Andy Richardson: 'The Government can write its own script in our DisUnited Kingdom'
It feels as though we’ve stepped into a time machine and gone back 40 years.
As that decade began, unemployment was high, racial tensions pronounced, hope in short supply and industrial discord manifest.
The parallels don’t end there. There were concerns over Russia, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, Jeremy Corbyn’s spiritual predecessor Michael Foot was leading Labour in extended exile and America was ruled by a charismatic but flawed right-winger who’d previously done well in entertainment. Reagan for Trump, anyone?
Though the Government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis has been frequently lamentable – it’s got some stuff right but plenty wrong – Boris Johnson has two opportunities to avoid a slide into oblivion.
Firstly, it is within his ambit to douse the flames of a racial divide. The tensions that simmered during 1980 and exploded into severe violence a year later as race riots gripped Brixton, Toxteth, Handsworth, Chapeltown and Moss Side are avoidable. The obvious and justified disenfranchisement of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities was as palpable then as it is now.
The Prime Minister can act. If he so chooses, he can make himself the one who brought together warring factions, who united our DisUnited Kingdom, who found solutions rather than fanning the flames, who brought about peace and harmony. He can secure the most remarkable personal legacy, by bringing people together rather than pushing them apart.
There is hope, too. Patrick Hutchinson, the black personal trainer who saved the life of a white ‘far right’ protester during last weekend’s protest, has shown how. If one man can do the right thing while in extremis, lifting an opponent over his shoulder and ferrying him to safety, the Government can find the middle ground to avoid further confrontation, right historic wrongs, atone for its own failings and ensure equal opportunity for all.
While we made a series of errors in the handling of Covid-19, we need not get things so wrong when it comes to economic recovery. Rishi Sunak can take the appropriate action to ensure a quicker recovery, save jobs and soften the blow of the recession.
We were slow to act on Covid, which cost lives. On the two other key issues of the day – the economy and racial equality – the Government can write its own script.
