Boris Johnson’s claim that England’s coronavirus response is a ‘massive success’ will not hide the government’s blatant failings

Editorial: The litany of errors, misjudgements and recklessness is well-documented

If Boris Johnson thinks that England having the highest Covid-19 death rate in Europe is a “massive success”, it would be interesting to know what might count as a massive failure. No-deal Brexit? The sharpest recession in three centuries? A decade-long economic slump? Perish the thought.

In normal circumstances, the Johnsonian tactic of doubling-down, blustering and moving swiftly away from the microphone serves him and his style of content-free politics well. He must be grateful that parliament is on holiday and he doesn’t have to face Keir Starmer across the dispatch box. Johnson has no one right now in a position to make him squirm.

Yet this is no normal time, but a grim period of grief and mourning for those who have lost loved ones too soon to this virus. It is in poor taste, at best, for the prime minister, supposedly a leader intent on unifying the country, to pretend that this is some sort of triumph that everyone can congratulate themselves on, and give good old Johnson a pat on the back. At worst, it is an insult to the memory of the tens of thousands of excess deaths in England in the first half of the year.

The truth, as becomes clearer by the day, is that whatever success England and Britain have had in suppressing the virus has usually been despite, rather than because of, the government’s handling of the crisis. On that point Mr Johnson and his ministers prefer a defence of quiet understatement rather than vulgar boasts – “some things could have been done differently” and “it’s too early to make assessments”.

The litany of errors, misjudgements and recklessness is well-documented – the too-late lockdown and too-early relaxation; the dumping of older patients into care homes without testing; the shortages of protective equipment and ventilators; the Cummings affair; the confused messaging; the quarantine debacle; the failure of test and trace and the contact app; inadequate business support for outbreak areas such as Leicester. The only area of relative success has been the national economic package, and even that is being wound down.

One clear message since March has been the basic seven-day self-isolation rule for those with symptoms (and 14 days if a household is involved). Now it is to change and be extended to 10 days (with the household quarantine possibly moving down to 10 days as well). There’s nothing wrong with adjusting the response to changing conditions. The government has recognised the coming of a further wave of infections, though it has found it expedient to pretend that the problem lies in Europe, ignoring the rising trend at home. What is unsatisfactory, and further erodes public confidence, is the absence of much explanation about the sudden change, at a time when so many other restrictions are being slackened but often ignored in any case. In particular, those most vulnerable, being “shielded”, deserve to know what is going to happen with them, and why.

The initial lockdown was successful, thanks to the public response to a simple if draconian slogan – stay home, save lives, protect the NHS. Now even the prime minister (or especially the prime minister) can’t explain when a grandparent may meet a grandchild. Nor can he say whether and when to wear a face covering. Or if people have to return to workplaces if they cannot reach consensus with employers. Much the same will be true again about children returning to schools.

As the lockdown was eased, the rules and the public health information was bound to be more complicated, exacerbated by the government failing to recognise the different arrangements that evolved in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Now that the lockdown may be tightened and partially reimposed, the messaging is as muddy as ever. Whatever else you can call the British experience of coronavirus, it has not been a “massive success”.