Cometh the crisis, cometh the Boris

Imagine what would have happened in 1940 if Jeremy Corbyn had been Prime Minister. He’d have made Chamberlain look like Henry V. He would have got straight on the blower to Hitler to apologise for the BEF and assure the Führer that France was none of Britain’s business. Then he’d have flown to Moscow to pledge his support for the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and to proclaim from the Kremlin his detestation of American capitalism.

Happily, Jezza was not available at the time and the job went to Winston Churchill, whose whole life, famously, was but a preparation for this moment. But getting the right man – or woman – in the right job at the right time is often a matter of luck.

It would be overstating the case to say that Boris Johnson only got the keys to Number 10 because he’s a chancer, whose biggest gamble paid off just before the bank called in his mortgage. But it is at least arguable that if David Cameron had realised the true extent of popular opposition to immigration from the EU in the long lead-up to the referendum, he would have redoubled his efforts to secure a meaningful brake on free movement and thus, quite possibly, have averted Brexit.

History, in that event, would have been reversed. Leavers would have been the remoaners (can you imagine the grandiloquent bleatings of Farage?) and Cameron would have joined Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel as the third member of a shaky European triumvirate.

Whether that, in itself, would have been a good thing is another matter.

Instead, what we got was “World King” Boris presiding over an 80-seat majority in the House of Commons including a swathe of seats in the Midlands and the North whose attachment to the People’s Party had previously been accepted as legally binding.

Which brings me to the coronavirus and the Government’s handling of the current medical emergency.

Last month, I wrote about concerns that Johnson had gone AWOL. And it was true. He had. For whatever reason (perhaps upon realising that paternity had crept up on him for the sixth, or possibly seventh, time), he conveyed the impression that he had given up on governing and, for all I know, spent the time selecting his Desert Island Discs.

But that was then and this is now. Since then, he has dispelled every appearance of indolence and emerged as the leader we might just need if we are to win this latest Battle of Britain. He has been measured, assured, empathetic and articulate. Most of all, he has been intelligent and – I can’t believe I’m saying this – sensible.

His interventions this week on how to deal with the unfolding pandemic have been models of their kind, in sharp contrast to the ignorant narcissism displayed by Donald Trump (which has been recounted for Reaction by Iain Martin).

When I listened to the PM summarise what has been done and what still needs to be done, I felt, yes, that’s it, he’s got it: the nation is in safe hands. He and his ministers (notably Matt Hancock, who has similarly risen to the challenge) will coordinate the response and provide all necessary resources. The scientists and the NHS will do the rest.

That is how it should be. It is indisputably the case that Tory austerity left the UK with too few doctors, nurses and other health specialists. But, starting from where we are, dealing with a virus that washed up on our shores all the way from the open-air markets of Communist China, lamenting the obvious seems a waste of both time and energy. There will be plenty of scope for that when the watershed is passed. For now, Corbyn’s sniping from the sidelines has never been less relevant.

Cometh the hour cometh the man? It may be too early to say. Things could still go horribly wrong. But for the moment – and it pains me to say it – that’s how it’s looking.

So well done him.

Needless to say, I have written an alternative piece in which, in the spirit of Covid 19, I wash my hands of the imposter in Downing Street. Under the heading Why Boris Johnson was the Wrong Choice to Lead Britain at a Time of Crisis, it will be published instead of this one should the wind change before I have to press Send.