It was good while it lasted: politics is at the heart of public health but are we willing to engage?

This paper, written to mark the 50th anniversary of the Faculty of Public Health, reflects on the challenges to governance in a United Kingdom outside the European Union. Drawing on Virchow's call to address the political determinants of health, it describes a situation in which the current government consistently displays disregard for the institutions of state, and the principles on which they are based, such as honesty and the rule of law. It argues that this is a departure from the past and that it undermines the trust that is essential for effective public health policies that attract public support. It ends with a challenge to the public health establishment in the United Kingdom to decide whether they will challenge the decline in public standards, and thus promote structures that can consider and prioritize health or continue to pick up the pieces of political failings.