Politicians must be held to account for Covid-19 failings
AS the UK death toll from Covid-19 continues to rise, with the strong possibility that it will be the worst-hit state in Europe, there is an air of unreality about how the crisis is being presented to us by the authorities.
At the UK level, to which most people even in Wales pay attention, the progress of the Prime Minister’s recuperation from the coronavirus is a central theme.
He is spoken of by the likes of England’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock with affectionate reverence, as the absent leader whose wise counsel is missed, but whose recovery is an inspiration for ministerial colleagues as they do their best to combat the disease.
While there is no doubt that Boris Johnson became seriously ill after contracting the coronavirus himself, that very fact is now being used to underpin a narrative that his decisions about how to handle the crisis have been correct from the outset.
At the same time, there is the clear implication that questioning his decision-making, given the precarious state of his health, is somehow distasteful.
Instead of drawing attention to what in retrospect seem quite glaring shortcomings, we are invited to empathise with him as we watch the latest video showing him thanking the NHS workers who saved his life, and pleading with us to stay at home and save lives ourselves.
The gratitude owed to NHS and care workers is another theme in its own right, prompting us to have at the forefront of our thoughts those doing such a great job in caring for the dying and the sick.
The regular doorstep clapping sessions underpin the view that healthcare professionals on the front line epitomise the British spirit that ultimately prevailed in World War II.
Sub-Churchillian rhetoric from Mr Johnson, references to a wartime song from the Queen and statements from other members of the Royal Family to the effect that Britain is at its best in a crisis, all add to the sense of makebelieve that characterises the collective response to the pandemic.
The fact that most of us are cooped up at home for most if not all of the time is a further factor that helps us to ignore what has actually been going on.
Perhaps we need to distance ourselves in this way from the stark reality that many thousands of people have already died from Covid-19 in the UK and that many more will do so.
However, this is not a nostalgic period drama or a soap opera, but the most dangerous situation the great majority of us have been confronted with in our lifetimes.
Yet the daily media briefings given by the likes of Mr Hancock do not provide us with a sense of that. The references to Mr Johnson and NHS heroes set the tone, and while Mr Hancock’s responses to tougher questions from the media pack are not impressive, he has the politician’s ability to deflect criticism by suggesting, for example, that supply gaps will be plugged very soon and that people need to remember that every country in the world is having to deal with the crisis.
Another good diversion is the debate about how much longer the lockdown will last for. What, of course, we should all be focusing on is the catalogue of errors that have made the handling of the pandemic so poor.
The blasé approach towards the lockdown at the outset, with pubs and restaurants still open and people simply advised not to visit them, the refusal to ban large gatherings where transmission of the virus was highly likely, the abject failure to follow World Health Organization advice and carry out a programme of testing, tracing and isolating, the inability to protect health and care workers by supplying them with proper equipment and the failure to test tens of thousands of people as they flew back to the UK from, in many cases, Covid-19 hotspots. All of these failures have resulted in excess deaths for which our politicians must be held to account – if not now at the height of the crisis, then later.
But people need to get their heads around the fact that serious errors have taken place which have resulted in lost lives.
A comparison with Germany, which has a larger population than the UK but less than a third of the deaths, is instructive. They did testing and tracing properly.
The contrast between the cloying praise offered to NHS and care staff by ministers and the failure to provide those very staff with the proper equipment to protect them is shameful. But not enough of us are making the connection.
The failure of ministers to acknowledge that mistakes have been made is in stark contrast with the approach adopted in France by President Emmanuel Macron. He has not been afraid to admit that errors have occurred, and that everything is being done now to make up for them.
Mr Macron addresses the people of France as if they are adults, without couching what he has to say in the language of some sentimental vision of the past.
Are the people of Britain not ready for such honesty? Probably not.
The fantasy of a more prosperous Britain after Brexit has morphed into the fantasy of a state led by a political giant called Boris Johnson who will take us into battle against the coronavirus and win a famous victory against all the odds, just like in World War II.
There were a lot of casualties back then too, but hey we pulled through.
...there is the implication that questioning his (Mr Johnson’s) decision-making, given the precarious state of his health, is somehow distasteful