Why Starmer is not going to let go of the issue of Johnson not acting quickly enough on COVID19
One of the great sources of analysis during the pandemic has been on Radio 4’s “More of Less” programme which each week subjects big issues in the news to statistical analysis. It has just finished its current series and its last programme was basically a summation of how the pandemic evolved. It is well worth listening to here .
Inevitably the issue of timing of the government’s decision in March is subject to scrutiny and a clear view is developing that the overall death toll could have been reduced if Johnson and his ministers had acted earlier. Even though the next general election might not take place until May 2024 the scale of this crisis and the likely examination of the government’s action by the inevitable inquiry will keep this issue alive.
The latest Opinium poll carries a question that it has asked before on whether voters think that Johnson should have acted earlier and the responses from different segments are in the chart above. The numbers suggest that Johnson has a problem while for Starmer this is an opportunity.
Interestingly the best segment from Johnson’s point of view are those in the sample who rated him as the Best PM over Starmer. Even then only 50% said he had got this right.