Updated: Jan 25, 2021
The Rt. Honourable Boris Johnson MP
Office of the Prime Minister
10 Downing St,
Westminster,
London SW1A 2AA
July 24, 2020.
Dear Prime Minister,
I write in the hope that you will not only see this, but also read it and, if I may be so forward, act upon it.
As a citizen of the United Kingdom, I am increasingly concerned at the path my country is taking under your leadership.
One year ago, you stood in Downing Street on July 24, 2019, and gave a stirring speech in which you said: "The time has come to act, to take decisions, to give strong leadership and to change this country for the better."
You won a decisive victory in the last General Election – you did so not because you are perfect, but because you are not.
Unlike many of your predecessors, who preened and pretended perfection, like everybody, you have flaws; but it is to your credit that you do not hide them. You displayed a ‘common touch’ that was appreciated by many people across the length and breadth of the country. Since then, your leadership seemed to be following a course unlike that of those who held office before you – and that is not a bad thing. The UK needed somebody to break the mould as it were, and you appeared to be doing just that. At least until recently.
Nobody could have foreseen the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and your task has been made more difficult because of it. No matter what decision you and Ministers take, you will be criticised by somebody – that is in the natural order of things. However, despite your reputation as a libertarian, as a believer in the freedom of individual people to go about their lives without undue interference from the state and its agents, the UK now appears to be on a course that will take it into the realm of oppression and subjugation.
This is unacceptable – and it must cease.
I must therefore raise the following points. Will you:
1. Repeal the Coronavirus Act. This was not subject to the accepted path to Law under which the people must live. It contains too many provisions, apparently open-ended, that give too much power to the state. And as we already know, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is a dangerous piece of legislation that must be removed, and removed very quickly. History shows that such power leads to a craving for more and human nature is such that when it is acquired, those who have this kind of power are reluctant to let go of it – no matter how well-intended they may at first be.
2. Withdraw with immediate effect the instruction to the people to wear masks when in shops and stores. The face is our primary means of communication, even though we might not speak. A smile in passing is often appreciated, as it has been during the past (and difficult) four months. Had such a view been taken last March, there may well have been some justification for it. But to do so now, and for people to be ordered to ‘muzzle up’, rather goes against the grain.
The element of compulsion is a dehumanising act.
This instruction also contains many loopholes regarding exemptions; again there is a strong element of human nature to this but there will be those who will abuse those exemptions. This (as well as the instruction itself) will lead to discord where there need be none. It will lead to much disharmony between those who wish to wear a covering, and those who do not.
There is also the question of whether or not a simple face covering will be effective. There has already been much debate between people over how to make their own – frankly Prime Minister, the idea that an old sock or strips taken from t-shirts or similar will actively stop infection is somewhat questionable.
Yet many now think they will. Is there not some dis-information at work here?
3. On the subject of information, will you please take immediate and affirmative action to correct the astounding misuse of the word, ‘Coronavirus’?
We see the word everywhere, including its use on government and NHS publications.
There are just seven coronaviruses known to infect humans, three of which can result in the common cold. Just one can lead to Covid-19. Yet the word coronavirus is widely misused to describe a ‘deadly disease from which thousands will be dropping dead on a daily basis’. We now know that this is not so and that it never has been so.
Fatalities have been grossly over-described as being due to ‘The Coronavirus’ or to Covid-19 – yet many deaths have had nothing to do with Covid-19 or any other disease resulting from a coronavirus. This must be put right and put right immediately.
So please – ensure that the correct name is used and not the hysterical scream of ‘The Coronavirus!’ and just as importantly that the truth is told about Covid-19. Most especially regarding the cause of deaths.
If those deaths have not been due to Covid-19 or anything arising from it, the truth must be told and the misleading inflation of figures corrected.
4. Until recently, you have been exhorting all to ‘Protect the NHS’.
Yet I must ask; is it not the job of the NHS to protect us, the people who pay for it through National Insurance and tax?
The NHS has abandoned and betrayed the people of the UK. GP practices remain closed to face-to-face appointments, Dentists may theoretically be open again but are not able to actually treat people.
Most dangerously, thousands of people up and down the land have not had whatever may ail them diagnosed and treated; referrals are not being made and many hospitals remain empty – people have died and will die because of this betrayal. You must, as a matter of great urgency, ensure the NHS returns to its proper purpose and correctly diagnoses people's illnesses and treats them – quickly and efficiently.
