MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: We need calm and unity at the top, not pavement brawls 

Out in the normal world, this is a time of reviving hope and springtime pleasure.

Under bright skies, a people increasingly free from fear of Covid are beginning to enjoy life again, eating and drinking in the sunshine. The tills of thousands of long-silent shops are ceaselessly beeping as customers spend freely again.

It even seems possible some of us will manage to have summer holidays abroad once more – one of so many things which used to be normal but is newly enticing because we have been deprived of it for so long.

Scientists, who for months have advocated every form of caution, are beginning to talk of a mask-free summer. Britain’s vaccine triumph, extending its benefits all the time, is starting to have a real practical effect on the way we live.

You would have thought those in charge of this state of affairs might permit themselves a moment of pure pleasure, of a sort rare in politics. 

They have faced a major crisis and despite many setbacks, have mastered and overcome it. If politics offers any more satisfying rewards, it is hard to know what they might be.

How odd that in the midst of this, a government which should be basking in achievement and rejoicing that it has brought us through a grave peril is instead eating itself with ridiculous internal rows.

How odd that in the midst of this, a government which should be basking in achievement and rejoicing that it has brought us through a grave peril is instead eating itself with ridiculous internal rows. Pictured: Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s former adviser Dominic Cummings

Three people are most closely involved: the Prime Minister himself, his fiancee Carrie Symonds and his former close adviser Dominic Cummings.

Each is considerable in their own right. Boris Johnson has defied all expectation to fight his way to the top in politics, to get Brexit done and then, despite his own severe illness, rallied the country to endure and overcome a pandemic unprecedented in modern times.

Ms Symonds, a person of strong convictions and political acumen, bravely gave evidence against sexual predator John Worboys and even more bravely waived her anonymity to argue against his early release.

Mr Cummings is largely responsible for the victory of the Brexit cause in the 2016 referendum, a genius of campaigning and a profound and wide-ranging thinker.

These people know very well that discipline is the first requirement of successful politics, if you wish to achieve anything.

Adult government is not like student union posturing. It cannot function without a large amount of self-restraint and willingness to listen to others.

At its highest levels, almost nobody ever gets exactly what he wants, and it is essential to be able to heed criticism.

Boris Johnson (left) has defied all expectation to fight his way to the top in politics, to get Brexit done and then, despite his own severe illness, rallied the country to endure and overcome a pandemic unprecedented in modern times. Ms Symonds (right) a person of strong convictions and political acumen, bravely gave evidence against sexual predator John Worboys and even more bravely waived her anonymity to argue against his early release

Even more importantly, such quarrels must take place in private if government is not to be undermined. The public does not want its government to look like a pavement brawl. It wants it to look serene, united and full of confidence. 

If brawling is what you want, then opposition is the place for you, and if you do too much of it, opposition is where you will end up.

There can be no leaks without leakers, and those leakers have to decide to act in this irresponsible way. They can equally well decide not to do so. Now more than ever, this country needs calm and unity at the top.

It would be a terrible waste of all the hard work of the past year to throw it away through self-indulgent squabbling. Only Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party would benefit from that.