Use the five ex-Prime Ministers to confront the Covid crisis

So Boris Johnson is heading back to work tomorrow, and the pro-Boris media and spin machine is gearing up with a new narrative — things have been going a bit wrong, but now he is back in the saddle, they will come good again.

There are two points to make on this. First, to have been committed to intensive care suggests a really serious illness, and he may not be able to operate at full energy levels for some time. Second, it is at least arguable that many problems with which the government is currently struggling were caused by the Prime Minister; his slowness to take the coronavirus seriously, his mixed messages about shaking hands with infected people, his talk of the UK being Superman able to “send the virus packing” just because we were British.

This crisis requires cool, calm, fact-based, detail-obsessed, organisationally-focused leadership. These are not qualities normally associated with Johnson. Perhaps his brush with mortality, the scale of the crisis, and the arrival of a serious opponent across the Despatch Box in Labour leader Keir Starmer have forced him to reflect, and understand the need for a very different style of leadership.

Perhaps he has also learned that governing in a crisis is a lot harder and more complicated than governing in normal times, which itself is a lot harder than campaigning, the activity that he and those closest to him most enjoy. The civil service has been thinned out by austerity, and morale has been damaged by ministers and special advisers seeking to undermine its activities. They are coping well in incredibly difficult circumstances, but they need more support and better structures if they are to be able to help Mr Johnson and his Cabinet to get through the coming months.

His ministerial team is of variable quality, with few big hitters known to the public, and it is clear that the bulk of responsibility has been falling on just four people, First Secretary Dominic Raab, Health Secretary Matt Hancock, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove. They all look remarkably well considering the pressures they are under, but the longer this goes on, the harder it will get, the more they will need a broader team of ministers who are able to share the load.

There is however another resource available to the Prime Minister on his return, and he would be wise at least to consider calling on it. This is the group of five, the handful of individuals still alive who know what it is like to be Prime Minister at a time of crisis. Whatever one thinks of any of them as individuals, whatever one thinks of their politics, their records or reputations, all five are committed public servants desperate for the government to succeed in what all have described as the biggest challenge the country has faced since the second world war.

John Major dealt with the collapse of sterling on Black Wednesday, war in the Gulf, his party tearing itself apart over Europe, and much else beside. Tony Blair led the country through Kosovo and the post 9/11 wars abroad, a tortuous peace process at home, a foot and mouth epidemic and fuel price protests that almost brought the country to a halt. Gordon Brown was Prime Minister at the time of the global financial crisis, and with the force of his drive helped to shake the world into the action needed. David Cameron had riots to deal with at home and a series of incredibly complex foreign policy issues abroad, Libya, Syria, Iraq. Theresa May had more than her fair share of terrorism to deal with, even if her entire premiership is defined by the Brexit issue bequeathed to her by her predecessor’s referendum.

None of them will ever again land a job to compare with the one they have held. None of them is looking to hold elected office. Given their generous pensions, business interests and the lucrative former Prime Ministerial public speaking market, none of them has to worry about money. All of them are patriots. All of them have experience that could benefit an inexperienced Prime Minister and his inexperienced team.

Of course, having climbed as high as they did, all of them have egos. To varying degrees they are the focus of enduring fascination for the media, and they are all to a greater and lesser extent tricky to handle. But if the government approach to this crisis really is “whatever it takes,” it seems foolish not to find ways of using what they have to offer.

A few days ago Tony Blair’s Institute published a paper setting out ten areas vital to the resolution of this crisis — mass testing, contact tracing, PPE, business, vaccine development, schools, use of technology, social distancing/compliance, travel and communications. He had ideas on structure too — a senior minister plus an outsider and expert task force on each challenge, reporting into the Committee of Four (Raab, Sunak, Hancock, Gove), under the chairmanship of the PM.

Between them, these five ex-PMs have access to the smartest people on the planet, home and abroad. They have access to business. They have access to foreign governments facing up to the same challenge, and can engage with them differently from diplomats and current ministers. They are capable of being low profile, or high profile, depending what the moment requires. They have a range of skills between them that should be put to the use of the country.

I know from having been involved with Blair and Brown during a number of crises that government gets overwhelmed, not just by the crisis itself, but by the offers of help and support. You are bombarded with the ideas of armchair generals, of which I guess this is another one. However, I am confident that if Boris Johnson did as I suggest, that Gang of Five would help in making these challenges less overwhelming, and easier to manage.

Ten areas that require real focus; put a named senior minister in charge of each, alongside a real expert in each area, with a dedicated task force working to them; and give the former PMs a role as advisor, two groups each. It could be transformative.

And before anyone asks, neither Blair nor Brown are aware I am making this suggestion. I didn’t want to give them the option of saying it is a bad idea. I think it is a good idea, provided the other gang of five — Johnson, Raab, Sunak, Hancock and Gove — are big enough to pick it up.