Back to British politics for a change and a possible threat to Boris
Making such a call at “peak COVID” appears naive
The problem with this attack by Steve Baker is that all the efforts to control the pandemic according to the polling are supported by significant numbers. This to the question “Do you think that the UK Government is currently overreacting, or underreacting, to the Coronavirus?” Opinium found last week just 15% saying the former with 44% saying “underreacting”.
By 72% of those in the same poll thought that the government hadn’t acted fast enough. to 18% those who didn’t.
It is certainly true that Tory voters have been less critical but there is very little support for the Steve Baker “end lockdown” line.
For this call to be made as the daily COVID death total reaches record levels hardly suggests that Baker is sensitive about the timing.
There is little doubt that Johnson’s inclination would be to ease the restrictions, as we saw with his approach to Christmas that had to be abandoned in London and the South east when the numbers appeared to be out of control but it is going to need a huge change in the daily case rate for this to be a realistic call.