Coronavirus: The blame game’s afoot and scientists should be worried

It was only a matter of time before ministers began pointing the finger, writes Sean O'Grady

Pensions secretary Therese Coffey leaves No 10 (Getty)

When the history of the coronavirus pandemic in Britain comes to be written, special note should be made of an otherwise routine appearance of the secretary of state for work and pensions, Therese Coffey, on Sky’s Kay Burley @ Breakfast​. For, at approximately 9.30am on Tuesday 19 May, it should be recorded for posterity, Coffey launched the long-prepared government defensive shield for its mishandling of aspects of the response to the crisis: “If the science was wrong, if advice at the time was wrong, I’m not surprised if people then think we made a wrong decision.”

We will hear much more about that alibi in the weeks and months ahead. In other words, don’t blame us, blame the boffins. The blame game’s afoot.

Coffey’s was the first time that a cabinet minister had admitted mistakes had been made (rather than merely implying that with the formulation that lessons would be learned), and attempted to lay the blame elsewhere. Anyone with an ear for political weasel words would have been struck by the almost Pavlovian repetition by ministers from the very earliest stages of the pandemic that they would be “guided by the science”, attaching themselves to various public health officials at media conferences and constantly seeking their implied approval for ministerial, and often deeply political, decisions.