A useful start would be to ensure the permanent removal of the absurd layers and layers of management, under which the NHS is burdened. This stifling bureaucracy sucks endless amounts of money from the British taxpayer and serves no purpose except its own.
As it stands, the letters ‘NHS’ truly now do stand for ‘No Hope Service’.
5. Whilst the concept of social distancing is understood by most, and has some merit, what is the difference between being 1 metre or 2 metres distant from others in a food store…and a clothes shop, a garden centre or any other establishment open to the public? Including Pubs.
What is not essential to one may be to another, so a ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy does not work. Such policies have been shown time and again to be impractical. The concept of ‘non-essential items’ where shopping is concerned, must never again be repeated.
Lockdowns are not the answer to the problems posed by Covid-19 and killing off livelihoods isn’t going to help either. Government advice – strongly put but without scaremongering – is the path to take, rather than the elements of compulsion.
The erosion of the freedom of people to make their own minds up is not why you were elected. By all means, crack down on flagrant disregard and inconsiderate behaviour (in all respects) but please do not issue orders that remove our cherished freedoms.
6. On a wider perspective, will you take firm action to stop the continual flow of illegal migration across the Channel? The UK cannot afford to carry on accepting so many migrants, many of whom appear to be fit, younger-aged men. Some of these may well represent a threat to this country and whilst I understand that International and Maritime Law limits what can be done, as Australia proved some years ago, action can be taken.
The UK has a problem accommodating the population as it is, without adding to it – we don’t have the housing, the jobs or other infrastructure to keep on growing the numbers within our borders (especially with the inevitable job losses that are coming as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic).
On the subject of housing, will you please do something to get the absurd cost of having a home down?
Current purchase prices and rents are proving to be beyond many people and the only end result will be increasing numbers of homeless people.
Linked to this, will you reform entirely the Department of Work and Pensions and remove its oft-used ability to arbitrarily stop or reduce benefits? There are going to be many, many people out of work in the coming years and the days are long in the past when there were jobs for everybody. No government can guarantee full employment and it is time this was accepted.
Yes, there will be some who will pull a fast one and abuse the system; this is again human nature but it is not the majority. Housing benefits must reflect the reality of what it costs to have a home (unless you really can get that cost down to realistic levels) and not some fanciful limit dreamed up by a faceless official – or a government minister - who in all probability has never had to worry about it. Benefit rates overall must also reflect reality – what it costs to have food, water, light, heat, clothes on your back and shoes on your feet.
You must also address the Criminal Justice System and law enforcement; that this is currently not fit for purpose is beyond doubt and it has not been since 1997. There are too many people that have been unjustly convicted of crimes they did not commit and I would refer you back to my earlier remarks about the erosion of freedom.
One example is the way Police can routinely remove computers, phones and other internet-connectable devices (which are not cheap) from homes and businesses, ostensibly to conduct an investigation – and keep them for anything up to a year or more. Although some investigations might reveal wrong-doing, many do not. Yet people’s lives and their ability to communicate and work are effectively destroyed, simply because the police wish to look.
While the police must investigate (it is part of their job) how they do so is questionable and if the Covid-19 pandemic has proved anything, it is that the ability of people to stay in touch, for both work and leisure, is of vital importance in today’s world. You yourself intimated as such in your speech a year ago.
If the police need greater resources to ‘turn round’ seizures of personal property – from the current several months, a year or more, down to a few days, then give them what they need. In return however, we could do without police officers throwing their weight around as some have done during past months and we most certainly need better police leadership.
Also with this in mind, access to legal representation must be made much easier – as it stands, such representation is only for those with the money to pay for it and this is wrong.
7. Remove entirely the Overseas Aid Budget - we cannot afford it. The UK has problems of its own that need funding and we don't have the cash anymore to try and solve the world's issues. Neither do we have the money for Ministers to stride around the globe showing what great statesmen and women they are (the RAF transport aircraft that now has the Union Flag on its tail is fine by the way - but don't misuse it).
8. Will you act decisively to remove the blight of political correctness from our lives?
These are just a few of the basics Prime Minister – there is so much more that needs to be done (as you again suggested a year ago and an undeniable bias in education and the BBC are two more) and you have a duty to ensure everybody has proper access to what they need, to what is essential to the individual and that everybody can live their lives without undue interference from the state.
The United Kingdom has stood like a beacon to the rest of the world with regard the freedoms of its people and you cannot, indeed must not, be judged by history as the Prime Minister who restricted and removed those freedoms.
Yours Sincerely
Kevan James
Citizen and Voter.
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