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Opinions
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses a news conference at 10 Downing Street, London, March 19, 2020. File photo: Leon Neal / pool / AFP
As Britain enters its third week under coronavirus lockdown, history is being written.
The Queen made a rare national broadcast on Sunday – only the fourth of her entire reign – urging the public along with the popular war-time refrain “we will meet again”.
This was followed on Monday with news of the prime minister’s worsening condition.
After 10 days in self-isolation with “mild” coronavirus symptoms, Boris Johnson was moved to a central London hospital, and later into intensive care.
If the PM is incapacitated, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is primed to deputize, stretching interpretations of Britain’s largely unwritten constitution.
Labour, meanwhile, has found itself a new leader – Sir Keir Starmer – who looks like the most prime ministerial candidate fielded by the Opposition for many years.
Boris Johnson’s hospitalization has shocked us all to the core. There’s no point in twits on Twitter prefacing their get well wishes with claims they don’t support him, his party, or his policies. It just doesn’t matter.
Get well messages have flooded in from around the world. Here, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) High Representative Karwan Jamal Tahir tweeted that Kurds had welcomed Boris Johnson to Erbil and wished the PM a swift recovery.
Before news of his condition broke, Boris Johnson’s government was taking a battering in the media, even among sympathetic newspapers, angered by his unclear response to the crisis.
Although the government had rightly launched a daily televised press conference to keep the public informed, the strategy wasn’t working.
Different ministers with varying levels of expertise gave a jumble of news and safety messages while journalists pelted them with questions. Precise answers were hard to come by.
Health Secretary Matthew Hancock, back after beating a minor bout of the virus, may front more of these press conferences in future.
His first outing followed Tony Blair’s strategy of masochism when he took tough questions on Iraq on the chin and diluted the fury. Hancock allowed follow up questions and also conceded some justified criticisms.
Many MPs and much of the media are focused on boosting the number of tests, which hold out hope of identifying who has the virus and who has already had it. That could permit a rolling programme of return to work for those who have developed immunity – although the length and strength of immunity is not absolutely certain.
It will also help the government search for an exit strategy that will relieve people stuck in social isolation. Having a garden makes all the difference under these restrictions. I feel for those marooned in small flats, those with young children, those who face domestic violence, and those who are alone.
It is difficult for ministers and officials in understaffed departments to work in isolation and chase disparate test and equipment providers nationally and internationally. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says leaders are making 100 percent of decisions with 50 percent of the data.
Few fully understand the institutional and logistical obstacles to sourcing swabs, chemical reagents, and ventilator machines. Quoted by the Financial Times, the head of one German ventilator manufacturer said of accelerating supplies: “You cannot have a baby in one month by impregnating nine women. That is mission impossible.”
What is “mission necessary” for the UK government is to come clean. People who are worried and fed up are increasingly immune to waffle – but will respect frankness.
In any normal situation, ministers would be rudely roasted in parliament, which is in currently in recess. The Opposition has been supportive, fed its ideas into the mix, and has seen some policies change as a result.
But Labour’s long leadership contest to replace lame duck leader Jeremy Corbyn made it less effective. That changed when Keir Starmer won a convincing mandate of 56 percent and agreed to work with the government to defeat COVID-19.
It is too soon to tell if or when there will be a national government or other means of forming a bipartisan consensus on coronavirus.
I have been reading reams of old articles saved from busier times. Coronavirus was mainly mentioned, until relatively recently, in articles about other countries and barely influenced domestic assessments, while many scientists judged it a moderate risk. All that was another world.
The immediate priority is for Boris Johnson to bounce back and lead the state’s scramble to save lives. The priority for everyone else is to behave considerately.
With any luck, we will all meet again soon.
Gary Kent is the Secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) and a Fellow of Soran University. He writes this column for Rudaw in a personal capacity. The address for the all-party group is appgkurdistan@gmail.com.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
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