St Paul’s memorial will be so fitting, Johnson tells MPs
BORIS Johnson yesterday backed plans for a national Covid memorial at St Paul’s Cathedral, telling the Commons it would be a ‘fitting place of reflection’.
The Prime Minister announced the creation of a commission to examine ways for the nation to remember the victims of the ‘gravest crisis since the Second World War’.
And he specifically praised plans backed by the Daily Mail to create a magnificent memorial at the cathedral in central London.
Mr Johnson told MPs there was a ‘solemn duty on our whole United Kingdom to come together and cherish the memories of those who have been lost’. He said he had been ‘deeply moved’ by a late night visit to the Covid memorial wall mural opposite Parliament earlier this month.
He added: ‘And I wholeheartedly support the plan for a memorial in St Paul’s Cathedral, which will provide a fitting place of reflection in the heart of our capital.’
The Remember Me campaign backed by the Mail plans to produce a multi-faith memorial at St Paul’s, one of the symbols of Britain’s defiance against the Blitz.
The new commission will look at whether local communities in different parts of the country also want to create their own memorials.
And it will examine the case for a national day of remembrance for the 127,640 people who have lost their lives. It would probably be held on March 23 – the anniversary of the start of the first lockdown.
Plans could also include the planting of a new national forest.
Mr Johnson yesterday said that the work of the commission would be ‘above party politics’.
The PM said the plans would aim to ‘honour the heroism of those who saved lives and the courage of frontline workers who kept our country
‘Daily sacrifice of millions’
going, celebrate the genius of those who created the vaccines, and commemorate the small acts of kindness and the daily sacrifice of millions who stayed at home, buying time for our scientists to come to our rescue’.
He said the commission would work with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to ‘preserve the spirit which has sustained us in the gravest crisis since the Second World War, resolving to go forwards together, and to build back better’.
The make up of the commission and its precise remit will be set out in the coming weeks.
The permanent memorial in St Paul’s will feature an oak portico with the words ‘Remember Me’ engraved in several languages. It will be open free of charge to people of all faiths and none.
Inside, a chapel will display screens showing a virtual book of remembrance which organisers hope will bear the names of those lost to the virus. The initiative has the support of all main political party leaders, as well as senior figures from all the main faiths.
Donations have come in from more than 7,000 generous Mail readers – raising more than £260,000 towards the £2.3million target.
As much as £98,000 of this has arrived in cheques while more than £165,000 has been donated on the cathedral’s Crowdfunder page.
And generous pledges from businessman Mohamed Mansour, entrepreneur Matt Moulding, Apprentice star Lord Sugar and philanthropists Sir Michael Hintze and Sir Tom Hunter have seen more than a million pounds raised since the Mail started its drive.
LET’S start by giving credit where it’s due.
Mr Johnson should be commended for ordering a full public inquiry into the Government’s handling of the Covid disaster. (Gordon Brown, until shamed, wanted the Iraq probe held in secret).
Some aspects, we know, were breathtakingly inept. From PPE to Test and Trace, ministers, officials and scientists were often unequal to the vast challenge.
The case for lockdown, and whether it did more harm than good, must be scrupulously examined. But other facets – notably the vaccine programme – were masterstrokes.
Of course, by calculating the inquiry won’t conclude until after the next election, the PM seeks to avoid any wrath from voters. But if he’s sincere that the state should ‘learn every lesson’, it must be short and sharp so the findings remain relevant.
The announcement is another positive signal we are in Covid’s endgame. The jabs rollout has now reached 30- somethings. And, with infectious zest, the Bank of England’s chief economist Andy Haldane predicts in these pages that the economy will ‘bounce back like a tennis ball’, with scarcely any rise in unemployment.
If that’s the case after such a torrid year, perhaps voters will look more kindly on any mistakes made while tackling Covid.