Welcome back Prime Minister. Now give us a reason to hope...
WE HEARTILY welcome Boris Johnson back to his desk, and congratulate him on his recovery. It is cheering news that he is once more at the centre of government. During those fretful hours when he was seriously unwell, it really did feel as if the country’s engine was faltering. There is no substitute for having the captain on the bridge in person at times of danger and crisis.
And without him there has been drift. It has been clear for some time that the policy of continued lockdown needed drastic modification. It is simply not enough to come up with schemes such as the plan for mass testing which The Mail on Sunday reports today. No doubt the idea is well-intentioned but the enormous scale of it, and the months it will take to implement, mean it is hardly the sign the country needs that we are on our way back to normal life.
The same is true for the welcome tightening of quarantining for those arriving in the country. This, though perhaps not as rigorous as we might have hoped, is undoubtedly badly needed, and should have been imposed long ago. But the Government machine’s performance so far, on such crucial issues as personal protection equipment and care homes, does not inspire confidence in the execution of such plans.
In any case a new major step is needed, and these measures cannot be allowed to divert the Government from that step.
No great moral effort, such as the British people’s willing and selfless acceptance of strict limitations on their freedom, can continue for ever without some sort of hope that it will achieve its aim and will come to an end.
Suggestions that pubs and restaurants could stay shut till Christmas, and the claim by Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty that strict social distancing might last another year, actually demoralise people who feel they have already made important sacrifices and think it is time they were recognised.
The lockdown has not been sustained by police bossiness or ministerial exhortation but by human goodwill. This cannot be expected to last indefinitely, and will begin to fray without the hope of release within a reasonable time. In some places, this may already have begun to happen, with traffic on the roads noticeably increasing.
Meanwhile, several major businesses, from burger chains to B& Q, have now begun to reopen or will shortly do so – having perhaps gone too far in closing at the start of the virus crisis. Others still have no choice. It is especially absurd that garden centres remain closed in defiance of all logic, and are faced with dumping plants worth millions, at what would normally be a time of flourishing trade.
The Prime Minister is a famous champion of liberty and enterprise. He could, by allowing their reopening this week, make an immediate impression and end the period of drift that his absence has undoubtedly caused.
A decision is also urgently needed to end the closure of schools. The educational damage done – especially to the children of the poor – is increasingly intolerable.
Too many in government have hidden behind what they call ‘ the science’ while avoiding such decisions. The truth is that science provides guidance, but that scientists themselves disagree and Ministers must take responsibility for choosing their own actions. The return of Boris Johnson is the perfect moment for the revival of responsibility and the end of drift. Please, Prime Minister, we have sacrificed much. Now give us all something to look forward to.