The way that Boris Johnson’s government has handled the Covid situation is characterised by two words, cock up and authoritarianism. Daily we are seeing examples of Covid authoritarianism whether it be the violent arrests of those who dispute the government’s shonky Covid data and the mask laws. But we are also seeing levels of waste and fraud that would, if they occurred in a private company, send that company to the wall.

According to press reports it appears that at least ten percent of the £35 billion pounds that the Government has spent on the furlough scheme has been either paid out in error or has been actively defrauded. This means that at least £3.5 billion is missing, presumed lost. Whilst some of this money that has been erroneously paid out by civil servants to companies may be recovered, that which has been defrauded has probably gone for ever.

Money that could have been spent on public services or defence or set aside for assisting in the recovery of hastily and unnecessarily locked down economy has gone who knows where. For all we know this money that has been embezzled from the taxpayer may now be in the hands of organised criminals or even terrorist groups. Taxpayers money may at this moment be funding the next big class A drug deal or even be being used by ISIS types to put together attacks on the United Kingdom.

It is to be expected that some money from a hastily organised furlough scheme would go missing but normal due diligence by civil servants should have kept such fraud to an absolute minimum and maybe at a level of 0.5 to 1%. This is because there will always be people who exploit loopholes in schemes like this and some level of fraud is to be expected which can be punished later on. However to lose at least 10% is absolutely astonishing and speaks volumes about both the nature of the furlough scheme and the competence of the civil servants administering it. I get the impression that no decent accounting rules were followed when the government dished out this money, that there was no checking to see whether those claiming money were entitled to it and that the Civil Service has been spending our money like a drunken sailor on shore leave.

Covid has damaged Britain greatly. The nation has been damaged both economically and socially in ways that are almost unprecedented. But it is not the disease itself that has caused the damage, it is the the Government’s authoritarian and spendthrift response to it. Boris Johnson’s government was given a test in the form of the covid situation and from what I can see it has failed that test miserably.