PM delivers message we want to hear
This Friday marks one year since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, and no one could have imagined the challenges he would face. Getting Britain out of the EU was a huge achievement; getting Britain through the coronavirus is even bigger, especially when Covid-19 put the PM himself in hospital. Thankfully he has recovered, and the Government, after several terrible months, is sensibly integrating its disaster response into the institutional reform agenda on which it won office. As Mr Johnson tells this newspaper in an exclusive interview, there is a “massive opportunity” to “do things differently and do things better.”
This must start with how we tackle Covid-19. Last week, Mr Johnson set a goal of getting Britain back to school and work by September/October, with social distancing lifted in time for Christmas. Britain will tackle local breakouts with local lockdowns; shutting down the whole country again, he says, “is like a nuclear deterrent. I certainly don’t want to use it. And nor do I think we will be in that position again.” This is exactly what we need to hear, and the PM’s words echo those of his counterpart in France, Jean Castex, who called the lockdown “disastrous”. The UK’s future response must be targeted and driven by efficient test and trace – money and energy, public and private, needs to be poured into developing vaccines.
Meanwhile the Government is to be credited for taking a tough line in Brexit negotiations. Mr Johnson also says the Tories will look at reforms to the Civil Service and justice – it is “odd and perverse” that Shamima Begum, who is not only outside the country but was theoretically stripped of her citizenship, can still get legal aid – and he promises a much-needed review of further education. “We are looking at pricing mechanisms”, he says, which would presumably mean arts courses might cost more but technical qualifications less, which would help Britain build the expertise it needs to implement Brexit, develop the kind of scientific industries Covid-19 has exposed us as missing and to raise our game in competition with China.
If the PM can finally get this reform agenda off the ground, the country will reward him for it.