The UK sees a change of leadership on September 6 2022, with Liz Truss selected by Conservative Party members to replace Boris Johnson as the UK prime minister. Johnson’s term of course coincided with the emergence of the COVID pandemic, a global crisis that required skilled national leadership. Did Johnson deliver on this? Although there were a few redeeming features to his government’s pandemic response, I would argue that – overwhelmingly – he didn’t.
Let’s start with preparedness. One component of any pandemic response should be the knowledge gained from preparedness activities. And, as the pandemic began to unfold in early 2020, Johnson reportedly missed five meetings of the government’s Cobra emergency committee.
Prior to Johnson becoming prime minister, the UK had carried out simulation exercises and considered a range of likely policy responses. But their findings were largely ignored.
