Stricken Boris is stark symbol of Covid peril
STEPPING out on to Downing Street last Thursday, Boris Johnson joined the nation in applauding the heroic NHS staff who put their lives in danger to protect us.
Today, the Prime Minister is experiencing the expert care of those doctors, nurses and auxiliaries first hand.
Stricken with coronavirus and struggling for breath, he was put in intensive care after his health deteriorated sharply.
Last night, he was stable and in ‘good spirits’. But make no mistake, the Tory leader is not yet out of the woods.
Only the sickest patients are treated on the ICU – so serious alarm about his wellbeing persists.
Boris’s ordeal is a painful and sad reminder that the infection does not discriminate. Prince or pauper. Politician or priest. It is abundantly clear that every single one of us is susceptible to this grim killer.
Perhaps the bleakest irony is that the PM’s moment of greatest weakness is simultaneously his moment of greatest strength for hammering out his ‘stay home’ message. Could anyone aware of his strife not appreciate the deadliness of the pernicious pathogen?
To the inglorious minority who risk catching and passing on the microbe by ignoring stringent lockdown rules, it should be a powerful symbol. However frustrating, the curbs must be obeyed.
Mr Johnson is not alone as a prime minister who has battled illness in office (his hero, Winston Churchill, had a heart attack as the Second World War raged).
But there could hardly be a more seismic instant for him to be ailing in intensive care. Britain is embroiled in the worst national crisis since the spectre of Nazi invasion. The Government is confronting unprecedented challenges almost hourly.
A strong, rumbustious leader, Boris was determined to fight through the contagion to guide the UK away from catastrophe.
Instead of resting, he led from the front – making decisions and chairing meetings.
Such fortitude is admirable. But it weakened his body’s defences – and now he’s paying a heavy price.
Undoubtedly, his hospitalisation is a severe blow. Mr Johnson has a track record for winning uphill battles. In the face of steep odds, he twice became London mayor, pouched a whopping majority in December’s election and delivered Brexit.
He enjoys the confidence of the overwhelming majority of Britons. His plight is profoundly discombobulating, fuelling a national outpouring of anxiety. For many, it has rammed home the appalling reality of coronavirus.
And if Boris’s sombre predicament is unsettling for millions he’s never met, how dreadful for his pregnant fiancee, children and other loved ones.
Despite Mr Johnson’s larger-than-life zest, even a brisk recuperation will surely see him out of the picture for some time. How will the Government run in this period of peril?
For all his inexperience in the highest echelons of state, it is vital the Cabinet unites behind de facto PM Dominic Raab.
Personal ambitions must be ditched. Infighting and jostling for power will be unforgivable to voters. Ministers have one goal: To act for the good of the country.
The restrictions on our freedom will not be lifted on Monday. The disease is yet to peak. Weeks more confinement beckon. But ministers will be under pressure to work out if the lockdown can, eventually, be relaxed.
If the economy remains in the deep freeze for too long, it will decimate businesses, jobs, prosperity and the revenue to fund public services.
Yes, talk of an exit strategy might encourage some to flout the rules at this critical juncture. But others will welcome light at the tunnel’s end – and resolutely dig in.
In time, that little brook of optimism will become a raging river – heralding life’s return to normal.