Apart from a bright spark of hope in the victory of the Gaza motion, this year’s conference lacked vision and purpose — we need to urgently reconnect Labour with its roots rather than weakly aping the flag-waving right, argues KIM JOHNSON MP

TO MARK the one year anniversary of the first national lockdown last month, the Guardian published profiles of Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty.
“The wealthy civil servant’s year of speaking truth to power” was the title of the fawning article on Vallance. Discussing the early days of the pandemic, the Guardian’s Rupert Neate asserted “Vallance may have been one of the few people in Whitehall who understood what was coming.” Echoing the title, he noted “Vallance’s friends and colleagues say that he is not afraid to speak scientific truth to power.”
The profile on Whitty was similarly obsequious, titled: “The calm voice who steered a nation in crisis.” The co-authors Ian Sample and Heather Stewart wrote: “The crisis has demanded dedication and stamina, but Whitty has also needed the trust of those around him.”

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