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Critics Knock Britain's Handling of COVID Pandemic

Jamie Dettmer

   For most of the coronavirus pandemic, the daily Downing Street briefing
   by ministers of the ruling Conservative party has been accompanied by a
   chart showing Britain's death toll trailing comfortably behind tallies
   in other Western countries, notably Italy and Spain. But earlier this
   month, when Britain's toll surged past continental neighbors, the chart
   unceremoniously disappeared.

   Britain has not had a good coronavirus war, say critics of Prime
   Minister Boris Johnson, including some Conservatives, who fault him for
   not locking down the country earlier than he did.

   "I've always been skeptical about British exceptionalism," former
   Conservative lawmaker Matthew Parris commented in Britain's The Times
   newspaper. "No longer. Our handling of this crisis has been
   exceptionally poor."

   On Monday, an all-party parliamentary panel criticized Johnson's
   Conservative government for missteps and U-turns, and for failing to be
   transparent with the public about the scientific reasoning behind its
   shifting strategy.

   Government ministers say they have just been following scientific
   advice, but until recently, the membership of the main expert body
   advising ministers was kept secret and the minutes of its deliberations
   also have been held from publication.

   The parliamentary panel rebuked the government for what it termed a
   "lack of boldness" with the country's virus testing regime and for a
   failure to boost testing capacity fast enough. "Capacity drove
   strategy, rather than strategy driving capacity," the committee said.

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