DAN HODGES: Boris' enemies pray that the corona crisis will expose his faults

Earlier this week, Boris Johnson will take his place in the COBRA briefing room of the Cabinet Office of 70 Whitehall and his medical advisers will tell him that the time has come to officially move into the delayed phase of government action against coronaviruses in four parts. plan.

They will then receive a full "menu" of measures to take to slow the spread of the virus.

And the options he chooses, their effectiveness and the way Britain reacts to them will define the first year of his term, perhaps even his entire term.

"Things are going to get a lot more difficult," says an adviser # 10.

Yes, if necessary, Boris can pick up clubs, wade headlong in the middle of our raging cultural war and more than hold his own. But in his mind, Prime Minister Johnson is a national unifier rather than a political disruptor

“What we do next will have real consequences. There will potentially be a significant disruption. "

Boris' critics are confident that the coronavirus pandemic will find out. What we are witnessing is his big smog moment, reflecting an episode of The Crown on the air pollution crisis in London in December 1952.

In it, the aging of Churchill is unprepared and unable to respond to the unprecedented environmental disaster that sees pollution blanketing down the capital.

In the past few weeks, it has sometimes seemed that it was becoming little more than a construction of his controversial advisor Dominic Cummings. Or even worse, giving credence to Jeremy Corbyn's caricature of him as "part-time Prime Minister". But the last seven days have seen Boris become the PM he always wanted to be

Public transport, ambulances and other vital services are blocked and 12,000 Londoners perish. The warnings of his ministers are ignored.

Churchill finds himself overwhelmed by Clement Attlee as public anger rises. And it is only the loss of his own personal secretary that finally brings out the enormity of the situation.

PM's enemies believe that life and death are about to reflect art. Boris has too little attention to detail.

His operation # 10 is too dysfunctional. Just look at the response to the floods, where the Prime Minister was lacking in action, they sing.

What is certainly true is that no one can predict how Britain will respond to future trials.

We are no longer the nation that challenged Hitler but a land of "snowflakes" and "safe spaces" with a toxic addiction to social media.

But there are signs that, contrary to the narrative elaborated by the left, this crisis may not be the defeat of Boris Johnson but its creation.

The time when he was seen to personally take charge of the government response was well judged.

As one minister explained: “ The bottom line with something like this is to understand that there are a lot of things you can do and be seen doing, but if you move too early , it can make everything worse rather than better. It was important at the start of this crisis that we focus on preparation without creating unnecessary panic. "

I was told that the key moment came early last week after the Prime Minister received the latest assessment from his health officials, coupled with new figures for the growing scale of infections in Italy.

PM's enemies believe that life and death are about to reflect art. Boris has too little attention to detail. His operation # 10 is too dysfunctional. Just look at the response to the floods, where the Prime Minister was lacking in action, they sing. People are pictured wearing masks in central London

According to an assistant, "He just looked up and said, 'Okay, it's time for me to face myself now. "

Above all, when he stepped out at the Downing Street press conference on Tuesday, the tone that was struck struck the moment.

"He wanted to give people the facts, but he also wanted the message to be" Keep calm and keep going, "said an ally," and he succeeded. His opponents criticize his supposedly relaxed style. But people like his optimism and his realism. This is what is needed at a time like this.

But, significantly, last week was much more than style. The experts are back. The Surgeon General, Professor Chris Whitty, and the Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir Patrick Vallance, were prominently displayed alongside the PM as he addressed the nation (above).

The selective boycott of broadcasters has been abandoned.

And the government's response was prompted by a pact made at the start of the crisis by Boris and Secretary of Health Matt Hancock that each response should be guided by clinical advice.

But there are signs that, contrary to the narrative elaborated by the left, this crisis may not be the defeat of Boris Johnson but its creation. The time when he was seen to personally take charge of the government response was well judged

"In January, we decided that we had to fight the battle on two fronts," said a source from the Ministry of Health. "And it was the battle against disease and the battle for public confidence."

PM and Hancock agreed that winning public trust could not just be left to spin teams to sell after the event, but had to be at the forefront of decision makers while they were developing a policy.

They also agreed that symbolic gestures without any practical public health benefit would prove counterproductive as soon as it became clear that they had little tangible effect.

"When countries like Italy introduced airport control, people said," Why don't we do this? "" Says a source from the Ministry of Health.

"But medical experts have told us that with an incubation period of 14 days, most positive cases would go undetected.

"Likewise, if we had started banning thefts, it would have caused massive disruption, but would only slow the spread of the virus for a few days. This is why we have opted for a targeted approach of patient isolation and research of confirmed cases. "

Boris' critics are confident that the coronavirus pandemic will find out. What we are witnessing is his big smog moment, reflecting an episode of The Crown on the London air pollution crisis in December 1952. The crisis is illustrated above

But there is another key element in the way the government is tackling the coronavirus crisis. It does this in a way designed to finally allow Boris to be Boris.

In the past few weeks, it has sometimes seemed that it was becoming little more than a construction of his controversial advisor Dominic Cummings.

Or even worse, giving credence to Jeremy Corbyn's caricature of him as "part-time Prime Minister".

But the past seven days have seen Boris become the Prime Minister he always wanted to be.

Build a team. Delegate and defer. Lead the country in a calm, confident and reassuring manner.

It is what his allies call "the London model", a return to the style of governance that has served him so well during his two successful rounds as mayor of London.

Yes, if necessary, Boris can pick up clubs, wade headlong in the middle of our raging cultural war and more than hold his own.

But in his mind, Prime Minister Johnson is a national unifier rather than a political disruptor.

The way is still long. We are much closer to the start of the coronavirus epidemic than to the end. But in this time of crisis, the country was looking for leadership.

And last week, we may have found it.

Amber Rudd's allies have shed light on the working practices of the outgoing Permanent Secretary of the Home Office, Sir Philip Rutnam.

"When she was Minister of the Interior, she had a role to play in senior ministerial meetings," said a friend.

"She interviewed the candidates, then ranked her favorite options in order: first choice, second, third. It would then be up to Rutnam to make the final decision. Each time he came up to her and said, "He is the person I named." And that would be his third option. After a while, she thought, "What's the good of me doing this?" “It wasn't just Priti Patel who had problems with Sir Humphrey.

Amber Rudd's allies shed light on the working practices of the outgoing Permanent Secretary of the Home Office, Sir Philip Rutnam (above)