Last Saturday the French president and British Prime Minister had a phone conversation about the pandemic and Brexit that received little coverage. But the subject matter highlights the extent to which the two leaders have troubles in common and solutions to share.
Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson have had a bad pandemic for similar reasons: lack of PPE, confused messaging on masks and quarantine, poor quality test and trace and unreliable Covid apps on phones (with the French prime minister and sundry ministers confessing not to have even downloaded the French version, which is unusable with a mere 2.6 million downloads).
Although British Covid death totals appear worse than the French at 42,875 versus 32,825, Santé Publique France’s statistics still do not include deaths at home, which according to the union of French general practitioners back in May was then approaching 10,000. Both leaders are criticised for dividing their states geographically: Boris south-north, Macron north-south (particularly the treatment of Marseille).
Both are facing hostility from within their parties.
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