Scientists: Providing Advice or Cover?

I must admit to being on the same page as Dr Richard Horton, editor of the journal Lancet,(https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/27/scientists-ministers-dominic-cummings-advisers-government-coronavirus), in seeing it as being very difficult for any self-respecting scientist to feel that the UK government has ever taken the science seriously. 'Following the Science' has been a mantra but it has been evident for sometime that the ruling  politicians a) tend to follow which bits of advice suit their preferences; b) use the scientists who appear on platforms with them, largely to hide their ignorance and c) will happily trash the advice when a member of their inner circle gets into difficulties. It must be very difficult for scientific advisers, who are employed to offer advice on the Covid-19 pandemic, when they run the danger of simply acting as human shields.
STOP PRESS It has since been reported that the British PM has prevented his 'top 2 scientific advisers' from commenting on whether his aide broke the lockdown rules (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/28/johnson-blocks-top-scientists-from-talking-about-cummings). He says that this is to protect them from intrusive questioning.