Questions over quality of leaders
Fresh concern about leadership through the coronavirus crisis was evident in yesterday’s opinion columns.
The Guardian
Simon Jenkins said the UK had been badly served by Boris Johnson.
“Britain’s Prime Minister is looking ever more like an Old Etonian Donald Trump,” he wrote.
“A premiership that began with sacked ministers, party purges and vacuous slogans has continued in the same vein.”
Mr Jenkins is particularly concerned about the weakening partnership between the PM and scientists.
“The Government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, has openly distanced himself from Johnson’s plea for the nation to return to work, asserting he could see ‘absolutely no reason’ for it,” he continued.
“There spoke a man with a safe job.”
Mr Jenkins went on: “Every aspect of the crisis has found a government wanting in competence.
“The emptying of NHS hospitals, care home protection,
PPE procurement, testing and tracing and lockdown discipline have all delivered the worst pandemic performance of any major western government.
“Even data on weekly deaths is now thought unreliable. It seems likely that Tudor bills of mortality would have been more trustworthy.”
The country, wrote Mr Jenkins, “must be led”.
He added: “The gossip – which is all we have to go on – is of emptiness in Downing Street... The UK’S battered economy now urgently requires a compromise trade agreement with the EU this autumn.
“Johnson in his head must know that.
“But the talk is that Downing Street simply lacks the diplomatic competence to reach such a deal in the weeks available. Just as Trump blindsides his officials, so does Johnson.
“The odds are that Britain will stumble on and crash blindly into a trade wall with Europe in December.”
The Times
The paper’s leader comment said urgent action would be needed as the furlough scheme tapers off, highlighting how the Scottish
Government’s council of economic advisers is not due to reconvene until October.
“As the columnist Alf Young noted, its minutes, just published, show Nicola Sturgeon stating that the council’s advice ‘would be crucial over the coming months’.
“But with no meetings planned for the next three months, it is hard to see how it will help in the short term.”
The author wrote that co-operation with Westminster would be crucial in the weeks and months to come.
“The best possible signal that this government could send out to hard-pressed businesses in
Scotland is that, instead of blaming Westminster, it is prepared to set aside political differences for now in the wider interests of boosting employment; that it will work with the UK Government on a two-year recovery plan with jobs at its heart; and that it will give Scottish business its head in determining how best to forge its own future.”
The Daily Telegraph
London’s restaurants, theatres and nightlife are facing catastrophe, the paper warned in its leader comment.
“The precipitous decline in commuting following the
Government’s insistence that those who can work from home should do so is having a devastating knock-on impact on the capital’s vibrant social and artistic scene,” the author wrote, adding that the ramifications of London’s decline would be “felt nationwide”.
“One person who might be expected to fight for the future of the capital is London’s mayor Sadiq Khan,” the comment said.
“Yet he has been to the fore of those urging people not to use trains, buses or Tubes.
“Worst of all, he has increased the congestion charge on vehicles and extended it from five to seven days a week.
“This has effectively wrecked the weekend trade that might just have helped some businesses survive.”
Mr Khan, the author argued, is “far keener on pursuing fashionable green causes than supporting the enterprises that are the lifeblood of the city”. The comment concluded: “The mayor claims he had to put up the charges as part of a funding deal to underpin Transport for London. He tries to pass the buck but it stops with him.”