion. It should have been made after a detailed parliamentary statement on the gradual easing of lockdown. Then there are the devolved regions. The lack of consultation with them, and the breakdown in consensus of how to manage this next phase of the lockdown, was careless in the extreme. You can understand that there are issues of trust when the devolved regions are run by other parties than the Westminster government, but a less arrogant, less careless Prime Minister, could easily have avoided the pitfalls. And what is it about the patronising secrecy of keeping SAGE membership and key advice to ministers away from the public?
In addition, there are questions about the readiness of the test, track and trace strategy and quarantining visitors flying into the UK. The latter seems odd to say the least when there has been no quarantining before! Today, the government mean-spiritedly also refused to back down on charging the highly praised overseas health workers for their use of the NHS.
The whole premise of this UK government, post Brexit, was to lead the country to a glorious and superior future compared to that of our continental European neighbours; but it seems that we have managed to significantly under-perform most of Europe in our response to this pandemic, uncovering all sorts of relative institutional weaknesses. The government refuses to admit errors to date, hiding behind propaganda based on phraseology such as ‘ramping up’. It shamefully denigrates parts of the media (albeit some of the questioning has been poorly targeted) when they are critical, believing good relations are not needed with an 80 seat overall parliamentary majority. It is now starting to move the blame of errors made in managing the pandemic to the scientific advice received. And to cap it all, it arrogantly pursues Brexit negotiations apparently without fear of a No Deal, when a longer transition period would help crippled businesses.
There is much for the Government to learn from the past few months and indeed in the months ahead. You can understand that being in office currently is a brutal experience and there will be the added unpleasantness of facing accusations that ministerial decisions aided a higher death toll than there could have been. But admitting to mistakes, publicly learning the lessons from them, rebuilding consensus with the devolved regions and preparing to extend the transition period for leaving the EU, would all help dispel the lingering unpleasant taste left in the mouth by those in charge.
There is one solution for Johnson and his government to rescue at least some, indeed perhaps a good deal, of its reputation in the coming months. Show humility.
Inside Right Politics 