Where Is Our Leader?

As if to demonstrate that yesterday’s figures for those dying after contracting the Coronavirus were not a one-off, today has brought the second successive death toll over 500: yesterday it was 563; today it is 568. We have reached the stage where the people become restless, perhaps even a little frightened. So where is PM Boris Johnson?

Johnson is still experiencing mild Covid-19 symptoms, although the news is apparently that he is on the mend, and good for him. But the perception is increasingly that he and his cabinet are not fulfilling Galbraith’s leadership test: “All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership”.

The major anxiety of the people in this time is Coronavirus; Johnson’s administration appears to have failed to adequately address it. As the Guardian has reported, in an interview in mid-March, David Halpern, head of the Government’s “nudge unit”, told of “cocooning” the elderly and vulnerable, and that “By the time they come out of their cocooning, herd immunity has been achieved in the rest of the population”.

That article goes on to tell “If there was a moment when the UK turned its back on the traditional public health approach to fighting an epidemic, this was it … Testing, isolation and quarantine - basic public health interventions - were barely on the agenda. Warnings from Chinese scientists of the severity of Covid-19 had not been understood”.

Now, as the Observer’s Carole Cadwalladr has noted, “New research from Cambridge University: lockdown 1 week earlier could have led to an epidemic 3x smaller”. Johnson did not move to close pubs and theatres until he was leaned on by Président Macron. The lockdown could have been ordered earlier; it was not. There was dither and delay.

On testing, as Labour deputy leadership candidate Angela Rayner has concluded, there is just confusion. “So we’re testing the test and then the test will be rolled out and we have some tests but not all of us will have the test … so when are we going to do what the [World Health Organisation] advised us weeks ago and test and trace the virus?”

Small wonder the adverse comment is now raining down on the Government, typified by Colin Lawson musing “German scientist on [Good Morning Britain] Pretty much saying Britain have had the details about testing kits since mid January so the only reason we are struggling now is because the government pissed about not taking it seriously!”

Simon Gosden wasn’t too happy about the strength of Johnson’s team, either: “Out of his depth, his lack of intellectual and organisational ability exposed. A one trick [Brexit] pony who surrounded himself with an inadequate cabinet chosen not on ability but by their slavish adherence to the [Brexit] cult”. Leaderless with Johnson; worse without him.

And Kerry-Ann Mendoza of The Canary reminded us “Boris Johnson hid during the London riots … Boris Johnson hid in a fridge during the election … Boris Johnson hid during the floods … Now we have a pandemic, he’s hiding again … This joker has failed to lead from the front his entire career”. Johnson is heading for his Norway Debate moment.

The People will not sit by and watch the death toll mount. We need leadership, and now.

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