Lord Sumption is a very clever man – indeed he has been called the “cleverest man in England,” and he is , I suspect, aware of it.  Nobody, however, is infallible; and one problem with very clever people is that on the rare occasions when they are wrong, they tend to be very wrong.

In an article for The Guardian Lord Sumption argues fervently against the national lock down that began this morning.  It will, he says, achieve nothing save frustration, misery and worse. People will be incarcerated for no purpose, and when it is lifted, the virus will accelerate. He may be right.

Or he may not. It is, unquestionably, true that the cost of lockdown, both economically and psychologically is  severe and long lasting; it is also true that it is the elderly and infirm, a reasonably identifiable cohort, who are most at risk.  Further he may well be correct in imagining that, in all probability,  the four weeks “gained” will be frittered away. Certainly the government has demonstrated itself quite incapable of creating and administering an effective track and trace regime – partly because it will insist on allocating contracts to Brexit supporting chums who lack intelligence, experience and integrity, but that’s another story.

Nevertheless, Lord Sumption’s  suggestion that the appropriate response to the virus is simply to lock away the most vulnerable and leave others to fend for themselves is wrong, for a number of reasons. First, without an effective testing system, which we do not have,  it is not possible to identify many of those carrying the virus.  An apparently healthy person could well turn out to be a carrier who transmits the virus into the care homes in which his Lordship would have the vulnerable concentrated: result carnage.  Second, it is not the case that the old die and the young recover: would that it were so simple.  We should all follow the medical guidance and wear masks, wash hands regularly and so on, but some don’t. That may be their choice, but it might not be them that pays the price.   Third, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that the time gained could be used productively: four weeks closer to production of a vaccine, a decent track and trace system; or simply four weeks further through a cold wet winter in which the health service is traditionally under greatest pressure.

Lord Sumption is a lawyer. And as a lawyer he is absolutely right to point out the terrible infringement of freedoms that lockdown entails, he is right to say that government by lockdown should be a last resort, entered into only under the explicit supervision of Parliament.  The legal principle of freedom of the individual is indeed vitally important, and we should remain alive to it