You remember Rory Stewart? He was the slightly geeky one who made a pitch for the UK Conservative Party leadership in June and July 2020, very much an outsider who nevertheless made a significant impact with his unorthodox campaign, based on walking the streets of UK cities, seeking personal encounters and conversations with passers by, and filming these and putting them on social media. Suffice to say, this originality did not have sufficient appeal to the Party faithful: he lost.

It was not long before he fell victim to the purge of rebel Tory MPs under the leadership of Boris Johnson, and Stewart has subsequently resigned from the Party and put his name forward to stand for Mayor of London.  I might have thought that London had a perfectly good Mayor in Sadiq Khan, but Rory is at the very least an interesting challenger. 

With London now at the epicentre of the UK COVID-19 pandemic, it is unsurprising that Rory Stewart has had a good deal to say about the Government’s strategy for combating the spread of the infection. In today’s Evening Standard he sets out with some clarity the rationale of the Government’s approach, to slow the spread of infection, and to protect the most vulnerable, albeit with some inevitable casualties.  Rory Stewart however argues that the example of China, suggests that a more aggressive programme of resistance can actually arrest the spread of the virus  and thus dramatically reduce levels of mortality and ultimately  limit damage to the economy.  

Why should we listen to Rory Stewart?  Well, there is plenty of evidence that he a person of capability, but really it is a matter of judging for yourself, and contrasting his proposals with the variety of others that we can see in play, from, on the one hand, the uncompromising centralised management of the Chinese to, at another extreme, the mystic workings of Donald Trump who has, within the space of a couple of months pivoted from calling coronavirus “a hoax” [Feb 28th]  which “we have ..totally under control” [Jan 12th] to “This is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.” [March 17th]. So for the citizens of the United States of America, it looks very much like a journey into the mystic with Donald awaits; but another approach may still be possible, and may be preferred.

Rory Stewart: Aggressive action comes at a huge cost but it will save lives immediately

Acknowledgements: Van Morrison — Into the Mystic

We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won
As we sailed into the mystic