The No. 10 gathering proves the ridiculousness of lockdowns.
The No. 10 gathering proves the ridiculousness of lockdowns.
L ast December, Boris Johnson essentially “canceled” Christmas in Great Britain. He ordered a strict lockdown in London and southeast England and banned the rest of the country from celebrating Christmas Day with family and friends in other households. The announcement was soul-crushing for millions who were consigned to an isolated and lonely Christmas. Now it appears that even the government’s own staff thought the measures were ridiculous.
Recently, the Daily Mirror broke the story about an alleged Christmas party at No. 10 Downing Street on December 18, 2020. Reports emerged of a party with food, drink, games, and even a secret Santa. Such a social gathering would clearly have violated the government’s own Covid restrictions. At first, the government denied all claims that the event took place. But when a video was leaked to ITV News, showing a government spokesperson in a press-briefing rehearsal laughing at a practice question about a Christmas party, this line became untenable.
The prime minister told the House of Commons that he was “furious” at the video. He apologized “unreservedly,” calling for an inquiry and indicating that he would cooperate fully with the police. (Recall that it was criminal to socialize last Christmastime.) Steven Barrett, a British barrister, thinks that it is written into the law that the government is exempt from pandemic regulations. Still, it’s understandable that members of the public feel outraged by this hypocrisy. And not least because they are entitled to take it as proof that the regulations were unreasonable to begin with.
When it comes to Covid rules, hypocrisy is a familiar charge against the Johnson government. In April 2020, Johnson’s chief aide, Dominic Cummings, drove his family from London to Durham in order to provide child care for his young son, as he and his wife suspected themselves to be sick with Covid. During their trip, they also took a drive to a scenic country town, which was not permitted by most interpretations of the rules. (Indeed, this all occurred when the rest of the country was in full lockdown and instructed not to leave home.) The media whipped up a storm in the hope of pressurizing Cummings to resign, but he hung on until November, when he was sacked for other reasons. As with the Christmas party, for political reasons, the focus by the government’s enemies was solely on the hypocrisy, neglecting the more actionable issue — the absurdity of the lockdown measures themselves.
Last year Brits were told that there was a “new variant” sweeping the country, so they’d just have to suck it up and have a lonely Christmas. This year another “new variant,” Omicron, is on the move and exercising the government. Johnson is due to announce yet more restrictions in the day or two following reports of new work-from-home guidelines and the issuance of vaccine passports, known as “Plan B.” The Institute of Economic Affairs has estimated that this could drain the British economy of £4 billion a month. Yet Omicron has claimed zero lives, and early reports suggest that its symptoms are less severe. Again, how is this a proportionate response?
The Johnson government’s Covid leadership has been shambolic. And not least because of its continued reliance on cruel and costly lockdown measures. Indeed, if there are any conclusions to draw from the Christmas-party scandal, it ought to be that social gatherings should be allowed for those who want them, and that those insisting otherwise are so often disingenuous and hypocritical. Strangely, though, few are bothering to make such an argument. Too busy trying to inflict maximum political damage, they neglect the public’s real interests.