This exciting new chapter will show Boris at his best
‘As a Cavalier not Roundhead, he finds it easier to embrace liberty’
THE winter of lockdown is now giving way to the summer of liberation. This week’s announcement of a dramatic relaxation in the coronavirus restrictions was the perfect platform for Boris Johnson to display the best of his political talents.
He is always at his most effective in the glow of advance rather than the gloom of adversity. The “broad, sunlit uplands”, to quote the phrase of his hero Winston Churchill, are his natural territory.
With his poetic impulse and mastery of the English language, he inevitably found the right words for the occasion when he made his statement to the House of Commons. “Our long national hibernation is coming to end,” he declared as he ran through the venues that will reopen from July 4.
This was the Prime Minister back on form. Full of confidence and optimism, he showed again his unique ability to cheer up the country. As a Cavalier by instinct, not a Roundhead, he finds it much easier to embrace liberty rather than extend officialdom. The whole complex apparatus of the lockdown, with its two-metre rules and bans on socialising, was the very antithesis of his generous spirit. By nature, he is the welcoming bartender, not the box-ticking bureaucrat.
YET this pandemic has forced him to act out of character. That is partly why he has struggled in recent months. He yearned to play Shakespeare’s Falstaff, but was required to be Hamlet, the gloomy Dane who admits: “I have of late lost all my mirth.”
His problems were compounded by his own harrowing brush with death, when he had to spend several days in intensive care. As with many other Covid survivors, his recuperation has been long and draining.
Since his emergence from hospital, there have been whispers at Westminster about his insufficient grasp of policy, his forgetfulness and his habit of taking three-hour daytime naps. “I’ve been surprised at the way he didn’t seem to have a feel for what was driving the agenda,” recalled one Tory MP after a recent meeting. On a happier note, he also became a new father when his partner Carrie Symonds gave birth to a healthy son. In the midst of his own personal ordeal, the event was a joyous one for him. Yet, however welcome, the sudden imposition of new parental duties undoubtedly increased the heaviness of his burden at a moment when his administration faced gargantuan, unprecedented responsibilities.
Like other governments around the world, Johnson’s record in the management of the crisis is mixed. There have been success stories, such as the NHS’s resilience, but also worrying logistical failures, like the expensive fiasco of the contact tracing app. For Johnson’s critics, these problems reflected the inadequacy of leadership at the top.
The Cabinet is said to have too many lightweights with too little experience.
Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s chief strategist, is widely seen as a brilliant campaigner but a poor administrator. Last week one Tory MP said: “There’s a feeling that the basic level of competence isn’t there in No 10.”
But the approach of the lockdown’s end gives the Prime Minister the chance to start an exciting new chapter, one that is far more suited to his skills. After the misery of recent months, he can revel in each stage of the return to normality. Yet this cannot be merely a rhetorical exercise.
He must also take other steps to reinvigorate his government. One vital requirement is to beef up its personnel by bringing in a mix of experienced figures and talented newcomers. It is ridiculous that senior figures such as Penny Mordaunt, Greg Clark and Jeremy Hunt are not in the Cabinet. There should also be promotions for others like prisons minister Lucy Frazer and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, who did such a brilliant demolition job in the Commons this month on Labour’s addiction to divisive identity politics.
SPACE on the frontbench should also be found for recently elected Tory MPs such as Jonathan Gullis (Stoke North), a former teacher.
The advent of freedom should provide a massive boost to the economy, already showing signs of recovery. That welcome trend can be accelerated by measures like tax cuts for businesses and major infrastructure projects.
Indeed, the Prime Minister is to give a major speech next week on the theme of “build, build, build”, emphasising his commitment to new hospitals, railways and schools. Delivering on election promises to implement Brexit and level up the economy will further reinforce the Government’s revival.
The Tories have an 80-seat majority and a charismatic chief. With new faces and popular policies, there is no reason why they should remain in the doldrums.