There are five people who could help us through the coronavirus crisis – Boris Johnson only has to ask

Namely, the five former prime ministers who’ve lived through crises just like it

So Boris Johnson is heading back to work on Monday, and the pro-Boris media and spin machine are gearing up with a new narrative: things have been going a bit wrong, but now he is back in the saddle, they will come good again.

There are two points to make on this. First, to have been admitted to intensive care suggests a serious illness, and that Johnson may not be able to operate at full pelt for some time. Second, it is at least arguable that the prime minister caused many of the problems with which the government is currently struggling through his slowness to take the coronavirus seriously; his mixed messages about shaking hands with infected people; his talk of the UK being able to “send the virus packing” simply because we were British.

This crisis requires cool, calm, fact-based, detail-obsessed, organisationally-focused leadership. These are not qualities usually associated with Mr Johnson. Perhaps his brush with mortality, the scale of the crisis, and the arrival of a serious opponent in Keir Starmer have forced him to reflect, and understand the need for a very different style of leadership from what the country has grown used to over his colourful career.

Perhaps Johnson has also learnt that governing in a crisis is a lot harder than governing in normal times, which itself is a lot harder than campaigning, the activity that he and those closest to him most enjoy. The civil service has been thinned out by austerity, its morale damaged by the undermining actions of ministers and special advisers. They are coping well in incredibly difficult circumstances, but they need more support and better structures if they are to be able to continue properly to support Mr Johnson and his cabinet through the coming months.

Johnson’s ministerial team is of variable quality, with few big hitters known to the public, and it is clear that the bulk of responsibility has been falling on just four people: first secretary Dominic Raab, health secretary Matt Hancock, chancellor Rishi Sunak and cabinet office minister Michael Gove. They all look remarkably well considering the pressures they are under, but the longer this goes on, the harder it will get, and the more these four will need to share the load.

There is, however. another resource available to the prime minister on his return, and he would be wise at least to consider calling upon it. This is the group of five, the handful of individuals still alive who know what it is like to be prime minister at a time of crisis. Whatever one thinks of their politics or personalities, their records or reputations, all five are committed public servants desperate for the government to succeed in what all have described as the biggest challenge the country has faced since the Second World War.

There is John Major, who dealt with the collapse of sterling on Black Wednesday, war in the Gulf, his party tearing itself apart over Europe, and much else besides; Tony Blair, who led the country through Kosovo and the post 9/11 wars abroad, a tortuous peace process at home, a foot and mouth epidemic and fuel price protests that almost brought the country to a halt; Gordon Brown, prime minister at the time of the global financial crisis, and with the force of his drive helped to shake the world into the action needed; David Cameron, who dealt with riots at home and a series of complex foreign policy issues abroad in Libya, Syria and Iraq; and Theresa May, with more than her fair share of terrorism to deal with, even if her premiership was defined by Brexit .

None of them will ever again land a job like the one they had. None is looking for elected office. Given their generous pensions, business interests and the lucrative former prime ministerial public speaking circuit, none has to worry about money. All are patriots. All have experience that could benefit an inexperienced prime minister and his inexperienced team.

Of course, having climbed as high as they did, all have egos, and are all to a greater and lesser extent tricky to handle. But if the government’s approach to this crisis really is “whatever it takes”, it seems foolish not to find ways of using them.

On Monday, Tony Blair’s Institute for Global Change published a paper setting out ten areas vital to the resolution of this crisis: mass testing, contact tracing, PPE, business, vaccine development, schools, use of technology, social distancing/compliance, travel and communications. He had ideas on structure too: a senior minister plus an outsider and expert task force on each challenge, reporting into the committee of four (Raab, Sunak, Michael Gove), under the chairmanship of the PM, and the Cobra process.

Between them, these five ex-PMs have access to the smartest people on the planet; to business, foreign governments facing up to the same challenge. More than this, they can engage with them differently from diplomats and current ministers. They are capable of being low- or high-profile, depending on what the moment requires. They have a range of skills between them that should be put to the use of the country.

I know from having been involved with Blair and Brown during a number of crises that government gets overwhelmed, not just by the crisis itself, but by the offers of help and support, without a proper system to manage them. You are bombarded with the ideas of armchair generals, of which I guess this is another one. However, I am confident that if Boris Johnson did as I suggest, that gang of five would help in making these challenges less overwhelming, and easier to manage.

Select 10 areas that require real focus. Put a senior minister in charge of each, alongside a real expert in each area, with a dedicated task force working to them, and give the former PMs a role as adviser, two groups each. It could be transformative.

And before anyone asks, neither Blair nor Brown is aware I am making this suggestion. I didn’t want to give them the option of saying it was a bad idea. I think it is a good idea, and believe the other gang of five – Johnson, Raab, Sunak, Hancock and Gove – should take it up.