How could Johnson scrap PHE in the midst of a pandemic?

In the rollercoaster world of the Covid pandemic, there have already been enough twists and (U) turns from our leaders at Westminster to put everyone’s minds in a spin.

But the latest development, if reports are accurate, is up there with the most extraordinary of all.

Three weeks to the day since Boris Johnson announced his much-anticipated war on obesity, Public Health England, the body charged with delivering it, is reportedly set to be scrapped and replaced by a new organisation designed to protect the UK from current and future pandemics.

Not only that, but the shake-up will see PHE’s role taken on by Baroness Dido Harding and her crew, fresh from the oh so successful NHS test and trace scheme, reports the Sunday Telegraph.

Speaking as someone who is not exactly PHE’s biggest fan, it nevertheless seems remarkable to pull the rug from under its feet with the coronavirus crisis still in full swing.

Little wonder some are accusing the government of using the body as a scapegoat for its botched handling of events, with Boris Johnson already having expressed exasperation at the organisation’s “sluggish response”.

More news is expected from health secretary Matt Hancock tomorrow. But if the leaks are true – that the war on obesity will be handed over to cash-strapped local councils and overworked GPs – and the former TalkTalk boss is calling the shots, things don’t bode well for a successful outcome.

All of this, of course, is not to suggest PHE has been a barnstorming success since it was formed in 2013. There have been rumours for a while its days may be numbered. Whilst it likes to claim credit for the sugar tax, that actually had more to do with Jamie Oliver and George Osborne. The body’s flagship reformulation policy is in a mess, not helped by Covid or Brexit, with companies overwhelmed by red tape and the policy undermined by a lack of government commitment.

PHE’s experts have tried to take on far too many health issues affecting the food industry all at once, from the war on sugar, calories and salt to banning HFSS promotions. It has predictably become mired in a swamp of bureaucracy which has made its targets on reformulation become something of a joke.

There is also no question that PHE floundered amid the coronavirus lockdown, where for example it was desperately slow to provide companies with advice on safe working and PPE – although, again, not helped by lack of leadership from politicians.

Still, as we face the prospect of trying to mirror Germany’s super-efficient Robert Koch Institute – which seems about as likely as a trace and test app that actually works appearing any time soon – at least PHE can go out with its legacy assured, thanks to today’s other big news.

In a development sure to send Oliver himself into meltdown, Bernard Matthews is resurrecting its infamous Turkey Twizzlers, with a reformulated recipe all set to get the nation, to quote the PM, as fit as a butcher’s dog.

Now, even by Johnson’s standards, that really is a twist.