Friends went to be vaccinated. It was a fascinating experience, politically. The queue was like a focus group. Everyone was cheerful. Somebody said that it was great to have something to be proud of: something we British were best at. That received enthusiastic agreement. On the EU, the tone was mostly more in sorrow than in anger, but when someone else said that they now understood the necessity for Brexit, there was no dissent. Nor was there over a further comment: “You’ve got to hand it to Boris.”
Not for the first time – or, no doubt, the last – the Prime Minister is in luck. Everyone knows that the anti-Covid campaign was marred by mistakes: remember PPE? There were times when the government was regularly contradicting itself. It did not seem to know its Rs from its elbow. But the public are aware of two points. First, no Western country came close to getting everything right. Second – the ace of trumps – we got the vaccine.
