This pandemic has put politics on fast-forward

‘The normal grease of politics is not there,’ bemoans one sociable cabinet minister. Certainly, the whispered conversations in corridors that make up so much of Westminster life are in abeyance during this period of social distancing. The fact that the backbenches and the cabinet have deep reservations about the government’s approach matters far less than it would in normal times. In the Zoom parliament, there is no such thing as the mood of the House. One Tory grandee pushing for a significant easing of the lockdown complains that the current arrangements ‘make it easier for No. 10 to ignore parliament and cabinet’.

But contrary to appearances, politics has actually sped up, rather than stopped, during the pandemic. ‘The past two months have been like two years of government,’ says one cabinet minister.

At home and abroad, coronavirus has emphasised trends that were already in existence. It has exacerbated the tensions between the northern and southern countries in the eurozone and it has accelerated the deterioration in relations between the United States and China.

In Whitehall, there has long been a view that the future direction of US foreign policy would not become clear until after the presidential election in November.