However it was compounded by Alok Sharma who during the daily briefing suggested 30million vaccines would be ready by September…..if it worked. Well I’d give it my all reporting on cricket for a living…if someone hired me.
At the heart of the mistakes which continue to be made is a communication strategy in which everything is briefed to journalists, no matter what. There is no gatekeeper at the heart of Downing Street controlling the message. As a result confusion reigns.
While this is a crisis not seen for many a year and one which presents challenges on untold fronts, the need for clear communication to a worried and fretful nation has never been more important.
I’m no spin doctor but 15 years in journalism has given me enough insight into the importance of media messaging. It’s why I suggest to people like Lee Cain, Number 10’s Director of Communcations that it’s time the Government got REAL.
R – Rigorous testing, whether its testing centres or the long-awaited antibody test. Rigorous testing needs to be at the heart of the second phase against the virus. Examine the need and prioritise the tests accordingly, the NHS, care homes, teachers and those on the front-line.
The more people in the line of fire who can work the better our chances of fighting this invisible enemy. The more key workers who may have had it unknowingly and MAY be immune the more confident they and we will be in sending our children to school.
E – Encourage. Stop seeking fights with the unions, revise the message going out to the nation and offer encouragement. Tweak the ‘Stay Home’ message.
It would be much better for the PM to say ‘If you can work from home continue to do so.’
Encourage teaching staff that any desire to get lessons going again will be accompanied by testing – see above.
A – Admission. Admit mistakes have been made, admit you haven’t got everything spot on and crucially, admit some things may not return to normal for ‘as long as it takes’.
It’s becoming increasingly impossible for those in power to say ‘I got it wrong’. Yet the anger felt by people listening to the continued defending of mistakes could easily be avoided if admission and how it would be avoided again, was explained.
The Government needs to stop briefing everything and anything. Deal in certainty, take the vaccine for example. There is no need to say it could be ready in September. Speak of the work going on, the efforts being made and say we’ve signed a deal with AstraZeneca to ‘ensure rapid distribution of a successful treatment against COVID-19’. No dates, no circles on calendars which just become targets to meet.
When questioned why no dates are being offered stress the need to ensure the vaccine is effective, ‘the quicker we have the weapon we need the quicker we can defeat this threat’.
Work with pubs, the hospitality trade and sporting bodies on a timetable going forward. If the pubs and restaurants cannot openly safely then cannot open. If sport cannot be played then there’s no harm in taking a break.
The more certainty people feel the greater their confidence, the greater their well-being. We’ve recently marked the 75th anniversary of VE Day. I guarantee you Churchill never once put a time-frame on when we’d win the war!
L – Lead. Lead the way with co-operation here and abroad. Have no fear in meeting Keir Starmer’s offer to work with the Government, engage with all opposition parties. Instead of alienating MPs like Dr Rosena Allin-Khan for her ‘tone’, the Government should consider a taskforce of MPs from all sides who have gone back to the NHS. They have a privileged insight into life on the front-line after all.
While we have left the EU we still have wonderful neighbours, neighbours who like us are facing this threat, this invisible enemy. Reach out to European leaders, share information, what’s working, what isn’t.
This is not a party political attack, you will note I haven’t once named the Prime Minister or the current party of Government. It’s ideas on the way forward.
Maybe, just maybe its time to get REAL.
