The government’s coronavirus failures just won’t stick to Teflon Boris – no wonder when we haven’t got an opposition

Adopting a strategy shaped by current polling is a conservative way to do politics. Cleaving to public opinion, rather than actively seeking to shift it, consigns the left to a permanent reactive crouch, writes Rachel Shabi

Keir Starmer has pursued a strategy of 'restrained helpfulness' since he was elected Labour leader (EPA)

What would qualify as failure? The question was hanging in the air as Boris Johnson returned to work last week, chirruping about Britain’s “apparent success” in handling the coronavirus crisis. It lingered while commentators cooed over the prime minister taking charge after his own illness with the virus. It waited patiently while broadcasters signal-boosted deputy Dominic Raab saying that his boss back at the helm was a “boost for the country”. And the air turned thunderous as it became clear we were supposed to be placated by the prime minister’s ebullience.

Failure is not a metric – not even when the UK’s horrifying death toll is now one of the worst in the world. Not when our elderly loved ones were unnecessarily exposed to risk and our health and care workers sent to work without vital personal protective equipment (PPE). And not when media investigations have exposed a shocking lack of government preparation for the pandemic.

In a sense, one huge government success in this crisis has been to fuse national failure with its own, so that to criticise the government is cast as synonymous with doing Britain down. This is why Johnson’s relentlessly sunny messages are infused with depictions of plucky Britain and its achievements, and it’s why journalists who are simply doing their job in scrutinising government are nevertheless harangued for being “too negative” and critical in a time of crisis, when all the public apparently wants is positivity. The prime minister’s inaction may have cost lives, but we’re told it’s the media that’s killing the mood.