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Boris is back
The last time Boris Johnson appeared on the steps of No.10, nearly four long weeks ago, he cut a sad and sickly figure. Clapping NHS workers from his self-isolation, he was just days away from entering intensive care, his oxygen supply being monitored by dedicated nurses.
Today, he tried to reach for the characteristic vim and vigour of old, but the carefully balanced message of his return-to-work speech told its own story. In place of pure puppyish boosterism there were telling phrases like ‘a new wave of death’ and ‘sadness and mourning across the land’. He still managed to be upbeat, but this was a prime minister who knew just how dangerous Covid-19 really was.
In fact, coronavirus has managed to help the Tories in general and Johnson in particular to tackle two of their biggest political weaknesses: first, being seen as out of touch with the experience of ordinary people’s lives; and second, appearing not really to care about the NHS. Or, as Dominic Cummings put it in 2017: “People think, and by the way I think most people are right: ‘The Tory party is run by people who basically don’t care about people like me…’ They don’t care about the NHS.”
Of course, Cummings ensured that the last general election unleashed Brexit to counter the first problem and a relentless message about new hospitals and nurse places to counter the second. But the very fact of Johnson himself being hospitalised by Covid-19 may well have an even greater impact than that landslide-winning campaign.
Since his brush with mortality, not even his harshest critic can say that Johnson doesn’t really understand what it’s like to suffer from this disease. Short of breath, under an oxygen mask in an intensive care unit and isolated from his pregnant partner, this was one experience that was all too realworld. Similarly, his praise for the NHS staff by his bedside was clearly heartfelt and the issue of long-term funding for health is probably a given.
His experience also means that he is in a better position to deliver the bad news to the public in coming weeks: exit from the current lockdown won’t be quick or easy and some people are not going to get what they want. Coming from a party leader who loves to be loved, and usually wants to accentuate the positive, that message may prove more effective precisely because he is visibly uneasy about it.
There were plenty of negatives he simply ignored, however. Both NHS frontline workers’ fears about a lack of protective equipment and the growing number of deaths in care homes, with many staff and residents untested, were two glaring omissions from his words on the No.10 steps.
Indeed, when Johnson talked about “apparent success” he was right to use that adjective. With more than 21,000 deaths and some estimates that the total number is already more than 40,000 thanks to care homes and other causes, the qualification was essential. The PM was wise to refrain from Churchilian phrasing, given that 40,000 was also the civilian death toll during the Blitz. It is still possible the UK could come out of this crisis with the highest number of deaths of any European country.
What did slightly jar was his metaphor comparing Covid-19 to a ‘mugger’, complete with the Telegraph columnist-style reference to the mugger being tackled by the country. That may well have been his own experience, but for those tens of thousands of families, coronavirus has proved a killer not a bag-snatcher.
Perhaps the strangest line however was Johnson’s line that “the United Kingdom will emerge stronger than ever before” from this pandemic. Yes, the NHS has proved incredibly resilient and our testing capacity has been forced into a major overhaul. But some economic output may be gone for good, rather than just frozen before a sharp bounceback. Anyone who loses their job or business won’t thank him for the survival-of-the-fittest rhetoric. And for all the bereaved, such words may have seemed incongruous with the PM’s earlier message of compassion.
Which brings us to the third big weakness often associated with Boris Johnson: competence. He knows that the tricky balancing act of coming weeks and months would test even the most accomplished leader and administration, let alone one as inexperienced as his. And Keir Starmer is a more formidable opponent to expose any failures in the court of public opinion. Should schools go back before shops open? Will people get their hair cut before being allowed on holiday? And, as public questoner Lynne put it today, when will she get to hug her grandchildren?
There’s an unwelcome parallel too for Johnson in the Brexit messaging that got him his large majority in the first place. It was obvious today that the PM wants to slowly prepare the public for what he said was a plan to ”gradually to refine the economic and social restrictions” of the lockdown. It will be slow and complex and not everyone will be happy.
Just imagine if he had a similar ‘contain your impatience’ message on the UK’s exit from the EU: it may need different phases to come out, it will be complicated, but in the long-run the bigger goal (a comprehensive deal with the EU) will be secured.
Despite Michael Gove’s optimism and that of his allies (see our piece HERE) today, and despite the feeling that governments can walk and chew gum at the same time, some Brexiteers would rather a competent exit than an incompetent one.
Quote Of The Day
“It doesn’t give a huge amount of room for manoeuvre. That’s one of the things that ministers are going to have to consider.”
Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty on the current virus reproduction rate
Monday Cheat Sheet
Chancellor Rishi Sunak revealed that from next week small businesses will be able to get ‘bounceback’ loans worth up to £50,000 with 100% government backing.
Matt Hancock announced that families of frontline NHS and social care staff who have died from coronavirus will get a £60,000 payout. He admitted there was ‘a lot of work’ to do to hit his target of 100,000 coronavirus tests per day.
A further 360 people died of the virus in the UK, continuing the fall in daily hospital deaths. The total now stands at 21,092. Chris Whitty stressed: “This has got a very long way to run...we have still got some way before it is falling right off - but there is a long, long way to go beyond that.”
NHS England has told hospitals to test all in-patients for Covid-19, including those who have no symptoms at all.
Cancer services and other non-urgent NHS treatments will start to resume from tomorrow as the system is able to use its spare capacity as the number of virus cases decreases.
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