Bigger picture of Covid crisis

Boris Johnson faces grilling

A MEETING of Parliament’s Liaison Committee is perhaps usually only of interest to the most committed of political aficionados, however these are not ordinary times and this afternoon’s 90-minute appearance by Boris Johnson in front of the chairs of Parliament’s various select committees takes on profound significance as the Prime Minister looks to win back political and public trust.

Mr Johnson’s handling of the saga surrounding his chief adviser Dominic Cummings has, according to one poll, seen his approval rating among the public drop by 20 points in days. There has also been open rebellion from dozens of Conservative MPs. As Junior Minister Douglas Ross unanswerably put it in his resignation letter: “I have constituents who didn’t get to say goodbye to loved ones; families who could not mourn together; people who didn’t visit sick relatives because they followed the guidance of the Government. I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior adviser to the Government was right.”

While Mr Johnson will undoubtedly face tough questions about not only backing Mr Cummings but actively praising his adviser’s “integrity” in taking decisions that other families in similar situations would not have dreamt of doing, it is vital members of the liaison committee focus on the bigger picture.

The UK’s coronavirus death toll has now passed 47,000 according to Office for National Statistics data; the worst in Europe. Mr Johnson must be pressed on how that has been allowed to happen. Mr Cummings admitted the Government had made mistakes in its handling of the pandemic, while Liaison Committee chair Bernard Jenkin noted last week Covid-19 had led to a centralisation of power unusual in peacetime which makes the PM “more personally accountable than usual”. It is time for that accountability to be demonstrated.