Britain and COVID-19 - the damning verdict

The government would have you believe that the pandemic was something they could not have managed any better and any case, they ‘followed the science’.

The eventual report (if it is ever published) will say that they dithered, received poor advice and failed to take their responsibility seriously. They were late making decisions, failed to validate their plans or follow-up on the implementation of their promises.

They will be seen as confused and defensive, providing false assurances

and patronising statements.

The truth is even more damning.

Boris Johnson was elected with only one thing on his agenda. He ensured that he was surrounded by sycophants – a cabinet of the least talents.

Not only were they single-minded, they were not looking when the rest of the world panicked. Their focus on Brexit included the belief that they could learn nothing from foreigners and sovereignty meant superiority.

When they turned around and found that that the pandemic had touched our shores, days were lost in following a strategy of ‘herd immunity’. This assumed that many would suffer but the nation would emerge strong after a short while. The Nightingale hospitals – pride of the government’s energies were a consequence of that herd immunity strategy which assumed that the NHS would be overwhelmed. Following the delayed lockdown they were left largely unused.

Despite government inertia, track and trace was immediately established only to be abandoned on 23rd March. Those arriving from abroad were isolated and monitored. This policy also was also abandoned and not reinstated until months later when its value was greatly diminished and the rest of the world said, “they don’t need protecting from us; it’s the other way around!”.

The fact that PPE was in short supply resulted from late planning and home-grown suppliers were persistently ignored. Care homes and carers were not forgotten, they simply didn’t come to mind - there is no word in the Tory lexicon for the vulnerable.

It is hard to be charitable, so I won’t be. This is a tale of incompetence, arrogance and ignorance. At least 20,000 British people lost their lives who would otherwise have survived the winter.

Our future economy worryingly depends upon the same issues and the same people who stubbornly think the world owes us a living. These are the people who were elected as the least-worse option after a political shambles, which also originating from Brexit.