"Far better (for the elites) to have the populations asking for more state and police powers then them being imposed from above"
Perhaps it might be better from their perspective if that was their objective but I remain unconvinced that this was either "the plan" or indeed the case. The Welsh and Scottish governments who had been following Westminster's supposed lead even announced a lockdown before Boris whose agenda prior to the U-turn was as he put it in his schoolboy bravado: that we could : "take it on the chin" without "...draconian measures". -If I skim over a suggestion of "reverse psychology" & a secret subtle "government conspiracy for state and police powers" apparently involving the state, the press, the health authorities, the Welsh Government and the Scottish one, then I'm merely doing you a polite favour.
"people got frightened by those incessant news articles and headlines, demanded a lockdown (ably helped along by much of the media), then bowed to authority."
No...they got informed, took precautions and pressed the government to change its stance. Otherwise I've commented on the notion of this goal changing authority twice already.