EDITORIAL

UK coronavirus chaos continues as Johnson lurches from crisis to crisis

Thu, Sep 03, 2020

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opi...isis-to-crisis

THE United Kingdom has long been known for competent, stable government with the "Westminster model" of parliamentary democracy widely influential round the world. Yet, the response of Boris Johnson's administration to the coronavirus crisis risks going from bad to worse, tarnishing the UK's reputation internationally in the process.

Even top Conservatives are furious with Mr Johnson's handling of the pandemic. Nicholas Soames, Winston Churchill's grandson, for instance, said last month that the current UK Cabinet is the weakest in the almost four decades since he entered Parliament.

Most recently, the Johnson government's incompetence has been manifested in a fiasco over end-of-year student grading. In a different era, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is likely to have resigned after the government embraced a flawed computer algorithm to "predict" test results rather than relying on teacher assessments which, while imperfect too, are more suited to the task in hand in the absence of exams (that have been cancelled).

Part of the reason that Mr Williamson is still in office is that the government is facing this month another potentially big education challenge with Mr Johnson urging students to return to the classroom after an almost six-month absence, the longest since the World War II. The prime minister is aware that many parents are reluctant to allow their children to go back, for safety reasons, and he has staked his credibility on this happening.

Yet, given the possibility of embarrassment on this issue too, some critics assert that Mr Williamson is being kept on as a potential "fall guy". There is probably truth in these claims, but he also remains in post, for now, for wider reasons, including the fact that as a former chief government whip, he could be a disruptive force against Mr Johnson if he leaves the Cabinet.

The school-grading fiasco is only the latest that has hit the Johnson team since the onset of the pandemic. No nation has been spared entirely from its consequences, but the UK has suffered more than most.

Contrast the ongoing debacle with the quiet competence shown by diverse nations like New Zealand in the Pacific, South Korea in Asia, Germany in Europe and Canada in the Americas. All these states have generally handled the pandemic more effectively utilising a mixture of strict lockdowns, where needed, and mass testing.

Not only is the UK on track for one of the highest per capita mortality rates in the world, it is also forecast to be the worst-hit economically of any G-20 state. To be suffering so badly on both of these counts indicates the scale of the policy failure emanating from Mr Johnson's government. As well as policy confusion, there has been clumsy communications too. Only on Friday, for instance, the government began a new drive to get workers back to their offices as children go back to classrooms too. With far fewer UK workers back at their desks than in continental Europe, this is an important and necessary step. Yet, it has not been accompanied by a wider strategy, including for mass public transportation in a new age of physical distancing.

Mr Johnson is politically impregnable, for now, with a big majority in the House of Commons. Yet, he and his ministers are losing the moral authority to govern and would be wise to listen to criticisms about them, and raise their game.