It comes to something when the most trusted politician in the government is the health secretary Matt Hancock. I lost whatever semblance of respect I had for Hancock when he abandoned his principles over Europe to support Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign. “Please let me keep my job as health secretary,” he grovelled. Johnson agreed, or rather the power behind the throne Dominic Cummings agreed he could stay. Hancock’s days are numbered now though.
The daily press conference is becoming less of an event with each passing day. One of the few things we get to find out is the paucity of talent on Johnson’s front bench, confirmation if it were needed (it isn’t), that cabinet appointments were made on the basis of being as Brexity as possible and to ensure those who were appointed did as they were told. Johnson, before being cut down with Covid-19, stuck to his tried and untrusted buffoon act, before both he and Cummings discovered their ‘herd immunity’ strategy would probably mean the death of some 500,000 people, a figure too high for even the Conservative party to tolerate. Then, he became more serious with his belated “You must stay at home!” warning three days after a quarter of a million people turned up at the Cheltenham Festival.
The other politicians have faired little better. Dominic Raab, the effective, or rather ineffective deputy prime minister, is a man uncomfortable with his own voice. Over-promoted, he does not so much as listen to the science as hide behind it. Michael Gove is as slippery as the slipperiest eel, Robert Jenrick is monumentally dull as is Alok Sharma and chancellor Rishi Sunak’s star is waning as quickly as it rose. And let’s not even mention Priti Patel’s Diana Abbott-esque arithmetical genius when she was put up one Sunday afternoon. Which leaves Matt Hancock.
Hancock is the only one of the politicians who comes across as a) sincere and b) vaguely competent. Unlike Gove, whose instinct is always to avoid any question he is asked, Hancock appears to fall over himself to answer the question and actually have some idea of the subject matter. Yesterday, I felt very sorry for him.
As soon as the press conference started, it appeared he was on the point of bursting into tears. He also appeared exhausted and it was clear he was grappling to make sure the words came out in the right order. Occasionally, he paused, possibly to avoid breaking down altogether or coming up for air. It was like being at a Brian Wilson concert, just hoping he’d get through it to the end without having a complete meltdown. It was painful to watch.
And I felt sorry for him because he is plainly doing his best to pick up the pieces of the mess the government has made of dealing with the coronavirus and as health secretary he must obviously take some of the blame. When the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Covid-19 a global health threat on 31st January, the day on which we left the EU, the government in general and Boris Johnson were asleep at the wheel. They either hadn’t noticed or didn’t believe the evidence before their eyes. Incompetence and complacency, by-words for the life and times of Boris Johnson.
Matt Hancock quickly became the voice of calm and authority, often flanked by the sure-footed honesty and competence of Chris Whitty and the shiftier more political Patrick Vallance. If the UK had been slow to react, as completely unprepared and under-resourced for a pandemic that had been warned about for many years, Hancock was trying to do the right thing. Yesterday, it looked like his number was up.
It is quite clear that Boris Johnson’s advisors are already looking for someone to blame when this whole sorry episode is over. And it’s clear that since chief advisor Dominic Cummings returned to work after his own Covid-19 scare, things have changed. Johnson’s former employer the Daily Telegraph has already started to publish articles about Hancock’s supposed shortcomings, one written by, of all people, by Nigel Farage, which called for him to be replaced by a ‘no nonsense outsider’, probably, if previous form is anything to go by, him. One thing is for sure: Cummings will be working night and day to find a scapegoat for the benefit of red top newspapers.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we really were all ‘in it together’ and that our leaders were acting in our interests and not for pure political advantage? Of course it would, but in Boris Johnson we have a gold standard politician, unequalled in his dishonesty and cynicism. And when Covid-19 is finally over, Johnson and Cummings will want to ensure any failings in the strategy were not seen to be theirs. The current Tory party is no place for honesty or principles.
