Introduction

I have spent more time wondering about how to start this chapter on ‘governing’ during the pandemic than actually writing it. Perhaps it could start with the almost daily shock felt in reading headlines and tweets linking Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) contracts and key personnel with the ruling party. Or we might start with the shift in the way of legislating which, on analyses from both the left and the right, has undermined the rule of law and the accountability of the Executive. What was said – rhetorically – about the ‘elected dictatorship’ or the ‘new despotism’ has given way to fresh realizations about its existence; perhaps the question is not, ‘who governs Britain?’, but how is Britain governed? Legislation, and secondary legislation, have combined with other forms of what Robert Megarry termed (in 1944) ‘administrative quasi-legislation’; or, government by media briefing; or, in 240 characters, by tweet, exemplified by a tweet by Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government telling us that he was stopping evictions.

Another way to start this chapter might have been with a recognition of how things have changed over time. Since the invention of the Code of Guidance by the promulgation of the Highway Code, and successive forms of government by guidance, practice, circular, or letter (all of which seem rather quaint now), governments have used these forms as obtaining selfgovernment by consent. As Ganz suggested (1987: 98), it is an empirical question whether government by consent in this way is effective. However, the point made in this chapter is that the how of governance has moved on in non-uniform ways, generally outside the Parliamentary gaze, and outside circuits of accountability.

To be sure, the impenetrable system of social security rules in this country have been toughened in the pages of statutory and secondary legislation, which has, at least, been subject to limited Parliamentary oversight. However, it is when we drill down into our specialist fields that the method of governing becomes more opaque. I will use the specific example of the methods and mechanisms of governing residential security during the pandemic. By residential security, I am referring to something as basic as being able to stay in our homes; and, of course, during the pandemic that basic human need has become even more significant.