As a person, Simon Harris

What has been very much evident is that regardless of the occasion, front and centre on the media, or in a piece for kids that probably didn't get shown outside of the kids channel, Simon Harris comes across as being on top of the information, with or without a tele prompt in front of him. No "um", "er" "you know" or thinking space, he is very capable of thinking on his feet and doing so very well, and it has distinguished him from many politicians both here and abroad.

Every interview I have seen him give in recent weeks has been clear, usually informative and understandable, and those are qualities where he has been visibly and massively different in the right sense when compared with a whole range of people, across a number of countries.

Yes, early on, in common with a lot of other countries, mistakes were made, but bigger mistakes were being made by other places, and have been made since, even with even more evidence from the preceding countries.

Right now, we seem, and there's a way to go yet, to be getting a better level of control than most other countries have been able to, and some of that is very much down to the clear direction and leadership that has been shown by the front line team, of which Simon Harris is one.

In some respects, I hope he can be left in place for some time to come so that the massive issues that still have to be addressed can be dealt with by someone who has been through the worst of this emergency, and come out of it looking a lot better than many of his counterparts in other countries.