At long last, Boris Johnson has finally made the nation sit up and pay attention by ordering the closure of pubs, restaurants and cafes.
It is Johnson’s genius for acting as the voice of the nation that enabled him to mobilise millions of Britons of all ages and accents, achieve the seemingly impossible and ‘get Brexit done’.
But until yesterday his appeals for people to stop going to pubs and restaurants to counter a bigger menace than Brussels – coronavirus – had fallen on deaf ears.
It left him with no choice but to abandon two of his core beliefs: a passionate support for individual freedom and an equally passionate opposition to ‘nanny state’ laws.
Boris Johnson has finally made the nation sit up and pay attention by ordering the closure of pubs, restaurants and cafes
His sense of letting down the pub-going working men (and women) who voted for him in the election was painfully clear when he spoke at his Downing Street press conference yesterday.
The new crackdown means the Government is ‘taking away the ancient and inalienable right of British people to go to the pub’, he said.
Johnson was loathe to have to copy the kind of draconian measures employed in other countries, in some cases for weeks. The authentic voice of Boris was articulated by his father Stanley who said he had no intention of stopping going to the pub.
He will have to stop now. As late as yesterday morning Johnson’s spokesman refused to criticise JD Wetherspoon’s boss Tim Martin after he blithely said a ‘no standing at the bar’ policy was sufficient to prevent spreading Covid-19.
Even the most responsible landlord cannot enforce social distancing if a customer has had six pints of lager. The pub ban is the latest in a series of coronavirus U-turns by Johnson.
Initially No10 went its own way while the rest of the world ordered more severe restrictions. Its strategy appeared to be based on ‘social behaviour modellers’ who seemed to believe most Britons needed to catch the disease to achieve so-called ‘herd immunity’.
Johnson changed tack dramatically after he was warned coronavirus was out of control and 260,000 Britons would die. He was told that Asian countries had proved coronavirus can be curbed – but they did so partly by cracking down on the civil liberties Johnson treasures.
As late as yesterday morning Johnson’s spokesman refused to criticise JD Weatherspoon’s boss Tim Martin (pictured) after he blithely said a ‘no standing at the bar’ policy was sufficient to prevent spreading Covid-19
He was told bluntly that if he did not do likewise the UK faced a total catastrophe. When the French ignored Emmanuel Macron’s plea not to go to bars, he rebuked them publicly and closed them, forcing citizens to have a permit to leave their homes or be fined.
France, the land of liberte, egalite and fraternite, also closed schools. At the start of this week, Johnson believed he would not need to go that far.
On Thursday he announced schools would close; yesterday he announced bars will close. No one can underestimate the enormous political and personal pressure he is under.
It should not be forgotten that his fiancee Carrie Symonds is pregnant; at present it is not known if pregnant women and the babies they are carrying are affected by coronavirus.
There is no sign that the public has lost faith in Johnson: according to the latest poll, 49 per cent of voters support the Government’s handling of the outbreak. That said, even some of his allies concede privately that he has not looked as sure-footed handling coronavirus as he did with Brexit.
Johnson’s claim that Britain can ‘crack’ the disease in 12 weeks was made with the same schoolmasterly tone as his ‘get Brexit done’ exhortations. But ‘cracking coronavirus’ is not like ‘cracking Brexit.’
Moments after his ’12 weeks’ claim he contradicted himself saying he could not promise the tide would have turned by the end of June.
He offered a half-hearted apology for being too ‘boosterish’ and asked bemused journalists if they would ‘weary’ of the daily press conferences.
And yesterday there were claims that social distancing measures may have to continue for a year.
Downing Street insiders dismiss claims that Johnson’s political strategy for coping with coronavirus and his leadership skills have both been found wanting.
‘He has been working on this from dawn to dusk, led from the front at Cobra meetings and has impressed the scientific and medical experts with his command of technical information,’ said one official.
Johnson is fortunate that the two key ministers helping him deal with coronavirus, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Matt Hancock, have stepped up to the plate.
Yesterday Sunak again displayed an economic grasp and gravitas decades beyond his 39 years.
Hancock has shrugged off his reputation as a political chancer and showed humility and quick thinking when put on the spot on live TV over whether he could survive on statutory sick pay of £94 a week.
‘No,’ he replied, quick as a flash, avoiding a giant political elephant trap. One of the reasons for Johnson’s popularity is his maverick style and irrepressible sense of humour.
But his flippant remark about ‘Operation Last Gasp’ in a private conference call with businessmen about producing more ventilators was ill judged. Johnson’s detractors argue he is a ‘feelgood’ politician who does better in good times than bad.
Unlike dour Gordon Brown for example, a disappointment overall as Prime Minister but who excelled in the 2008 financial crash.
In one of Johnson’s many rages against rules and regulations to protect public health and safety, he wrote in 2004: ‘It is a sign of the decline of any great civilisation that its people begin to worship strange gods.
‘We have a new divinity that commands the adoration of the governing classes, as nannying and multiple-bosomed as Diana of Ephesus. Her name is Phobia, and sacrifices are being made at her altar.’
Fear of coronavirus is real and yesterday was the day Johnson got real.