It’s quite right that scientists at the coronavirus press briefings are getting the attention they deserve

This week, to the lobby’s delight, it emerged that the scientists can make the headlines too.

First there was deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam agreeing that the UK’s nascent coronavirus testing system needed to be made “bigger and faster, and as fast as we can”.

Then Ministry of Defence chief scientific adviser Angela McLean frankly declared that the UK has a lot to learn from the “inspiring” example of South Korea rigorously testing thousands from the start of the outbreak in February.

This was not necessarily the most helpful thing for ministers to hear just as Boris Johnson was declaring the UK’s test-and-trace system “world-beating” and promising it would be fully operational by June.

Then there was the medical director of NHS England, Stephen Powis, apparently triggering a government U-turn on the fraught question of residence rights for families of migrant NHS porters and cleaners who die from Covid-19.

After cabinet minister Oliver Dowden had tortuously hemmed and hawed about the possibility of reviewing the policy which grants automatic leave to remain to the bereaved dependents of doctors and nurses, but not support staff at that point, the reporter had the bright idea of asking Prof Powis what he thought.

Pausing briefly to note that these sorts of things were of course a matter for politicians, Powis launched into an impassioned paean of praise for every member of the NHS team from cleaner to consultant, ending with the headline-generating soundbite: “There are many, many heroes within the NHS, not just doctors and nurses.”

Literally within minutes a press release dropped into political correspondents’ email inboxes announcing that Priti Patel was expanding the policy to include support staff. Admittedly, the announcement was neatly laid out under an official Home Office header, with notes and statistics attached, so it’s clear that Patel had already been preparing the climbdown. But few believed that its timing was not influenced by Prof Powis’s comments.

And that’s the danger for ministers from mingling with scientists. While politicians languish alongside journalists and estate agents at the bottom of the league for trustworthiness, scientists and doctors are up at the top. When they say something, people have a justified tendency to think that they know what they are talking about and that they are doing the best to tell the truth.

After all, in the world of science, telling the truth is the whole purpose of the exercise, whereas in Westminster it sometimes seems like something which all concerned are doing their best to avoid.

Yours,

Andrew Woodcock

Political editor