Learning From Crises Like COVID-19 at Multiple Speeds of Relevance

Speaker(s):

Lord Gus O’Donnell and Sir Lawrence Freedman

Date of Event:

May 28, 2021

Associated SMA Project

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Speaker(s): O’Donnell, G. (UK Cabinet Secretary 2005-2011, the UK’s highest Official and Head of the Civil Service); Freedman, L. (King’s College London)

Date: 25 May 2021

Speaker Session Summary

SMA hosted a panel discussion with Lord Gus O’Donnell (UK Cabinet Secretary 2005-2011, the UK’s highest Official and Head of the Civil Service) and Sir Lawrence Freedman (King’s College London) as a part of its SMA UK MoD Speaker Series.

Lord O’Donnell began the discussion by recalling several moments when the UK’s government was forced to react to a national or international crisis. These events were Desert Storm (1991), Black Wednesday (1992), the Global Financial Crisis (2008), and the COVID-19 pandemic (2020). One characteristic that these events had in common, excluding Desert Storm, was that there was no contingency plan in place when the crisis began. The lack of a contingency plan by the government was either a result of the event occurring too quickly or, as in the case of Brexit, the government did not want to influence how the public voted in a referendum. Lord O’Donnell emphasized that even if a government does not have a contingency plan, it is still important for that government to gather data and react quickly to events. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it first broke out, the UK government was working on a contingency plan for a flu virus. COVID-19 is not a flu, however, so the government was left with only a partial contingency plan. The COVID-19 pandemic also demonstrated how dealing with a global pandemic is not solely a medical issue but a societal issue. When addressing how to best counter a pandemic, it will take input from the whole of society, which includes educators, medical personnel, politicians, and communicators, Lord O’Donnell argued.

Sir Lawrence focused on the lessons learned throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He emphasized that when addressing a global pandemic like COVID-19, the agenda set while studying it is important and should include a plan to learn from the experience in real time. One should also recognize that occasionally, scientists panic and can be alarmists. Furthermore, countries that were the last to be affected by the pandemic had to use the countries that were initially affected as examples. This caused democratic countries to use autocratic countries, like China, whose pandemic experience was quite different, as examples to combat the spread of COVID-19. Sir Lawrence did emphasize that the UK did have several success stories coming out of the pandemic, however. These successes include its vaccination program, which was run by its central health service.

Note: We are aware that many government IT providers have blocked access to YouTube from government machines during the pandemic in response to bandwidth limitations. We recommend viewing the recording on YouTube from a non-government computer or listening to the audio file (below), if you are in this position.

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Lord Gus O’Donnell

Member, House of Lords

Lord Gus O'Donnell has extensive experience of learning and adapting within Government during crises. He served Prime Ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, and David Cameron as Cabinet Secretary and Head of Civil Service from 2005 to 2011. He stood down from this position at the end of 2011 and was appointed to the House of Lords in January 2012.

He played a leading role in the preparations for the 2010 election, which eventually resulted in the formation of the UK's first coalition government since the Second World War. He was awarded the CB, KCB, and GCB for his services to government.

Prior to his role as Cabinet Secretary, Lord O'Donnell served as Permanent Secretary of the UK Treasury from 2002–2005 and as Press Secretary to Prime Minister John Major from 1990–1994. From 1997–1998, he was the UK Executive Director on the boards of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Lord O'Donnell spent most of his career with HM Treasury. In 1999, he was appointed Managing Director of Macroeconomic Policy and International Finance and was responsible for fiscal policy, international development, and European Union Economic and Monetary Union. During this period, he oversaw the production of the "five tests" analysis for whether the UK should join the Euro.

He studied Economics at Warwick University and then Nuffield College, Oxford, before lecturing in political economy at the University of Glasgow. He has honorary doctorates from Warwick and Glasgow Universities.

Sir Lawrence Freedman

Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King’s College London

Sir Lawrence Freedman has been asked by Government to look back on events such as the entry into the Iraq War.

He is Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King's College London. He was Professor of War Studies from 1982 to 2014 and Vice-Principal from 2003 to 2013. He was educated at Whitley Bay Grammar School and the Universities of Manchester, York, and Oxford. Before joining King's, he held research appointments at Nuffield College Oxford, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the Royal Institute of International Affairs.

Elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1995 and awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 1996, he was appointed Official Historian of the Falklands Campaign in 1997. In 2003, he was awarded the KCMG (Knight Commander of St Michael and St George). In June 2009, he was appointed to serve as a member of the official inquiry into Britain and the 2003 Iraq War.

He has written on international history, strategic theory, and nuclear weapons issues, as well as commenting on current security issues.

Among his recent books are: