If we are to get through this ordeal, we need more than a political truce | thearticle

Will it be third time lucky for locked-down Britain? In his broadcast to the nation last night, the Prime Minister looked as exasperated as those he was addressing at the predicament in

which we find ourselves. Just as the vaccination programme swings into a higher gear, presaging an end to the pandemic, the shutters are coming down yet again. Education, the economy and

health (mental and physical) are only the most obvious casualties of this third draconian injunction to stay at home, save lives and protect the NHS. Above all, for many millions there is

the pain of loneliness and separation from loved ones. This is an ordeal, not by fire and water, but by solitude.  And yet this time the NHS really is in dire straits. Despite the fact that

doctors are far better at treating Covid-19 and countless lives are being saved, this coronavirus is constantly mutating and is more infectious than ever. It isn’t only the fact that

hospital admissions are now soaring above even the levels seen last spring. Hospitals also have reduced capacity because of the need to separate Covid from non-Covid patients. And

unprecedented numbers of staff are off sick or in self-isolation. Already the number of Covid patients per nurse has risen from one to three. Queues of ambulances wait outside every hospital

with desperately sick patients. Some are now being sent to other regions, far from their families.  Some Covid sceptics continue to claim that the whole emergency has been overblown. Yet

Jeremy Hunt, who as Health Secretary oversaw several winter flu crises, insists that this is incomparably worse. Frontline doctors say that sceptics are undermining morale in the NHS.

Sceptics are entitled to their opinions but should remember that words have consequences and conspiracy theories do incalculable harm. Covid has already killed more than 75,000 people in the

UK; by the end of this month, the death toll will be in six figures. The two vaccines so far authorised by the MHRA are safe. There is no hidden agenda behind the new lockdown. Nor is

Britain turning into a police state. This is a public health crisis of the utmost gravity. Nothing more, nothing less. How, though, will we get through a shutdown that will probably extend

beyond February and into March, if not longer? The economy had bounced back from the second lockdown in November, bringing a mood of cautious optimism to markets buoyed up by the Brexit

trade deal. That mood will be difficult to sustain. Yet there is no reason to talk the recovery down. How does it help to speculate about a “double-dip” recession? Business leaders would do

better to focus on adapting to a new environment that will endure long after the Corona years are behind us. Nor is it true that Britain has handled the crisis with unique incompetence. Look

across the Channel to France, where vaccinations have hardly begun, or to the United States, where a spike in internal flights over the holiday has spread the virus even more widely. As bad

as the extreme sceptics, mostly on the Right, are the extreme critics, mostly on the Left.  One area where better leadership is certainly needed is education. Frustrating as it may be for

parents, pupils and teachers, it was right to keep alive the prospect of schools remaining open for as long as possible. In the first lockdown, school closures were the first rather than

last resort; lost education leaves a bitter and divisive legacy. This year the Government must do better in helping working parents with home schooling and remote learning. Scrapping exams

is easy; replacing them with qualifications that universities and employers will value is harder, especially after last summer’s fiasco. Gavin Williamson has tried hard to redeem his

previous mistakes, but he will be remembered as the worst Education Secretary since Estelle Morris, who at least admitted that she wasn’t up to the job. With Brexit behind us and the Covid

crisis entering its most dangerous phase, a Cabinet reshuffle is overdue. It would be helpful if ministers looked and sounded more like the whole country; Ruth Davidson, for example,

deserves to shine in UK politics, not merely in Scotland. Experience is at a premium, so old hands of the calibre of Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt and Iain Duncan Smith should be brought back

into frontline roles. New blood is badly needed, too: among the stellar team at Rishi Sunak’s Treasury, Kemi Badenoch is an outstanding communicator and it is a mystery why the Tories didn’t

make more of Jesse Norman’s formidable intellect long ago. Above all: isn’t it time for all good former Prime Ministers to come to the aid of the Tory party? Sir John Major, David Cameron

and even Theresa May have been quick to criticise aspects of Government policy. Now that the nation’s back is against the wall, faced by an invisible, shape-shifting enemy, where are the

grandees? By contrast, Tony Blair has been eager to offer his services; perhaps Downing Street should graciously accept his advice. As for Sir Keir Starmer: his response to the televised

statement, offering a cessation of hostilities, was so statesmanlike that he sounded positively prime ministerial. If Boris Johnson has any political sense, he should offer the man a job. It

doesn’t have to be a coalition and it need not last longer than the emergency, but an ad hoc consultative role for Sir Keir would do wonders for Britain’s sense of national unity. Boris

needs to make his tent much bigger; and if his erstwhile colleagues sulk in their tents, he should reach out to present foes. If the country is to survive until the vulnerable are

vaccinated, we need more than a truce: we need patriots of all parties to work together.  A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We

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