Coffee House Shots: were we right to lock down? Michael Gove vs Toby Young

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4.4 • 785 Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

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Summary

On 23 March 2020, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the unprecedented decision to put the UK into lockdown. To mark the 5th anniversary of that announcement this weekend, we have brought together our editor Michael Gove – then a cabinet minister under Boris – and our associate editor Toby Young – an ardent critic of the decision – to answer the question, was the government right to lock down?

Was the decision a necessary and reasonable health measure based on the available evidence at the time, or a significant and avoidable violation of civil liberties by a government that was meant to champion liberal freedoms? You decide.

Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of Coffee House Shots is sponsored by Alliance Witten Investment Trust. From the OPEC
0:06.0	oil crisis of the 1970s, the financial crash in 2008, to the COVID epidemic and Liz Truss's doomed
0:13.4	premiership. There has been no shortage of economic crises over the last 58 years. And yet,
0:19.6	throughout that time, every single year, without fail,
0:22.9	we've paid out an increased dividend to our shareholders. In fact, Alliance Witten's history
0:28.4	dates all the way back to 1888. And today, we manage around £5 billion in assets.
0:35.5	If you're looking for a less stressful way to invest in
0:37.8	stocks and shares, learn more about Alliance Witten and find your comfort zone.
0:46.3	Hello and welcome to this special Saturday edition of Coffee House Shots. I'm Patrick Gibbons.
0:53.3	The time has now come for us all to do more.
0:58.2	From this evening, I must give the British people a very simple instruction.
1:02.9	You must stay at home.
1:05.0	That was a clip of then Prime Minister Boris Johnson in March 2020, announcing the decision
1:10.0	to put the country into lockdown as part of
1:12.1	the government's measures to combat COVID-19.
1:14.9	In a recent column for the spectator, our associate editor Toby Young writes that he is optimistic
1:19.5	that the official COVID inquiry, of which he was initially skeptical, will condemn some aspects
1:24.8	of the lockdown policy.
1:26.2	This was a policy that our current editor,
1:28.1	Michael Gove endorsed, given he was a cabinet minister at the time in Boris's government.
1:32.8	To mark the fifth anniversary of that announcement this weekend, we've brought Toby and Michael
1:37.3	together to discuss the merits of the government's decision and the rationale behind it.
	...

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