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Can you remember when Theresa May was Prime Minister? It seems like another time and another place. Britain was humiliated in our negotiations with the EU. She kept trying to get the worst Treaty in British history through the Commons and she kept failing. The country was divided into Leavers and Remainers and we were screaming at each other. The mood was bleak and many of us couldn’t see a way forward. But there was a way forward. It was Boris.
Has anyone had such an impact since becoming Prime Minister only in July last year? He was faced with the same Parliamentary gridlock as his predecessor. His attempt to leave the EU by October 31st was thwarted by a combination of Parliament and the Courts. He was mocked, insulted and told by endless journalists that he was wrong.
Boris had to steer the good ship Britannia past the Remainer Rearguard rocks to Starboard while keeping it clear of the Labour SNP reef to Port. But these things were as nothing to the storm that lay ahead.
Many of us sighed with relief last December when we realised that Jeremy Corbyn would not be Prime Minister propped up by an even angrier than usual Nicola Sturgeon, but none of could have known then just how lucky we really were.
Britain faces a crisis that is still developing. It has already changed the course of history by putting more British people in isolation from each other than ever before. Never have so many had to cease going to our place of work and the places where we socialise. We don’t know yet how many of us will get sick, nor do we know how many of those sick will die. But we know that everything possible is being done to keep each and every one of us safe and to make sure that when we emerge blinking into the light, we will find our jobs and offices still exist.
Can you imagine if Theresa May was leader right now? Would she inspire anyone to do anything? She would work hard, but she would be surrounded by dreary people like Philip Hammond and the message would somehow be muddle and gloom.
Can you imagine if Jeremy Corbyn was leading our country together with Nicola Sturgeon trying to tear it apart? There would already have been a crisis of confidence in the markets worried about having a Marxist in charge of Britain. John McDonnell therefore might not have been able to do what Rishi Sunak just did. You can only borrow and guarantee what the markets will allow. Stock markets have fallen everywhere but there is still confidence that the British Government will bring our ship back into a safe harbour and that we will repay all our debts.
I read a report yesterday of how the NHS has declared a major incident and implemented emergency plans. It was a story of innovation and a can-do attitude that was incredibly inspiring. Suddenly decisions that previously required months of planning and endless committee meetings were happening instantaneously. Suddenly the NHS was working harder and more effectively than ever before. This is to the credit to each and every NHS worker. People are acting very bravely and selflessly for the good of their patients. But its also a credit to the mood that has gone through the British people in the last few months. We are being led by someone with charisma, someone who can inspire us all to be better than we thought we could be.
At times of crisis sometimes a leader emerges. There was a political crisis last year when Boris began. We could have been humiliated by being unable to even leave the EU. It would have meant despondency and a loss of self-esteem for our country. We would have had to admit that we just couldn’t manage without the EU. We would have had to give up and crawl back to Brussels asking for forgiveness for daring to think we could go it alone. The reason that did not happen was Boris. He got us out.
Now Boris is sick. He’ll be laughing it off no doubt. Let’s all hope that he has a mild case of Covid 19. We need him. His job is not finished. We are going to need his inspiration in the months ahead. We are going to need his humour; his charm and the creativity he shows every time he speaks and writes.
Boris said once that he would prefer to die in a ditch rather than fail to get Britain out of the EU. He succeeded, though it took a few more months than he had hoped. But the point was that he was willing to whatever it took to get us through that crisis. So too now. If by some tragedy he were unable to finish the job, he has just started he would already have done more than the vast majority of Prime Ministers. Boris was always destined to be Prime Minister, because we were always destined to need him. We need him still.
Boris is uniting our country in a common purpose and a common effort that will see us better than before. There will be no more division. Instead we will all learn from the heroism in our hospitals and the self-sacrifice of those who are doing what it takes to keep Britain alive.
Get well soon dear Boris. We need you just as much as we need our hospitals.
This post was originally published by the author on her personal blog: https://www.effiedeans.com/2020/03/get-well-soon-dear-boris.html
