The blame game

In the last two weeks, it was announced that the body which oversaw the Pandemic response in England, Public Health England (PHE), was to be scrapped, a replacement body set up headed by a political appointment, Dido Harding.

It was thought that PHE was an untamed quango, and existed at arms length from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and the Minister, Matt Hancock.

Sadly, for Cummings, Johnson and Hancock, PHE is an exclusive agency of the DHSC, so Ministers were always responsible for any failures in policy. And had been reporting to Ministers all along.

Oh dear.

"An observation about Public Health England. In law, it does not exist as an entity. It is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care. It is under the direct administrative control of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care."

But let's not mere facts get in the way of pushing the blame to somewhere, anywhere else, but on Ministers, Johnson or Cummings.

So, inbetween the deadly first wave and a possibly deadlier second, the UK Government of talent will attempt to set up a new Public Health Body from scratch.

And preparing for the end of transition. I mean "preparing".