‘Ghastly irony’ for natural entertainer
BORIS Johnson repeatedly glanced down at his notes on the Downing Street lectern as he announced the de facto cancellation of Christmas for millions of people.
It was as if he could not quite believe his eyes.
Few if any leaders have so successfully fused the roles of entertainer and politician. One of his chief selling points was that if he became PM there might be more jokes on the news, but in a ghastly twist of irony it fell to him to announce that a grim Christmas awaits because a mutant virus now stalks the land.
Just days ago a jollier Mr Johnson stood on the same spot and said it would be “frankly inhuman” to ban Christmas, but now he was ending freedom of movement within his own country. He insisted alarming information had come to light about the new variant of the virus and warned of the “velocity of transmission”. He said he “bitterly” regretted the new reality, and no one watching the briefing would doubt that is true. There was no dissent from his top aides.
Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said it was a “bad moment” and Chief Scientific Adviser
Sir Patrick Vallance concurred, calling it a “horrible moment”.
Mr Johnson argued that by sacrificing seeing loved ones, we “have a better chance of protecting their lives so we can see them at future Christmases”.
This devotee of Churchill sought to inspire by hope with the pledge that “as sure as night follows day, we will beat back this virus”.
He is a masterful communicator, but millions of people watching will have felt as if we are locked in a long night with the vaccine programme the only light on the horizon.