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Health Secretary Sajid Javid has risked encountering the wrath of the British public this weekend, after he insisted that the UK ‘should be proud‘ of the government’s response to COVID-19.
The virus ripped through country in several waves, amid a litany of mis-steps and confusing policies enforced by the Conservatives. Though Britain flew out of the blocks with its vaccination programme, tens of thousands of people did not receive the protection they badly needed.
As for deciding that you could go in a pub as long as you had a scotch egg, it’s fair to say that some of our COVID rules bordered upon the farcical. Nonetheless, Javid is still claiming that him and his colleagues ‘got a lot right’.
It’s worth remembering that Mr. Javid only came into this role because his predecessor, Matt Hancock, pursued an affair during lockdown – breaking the very rules that the former minister had set down for the rest of us.
Indeed, ‘one rule for them’ was a common theme throughout the pandemic, as each sordid revelation about ‘Partygate’ disgraced 10 Downing Street and its officials even further. Sajid Javid, however, has conveniently chosen to look past all of that.
The minister told The Times that Britain is now ‘properly post-pandemic’. He remains ‘full of pride’ over how the UK dealt with the deadly threat of coronavirus, and told the public that the tools are now in place to fight the disease at an endemic level.
Britain is now properly post pandemic… of course Covid is still out there, but it is endemic like flu is and other viruses Thankfully, it’s no longer a pandemic – and we’ve got the tools to fight it. We should be proud as a country of how we tackled it’
Sajid Javid, speaking to The Times on Saturday 11 June
