PM FAVOURS STATUE OF ALI FOR LONDON
BOXER Muhammad Ali is “the black figure that Boris Johnson would most like to honour with a statue in London”. A “childhood hero” of Mr Johnson, he said: “I don’t know how we claim credit for him in London, but I’m sure he is a Londoner in some way.” One of the greatest boxers of all time, Ali was a champion against racial discrimination and made headlines with his word play. He died in 2016 aged 74.
THE nation is looking forward to its big night out this Saturday — and none more so than Boris Johnson. He tells this newspaper in his interview today that he’s planning to take his fiancée Carrie Symonds out to the pub when the lockdown ends on Saturday. But we suspect that what excites him more than a pint is the hope that he can get back to being a “good times” Prime Minister. The Covid crisis has been hard for the nation’s Optimist-inChief. The Government’s handling of the lockdown has been far from perfect, as the grim comparisons with deaths in other European countries expose. Now the Government that was elected only seven months ago to “level up” the country faces a recession that threatens instead to level down. That’s why Mr Johnson tells us that it needs to act with “great urgency” in rebuilding our prosperity. Mr Johnson promises that his Government “will step it up” and “do what it takes” to achieve this, disclosing for the first time that there will be more measures to come on top of this week’s underwhelming £5 billion package of infrastructure investment.
That’s encouraging, because as the Prime Minister concedes, people are either worried about their jobs or have already lost them because of the impact of the shutdown. The spirit of enterprise that London in particular possesses means that some new businesses are already being created. Our own Kickstart Fund shows us how many great ideas are out there. Human ingenuity and the creative forces of the free market are not to be underestimated. But government creates the overall economic climate, and provides the infrastructure to support the private sector, so it’s good to hear Mr Johnson acknowledge that he needs to do much more.
It’s on these specifics that the gap exists. For example, the Prime Minister warns that the furlough scheme, which has been so vital in keeping people employed during the lockdown, will come to an end as planned in October. He says that to maintain it for longer risks “keeping people in suspended animation” and prevents them from finding new work when the jobs they previously had no longer remain viable. That’s precisely the point this paper made some weeks ago. But Mr Johnson needs to have a plan for what to do if businesses are suddenly forced back into local lockdown. What is happening in Leicester is unlikely to be a one-off. It could happen here in London. Knowing in advance what support they will get is vital for small shops and restaurants thrust into such a situation. Otherwise they will be even less confident in taking on new staff, or retaining those they have furloughed. There is still no word — months into this crisis — on the specific help for the performing arts and theatres that bring this city to life and now face financial catastrophe. Mr Johnson is right when he tells our readers: “Covid is almost biologically engineered to make things difficult for the great London economy.” He’s right too to project confidence about our country and our capital’s future. The question now is: where’s the substance?