Boris Johnson didn’t beat coronavirus because he’s a ‘fighter’ – he beat it thanks to the NHS
BORIS JOHNSON’S prep school headmaster predicted: “He will become Prime Minister.”
So says the head’s former assistant, Tessa Pritchard-Gordon, who adds that even at 11, Boris “was always a leader” and she couldn’t recall him ever being ill.
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It’s a recurring narrative in Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson’s life that he has always been a robust, no-nonsense character with the “keep calm and carry on mentality” that every good leader needs. But in the case of Covid-19, it perhaps nearly killed him.
For it transpires that, despite doctors at London's St Thomas’ Hospital being told to expect him on Thursday, April 2, the PM decided to soldier on because he didn’t want it to look like he was getting preferential treatment.
Nice sentiment but, as we now know, he was eventually admitted on Sunday, April 5, his condition worsened and, ultimately, he was admitted to intensive care with a “50-50” chance of survival.
So what has Boris, who freely admits “the NHS saved my life”, learned from his brush with death? Well, contrary to the relentless narrative about his stiff upper lip, he now knows that he’s as fallible as the next person in the face of this invisible killer.
And that Dominic Raab’s misguided suggestion that his boss would beat the virus because “he’s a fighter” was obvious nonsense.
He eventually beat it because, as he pointed out, a dedicated team of NHS staff made the right decisions at the right time and two in particular watched him through the night.
Others haven’t been so lucky.
One “diary of an NHS doctor”, written anonymously from a hospital at the forefront of the coronavirus crisis, points out the alarming truth that survival, or otherwise, is a lottery.
One man in his mid-60s could stop breathing, “but intensive care has no space”. The doctor adds: “We seem to be running a permanent carousel of machines these days.
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Smell the flowers
“As soon as one person dies, you free up the machine and it’s on to the next patient. We simply don’t have the luxury of time and patience on our side.”
We all have first-hand experience of how brilliant the frontline NHS staff are and, yet again, I would like to add my heartfelt thanks to all those putting their lives at risk to help others at this time.
But beyond the efforts of the caring individuals working within it, the Covid-19 crisis has exposed the fatal flaws at the heart of the NHS as an institution — the lack of vital equipment, paucity of beds (just 2.7 per 100 people), over-expenditure in all the wrong places while paying vital staff a pittance, and lousy information technology when it has never been more important for medics to communicate easily.
So if, as those close to him say, the Prime Minister is a “changed man” after nearly losing his life, let’s hope that aside from stopping to smell the flowers more often, it gives him renewed vigour to ignore the predictable, politically motivated outrage that always accompanies any attempt at root-and- branch reform of our health service and channels that legendary inner resolve to tackle it head-on.
The NHS saved his life.
Now he must do the same for our most beloved institution if it’s to survive on the other side of this crisis.
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LOCKDOWN A LOVE TEST
BAKE Off judge Paul Hollywood is reportedly in lockdown with 37-year-old Melissa Spalding, who he started seeing just five months ago.
Leonardo DiCaprio has taken the unusual step of co-habiting with latest model (natch) girlfriend Camila Morrone and, coincidentally, one of Leo’s former flames, model Roxy Horner, is currently hunkered down with comedian Jack Whitehall despite their relationship being in the very early “honeymoon stage”.
A baptism of fire from which it remains to be seen if they emerge badly scorched or blissfully unscathed.
Either way, it seems that “Will you self-isolate with me?” is the new version of becoming official.
HARRY IN FOR PAP SHOCKER
PRIMATOLOGIST Dr Jane Goodall, who has been in touch with Prince Harry since he departed these shores, reveals he is “finding life a bit challenging right now”.
Little wonder. With lockdown reminding us of the value of close family and friends, he’s thousands of miles away from his.
And to pile on the agony, the British media he’s always having a go at is nothing compared to what he’s got coming in Hollywood.
California paparazzo Mark Karloff warns that once quarantine ends: “They are going to be hounded every single day, at least for the first few months.
“Leo DiCaprio, global interest, Beyonce, global interest. That’s what Meghan wants. I hope she’s ready for it.”
One has no doubt that she is. But her husband won’t know what’s hit him.
DJ PAUL’S STARMER ALARMER
ONE of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s previous jobs was Director of Public Prosecutions.
Following the Jimmy Savile scandal, he made certain policy changes that, according to critics, led to a “believe the victims” shift that resulted in innocent people seeing their names dragged through the mud.
Sir Keir counters that it’s “mythical nonsense”, but Paul Gambaccini, who spent a year on police bail over false allegations, says: “I will go head to head with him in any public forum over this, and I will dissect him like a frog.”
Now, that I’d pay to watch.
SAVED
SIX-YEAR-OLD Oscar Saxelby-Lee has left hospital “cancer-free” after his parents launched a public appeal last March for potential stem cell donors.
A record-breaking 4,855 volunteers queued in the rain to be tested in his home town of Worcester, and a total of 10,000 were tested across the UK.
A good news story to remind us that, even before the Covid-19 crisis highlighted it, our community spirit was admirably strong.
FRINGE-TENSIONS
STRICTLY presenter Claudia Winkleman says her lockdown fringe growth makes her a dead ringer for Meatloaf.
Until a few days ago, my doppelganger was a midlife Cousin Itt.
So, despite The Bloke being to hairdressing what Sir Les Patterson is to diplomatic relations, I decided that desperate times call for desperate measures and asked him to dye my roots.
Not entirely successfully. But I cut my own fringe. With lockdown tensions at Moore Towers running high, allowing him near me with scissors was a step too far.
FILM FOR OUR TIME
THE first time I saw the 2011 movie Contagion I dismissed it as lame tosh.
Earlier this week, I watched it again (it’s on Netflix) and was left open-mouthed at the scenes involving an airborne virus that started with bats in China and spread rapidly throughout the world, forcing schools and businesses to close, families to isolate and unused warehouse space to be repurposed as temporary hospitals.
It’s not so much a movie as an eerily predictive documentary.
SEEING DOUBLE
IDENTICAL twins Jack and Tom Herbert have both joined the police in South Wales, where dad Jason is a chief inspector.
Imagine.
No sir, you haven’t been slipped a Mickey Finn.
You really are seeing double.
FORCE-FEED FRENCH
A LEADING headteacher has said schools should re-think how they force-feed French in schools if they want kids to carry on studying the language.
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They have a point. Prior to GCSEs being scrapped, my youngest was revising her French-speaking piece and it was virtually identical to what I churned out robotically for my O level in the jours avant l’electricitè. All together now . . . “Bonjour. Je m’appelle (insert name). J’habite à (insert home town) avec ma mère, mon père et mon frère qui s’appelle Roger (or whatever.) J’ai un chien appelé Fang qui habite dans la cuisine.”
Bla-bla-bla (that’s the French spelling, apparently).
Go on: Dig deep and you can probably still remember yours.
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