The answer was not really an answer and did not help me so I kept experamenting and happened on a solution which may or may not help but here it is.
I simply held down the power and home buttons at the same time until the apple appeared on the screen and then released the buttons. It appeared not to do anything but since restarts are typically slow I waited about 2 minutes and then pressed only the power button. About 30 seconds later the apple reappeared, the gear started turning and the system reloaded. My iPhone 5 now appears to be working properly as the swipe to unlock and all other buttons a once again working. Hope this helps someone. Bill