I saw a post the other day that is being copied and shared around Facebook and Twitter. It was about what a great job Boris Johnson is doing and how proud we should all be of his leadership in dark times.

I must be missing out on something here. From where I am sat, he just looks like a waffling and incoherent buffoon. He appears totally out of his depth when he is in a position where being court jester is inappropriate.

Leadership Decisions

I am not saying that because I don’t trust him. I am saying it because I don’t really know what direction he is going in. Rather than being assertive and making leadership decisions, he is full of what people should do, rather than what they must do.

It is his job to lead the people, not the job of the people to lead him. The clue is in his title (Prime Minister).

We had a head start over much of the world on controlling coronavirus, but we have let it slip. “Don’t go to pubs but we won’t shut them, don’t go to parks and beaches but we won’t stop you, don’t go to work, but go if you want to go…we will pay you to stay at home, unless you are self-employed”.

Blame the Masses

Johnson has been allowed off the hook because we are all too busy having a go at the fools who carried on going to pubs, parks and beaches at the weekend. Admittedly, he got unlucky, because spring, with epic timing, reared its head. Sunshine after a winter of floods and storms was too much for the public to resist.

It is a lesson to any future leader and perhaps to Johnson himself, that if you don’t take something seriously, don’t expect the public to take it seriously for you.

The ignorance of the masses has set Johnson up to blame them if coronavirus ends up a custard pie in the face of a clown. The truth is the public aren’t experts on contagious diseases (although some think they are). When something isn’t deemed serious enough to go into lockdown, the public aren’t going to take it seriously.

Lost Weeks for the NHS

This has led to confusion and valuable lost time. The virus has now got to work, taking great delight in exposing the British tradition of procrastination. Only now are people realising the gravity of the situation as the NHS prepares for its biggest onslaught since it became a free public service.   

I was always led to believe that the British public were protective to a fault with the NHS. It appears that with the aid of Johnson and his indecisive daily press conferences, they have merely laughed in its face, and that is a tragedy. If the NHS fails on this, it could even play into the hands of those who want to sell it. “It failed you Great Britain, we must privatise it“

In summary, the calm and somewhat reassuring Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, loaded the guns and Johnson fired polystyrene bullets. He may still be fortunate if the NHS staff pull of a medical miracle, because sometimes, a good leader is a lucky one.

However, the sun finally coming out on the very weekend he said people ‘should’ stay at home, wasn’t lucky. Of course, we all know coronavirus would be a tough gig for even the greatest leaders in modern history, but let’s not kid ourselves that Johnson is playing a blinder. He has to do better.

Keep well everyone.