Faced with an unparalleled pandemic, the initial response of most governments could be forgiven for falling short. The main hope was that they learnt from their mistakes and raised their game in the process. It is what we have seen frequently overseas, confirming that it would have been unhelpful and unfair to judge a government’s actions too early in this crisis.
We are further through the pandemic now, at least in Europe, and the focus is gradually moving to a review of past actions and managing the way out of lockdown. Comparisons are being made and the UK is not coming out at all well so far. Things only seem to be getting worse for Johnson’s administration and the charge sheet continues to mount.
It is not helped by the commonly held view that this is not a pleasant government. Under the guidance of Johnson and his adviser, Cummings, it is building a reputation for bluster and self-defeating bullying in equal measure. It is given less leeway by commentators for its character but, even then, all could be forgiven if it were competent. It appears not.
To be fair, under the able Rishi Sunak, the government has performed well economically and protecting an unprepared NHS succeeded although, as we now know, at an immense cost to care homes. But there have been too many unenforced errors, and this is changing public opinion. Several are listed below:
- Late to lockdown. A government with a libertarian heart could not bring itself to lockdown early. Modelling data forecasting up to 500,000 unchecked coronavirus deaths was available from 2nd March. Playing with the concept of herd immunity and with little capacity for testing, it was 3 weeks later before shut-down even though the evidence was clear of its benefits, as was the severity of the virus.
- Care homes and lack of testing. This is a disaster. According to the National Audit Office, some 25,000 patients were discharged into care homes untested in March/April, in haste to free up hospital beds. Testing was either unavailable, not even to care home staff, or not deemed a priority. This will be the tragedy of Covid-19.
- Statistics. These make grim reading. Who can argue the management of the crisis to date has been good when we have the highest excess deaths in Europe?
- Cummings debacle. No more to add.
- Managing our way out of lockdown. U-turn after U-turn with the Cabinet barely consulted. First, having to reverse a policy of charging overseas NHS and care home staff supplementary fees for using the health services here. Having praised their contribution, how could the government be so crass? Second, opening schools and then announcing closures until September at the earliest with a £1bn emergency fund announced today to plug the gap. Chaos. No planning, with the poorest children suffering most. Third, a reversal on food vouchers over the Summer for some of the poorest families. Having tried to tackle Marcus Rashford on this and failing, then praising his initiative, the government looks hapless and out of touch. Fourth, an abrupt reversal on the track and trace system which may not be fully up and running until the Autumn at the earliest. We now await the reversal on quarantining. Oh dear, and all this as a backdrop to possibly the worst recession faced by any developed country.
But I return to my earlier point about the character of this government. Boris Johnson is undoubtedly a polarising figure. Some have and continue to claim that once his Prime Ministerial ambitions were fulfilled, he would be a little lost in the role.
That may be unfair, particularly mid-pandemic, but what is clear is that his administration, under the guidance of Dominic Cummings, believes aggressive campaigning techniques will win the day, even while in power. The weakness of this approach has been uncovered in this crisis and the government’s satisfaction ratings have suffered accordingly. Confusing policies, messaging and U-turns have been savaged by even the most sympathetic media. We have been treated to the propaganda of superficial phraseology such as ‘ramping up’, to unattainable targets, PPE equipment counted singly rather than in pairs and a raft of ministers refusing to admit any mistakes, even the obvious ones. SAGE deliberations and its membership until recently have mostly been kept secret.
As argued before, if Johnson and his ministers showed more humility, admitted to mistakes with a focus on learning from them, invited the media more readily into deliberations and had generally been more transparent, many more missteps would have likely been forgiven. None of this has happened to date and that promised independent review may consequently be brutal.
Inside Right Politics 