NICOLA Sturgeon needs to cut Scotland loose from Boris Johnson, and his failed Government and its failed Covid-19 strategy, right now. She can’t wait. Lives depend on it. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are following along on the coat-tails of a man, a party and a government that has catastrophically failed when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic. The UK – from Belfast to Edinburgh and from Cardiff to London – is being led to disaster by Johnson and his fawning, weak-kneed team of incompetents, fantasists, liars and dissemblers.

You know the list of failures by Johnson’s government without having them rehearsed at length. Johnson and Co have failed on planning, preparation, timing, delaying lockdown, oversight, management, protective gear, the health of NHS staff, testing, tracing, consistency of messaging. The list of failure keeps mounting, just as the dead mount. The concepts of dedication, service, care and intelligence seem alien to Team Johnson. You name the key area of decision-making when it comes to protecting us from Covid-19, and fighting the virus, and the only word to describe the behaviour and outcomes of the Johnson administration is this: failure.

But even that word doesn't suffice. ‘Failure’ cannot do justice to a government which looks to have squandered citizens’ lives with its laissez-faire attitude towards sickness, suffering and death. This is the work of Nero, fiddling while Rome burns.

Any attempt to shield Johnson from the reckoning he’s owed for his failures, behind the excuse of sickness is not only objectionable, it’s wrong. The failures began long before Johnson contracted Covid-19 … after knowingly shaking hands with coronavirus patients.

READ MORE: Coronavirus: Scottish Government calls on Germany for exit strategy support

Johnson, and his sycophantic hagiographers who pose as commentators and pundits, seem obsessed by, fixated on, the idea that the Prime Minister is some national hero in waiting. The repetition of the word ‘Churchill’ sounds like a cult incantation now rather than an historical reference point.

It will be interesting to see how history judges this man and his government. It’s doubtful the word ‘Churchillian’ will ever be used alongside the name Boris Johnson – unless future historians have a taste for bitter, dark irony.

The people are already judging Johnson – and their judgement is one of fury and damnation. In reaction to the news that the Prime Minister skipped five Cobra meetings as the outbreak began to spread around the world, here’s how you – Herald readers – described Johnson.

One reader, Campbell Johnson, said: “This crumb of a PM enjoyed the best care the NHS could give but has had a personal hand in ensuring that NHS staff are sacrificing their lives in some instances through his Government's criminal negligence in failing to adequately equip them. How does he sleep at night? Do the decent thing for once and resign.”

Other readers talked of him, “disappearing when the going gets tough”, or described him as, “the locker room joker”. One said he was, “at the helm of a ship of fools”. Another added that, “the levels of incompetence he displays is stratospheric”. J Williamson said: “People have died and people are still dying. Many more than should have died because of the incompetence of the UK government. It won’t be forgotten.”

Ever in hock to Churchill’s ghost, Johnson’s crew of servile hangers-on and place-men have the temerity to invoke wartime spirit. If the ghastly metaphor of war must be used then let’s be frank: we’re losing, and it’s all thanks to Johnson and his government. Surely, the irony cannot be lost even on Team Johnson that many Britons would dearly like to be residents in Germany right now.

It’s a grim and sick joke this Government is playing on the British people. As one Downing Street adviser pointed out: “There’s no way you’re at war if your PM isn’t there. And what you learn about Boris was he didn’t chair any meetings. He liked his country breaks. He didn’t work weekends. It was like working for an old-fashioned chief executive in a local authority 20 years ago. There was a real sense that he didn’t do urgent crisis planning. It was exactly like people feared he would be.”

Churchill? Try Marie Antoinette.

READ MORE: SNP demands UK action after 8,000 a week still arrive in Scotland without health check

The tragedy is that it didn’t need to be this way. At the start of the outbreak, even Johnson’s most implacable political enemies were more than ready to give him a chance, more than happy to stay silent if he just did his job and saved lives. If he’d tried – if he’d really cared – perhaps the history books would have garlanded him with laurels. Now he’s forever a figure of shame.

And yet, here we are in Scotland and in Wales and Northern Ireland tagging along behind this failure of a man and a prime minister, and his failure of a government. There is little substantive difference between how the devolved governments and the Westminster administration are tackling the Covid-19 outbreak. As the Institute for Government says: “There have been some small differences, in both policy and communications, in how the UK and devolved governments have responded to the crisis, but these have tended to be short-lived and mostly a matter of timing, as opposed to reflecting important differences in strategy.”

Well change that now, First Minister. Sturgeon must use the powers devolved to Scotland – every power this country has at our disposal – to set us on a safer course. And leaders in Belfast and Cardiff should do the same.

This is not about the constitution. This is not a case for independence which is being made. Such petty political matters as Brexit and independence need chloroformed until long after the pandemic is over. Any politician trading in constitutional point-scoring at this time is unfit for office. This is a matter of life and death. We know that’s no exaggeration. More than 16,000 people are dead across the UK.

Sturgeon is not Johnson. She has character and decency. She cannot want to go down in history as the woman who walked along behind Johnson as he led Britain to tragedy. If she acts now, she may well not just help Scotland, but she may also show the people of Wales, Northern Ireland and England that there’s a safer, wiser course to follow than the disastrous path laid by Boris Johnson’s government.

Neil Mackay is Scotland’s Columnist of the Year

Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Herald.

News from trusted and credible sources is essential at all times, but especially now as the coronavirus pandemic impacts on all aspects of our lives. To make sure you stay informed during this difficult time our coverage of the crisis is free.

However, producing The Herald's unrivalled analysis, insight and opinion on a daily basis still costs money and, as our traditional revenue streams collapse, we need your support to sustain our quality journalism.

To help us get through this, we’re asking readers to take a digital subscription to The Herald. You can sign up now for just £2 for two months.

If you choose to sign up, we’ll offer a faster loading, advert-light experience – and deliver a digital version of the print product to your device every day. Click here to help The Herald: Thank you, and stay safe.