The truth is that [Boris Johnson’s] performance so far has been chequered. Since the start he has appeared behind the curve. Considerable time that could have been spent preparing for the crisis appears to have been squandered. The World Health Organisation first warned of the risk of a deadly global pandemic in mid-January, by which point the coronavirus was spreading rapidly in China and parts of Asia. Yet the government spent much of February apparently distracted with fights with some of Britain’s institutions, including the civil service, the judiciary and the BBC. Even at the time many questioned why the prime minister disappeared from view for a week in the middle of the month to his grace-and-favour home in Kent. He did not preside over his first Cobra meeting to discuss the crisis until March 3. Even as the scale became apparent, Mr Johnson’s response to it has been uneven. For the most of the first half of March, the official advice was simply to wash one’s hands. On March 12, as countries across Europe and the world closed schools, restaurants, bars and shops and introduced lockdowns and travel bans, the government merely advised that those ill with coronavirus symptoms should self-isolate for seven days …
Mr Johnson’s liberal instincts and reluctance to restrict civil liberties would normally be admirable. But dithering over whether to shut schools, bars and restaurants, combined with anonymous briefings warning of imminent lockdowns that are then ruled out by ministers, may have only made the crisis worse. Panicked shoppers have stripped supermarkets of supplies while many Londoners will have escaped to the country, almost certainly further spreading the virus. City traders say that doubts about Mr Johnson’s response contributed to the run on sterling. Britain’s death toll is now at the same level as Italy’s two weeks ago, yet already one hospital says that it has been overwhelmed and the NHS is warning of shortages of ventilators and protective clothing …
And if the government is forced to introduce even more stringent restrictions to halt an escalating epidemic, they may ask why they weren’t introduced sooner, as they have been in much of the rest of the world. The country needs to know that Mr Johnson has a coherent strategy. Otherwise the prime minister who dreamt of being Churchill may find himself cast as Neville Chamberlain.
