The costly mistakes of bumbling Boris Johnson

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/23/the-costly-mistakes-of-bumbling-boris-johnson

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Letters: Readers respond to an article by Polly Toynbee in which she said the prime minister’s handling of coronavirus has been shockingly complacent

Polly Toynbee’s assessment of Boris Johnson is spot-on (Johnson is the wrong man in the wrong job at the wrong time, 20 April). One of the main problems is that the distinction between leadership and management has been blurred. Leaders give clear direction and inspire their followers; managers perform the function of implementing the plan.

The prime minister’s bumbling, hands-off approach to a world completely beyond his understanding, let alone his ability to control, is relatively benign, until a crisis arrives. When disaster struck, his incompetence became swiftly apparent, and yet his cabinet are compounding the disaster by being worse than him. A poor leader may at a pinch be bailed out by a sound management team; but when both are rotten there is no cure.

The closest Johnson will get to Churchill is to be remembered as the man who presided over a time when never in the field of British politics was so much unnecessary suffering bestowed on so many by political poltroons with so few morals.Matt MinshallBatz-Sur-Mer, Brittany, France

• Your editorial (20 April) says: “To plough on needlessly with a [Brexit] timetable that has clearly been overwhelmed by events would be feckless and irresponsible.” Isn’t our difficulty that these seem to be the very qualities that the anti-state cabinet members and their advisers intend with their disruption agenda?

As Polly Toynbee also points out, all the evidence is that “our government is singularly unsuited to this task and unfit for purpose”.

They have failed to concentrate on the demands being put upon them, and have made numerous errors of judgment that others easily see were dangerously wrong. There is still the suspicion that the “herd immunity” proposal, and rejection of EU collaboration on procurement, were driven by ideology instead of human needs. So now is the time to challenge the irresponsibility of this government and expose its fecklessness for the threat to our country that it really represents.Roger TomlinsonCambridge

• Polly Toynbee focuses on the present, but the issue of governmental competence in a crisis has some interesting historical parallels. Just over 100 years ago, Asquith’s government was having to find answers to some very similar problems. Critically, in 1915 those fighting in the first world war were being severely let down by their political masters in terms of the correct type, quality and quantity of a key weapon in that battle.

Strong political leadership and radical new policies in terms of production were required. The prime minister proved not to be the man to lead the country through that crisis. Initially forced into a coalition government, he was increasingly sidelined in strategic decision-making, and eventually replaced by the man who had the enterprise and the determination to win the war. Let us hope that it is not too long before we find our David Lloyd George.David Du CrozMarlborough, Wiltshire

• Reading Polly Toynbee’s analysis of our misplaced PM, I was reminded of the instructions given to an officer joining the staff of Lord Raglan, the equally unsuitable commander of British forces in the Crimea: “Never trouble Lord Raglan more than is absolutely necessary with details, listen carefully to his remarks, try to anticipate his wishes and at all times make as light as possible of difficulties.” Within a year, two-thirds of the army was hospitalised.Jonathan MyersonLondon