I have a friend who is not well. She had to spend lockdown away from her husband, who was working, being cared for by her parents.
She didn’t see her husband until restrictions were lifted, even though he was round the corner.
Another friend lost her husband. She’s had people at the end of a phone or video call, but not with her to help and hold her. We may all have watched the livestream of the funeral but we couldn’t be there to support her and pay tribute to her husband.
We’ll all know people who have made extraordinary sacrifices to keep to the rules, because it was the right thing to do.
Yet the person who helped write those rules pretty egregiously flouted them. And not only is he not sorry. He’s had a stream of government ministers backing him up. Straight out of the Trump playbook. If you’ve done something awful, just brazen it out.
The people who grabbed power by persuading people that anyone acting in their interest was some sort of elitist are now treating the same people with utter contempt.
Ed Davey has never been off the telly today, telling all the news outlets that Cummings should go and if he hasn’t gone by the morning then Boris Johnson would have to answer why.
Here he is doing various interviews as the story unfolded:
Acting Lib Dem leader Sir @EdwardJDavey says if allegations are true that the PM's most senior adviser Dominic Cummings broke lockdown rules "he should either resign or the prime minister should sack him".
More on this story here: https://t.co/TbwPUS1QuD pic.twitter.com/ND0HcGQiLS
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 23, 2020
https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1264115077633933312?s=20
#lockdown is in danger of unravelling if #Cummings isn’t gone within days @LibDems acting leader @EdwardJDavey tells me: https://t.co/DO4C0ICW6v
— Cathy Newman (@cathynewman) May 23, 2020
"I don't know know what No 10 is playing at but I'm afraid they've been found out it looks like to me."
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey told LBC he believes the government "covered up" Dominic Cummings' lockdown breach. https://t.co/c1JWd5jrQz
— LBC (@LBC) May 23, 2020
It is not easy being ill and having to look after your child. But everyone else just gets on with it. Especially if they have or have been exposed to a dangerous virus that could kill people. Are we seriously expected to believe that they put nobody at risk with their trip to Durham. As a friend of mine pointed out, their bladders must have been pretty robust if they made it from London to Durham without going to the toilet. Did they stop at a services and potentially put people at risk?
Even if the government succeeds in its plan to brazen this one out, it’s vital that the opposition gets this all on the record and doesn’t just stand back and let it happen. One of these days the Conservatives will have to be accountable. That time may not be now, but it will come.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
Follow @LibDemVoice on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Jago Hazzard on the complicated history of Turnham Green
Suitably inspired, I return to Suffolk
Investment, investment, investment.
Definitely a Lib Dem conference!
Ed Davey tries to name all the Lib Dem MPs while on a roller coaster
Fraser's West End ward surgeries later today #dundeewestend
What's next?
Simon R
Nigel Jones
Roland
Joe Bourke
Matt (Bristol)
65 Comments
Being (by now) a complete cynic, I wonder what we are not seeing/hearing because we are being distracted by the Cummings furore.
This is disgraceful arrogant behaviour and he has to go.
Families up and down the country have been asked over and over again to abide by the rules and reminded of our responsibilities to save lives and protect the NHS.
We have all sacrificed time with loved ones and the support of our nearest and dearest in our darkest times and to think that this idiot who thinks that the rules do not apply to him is sickening.
My Sister in law who was a Surgical Technician was moved to help with Corona Patients in ICU and has come down with Coronavirus herself, my brother and Nephew are also now infected, my Brother and nephew seem to be quite mild at the moment but my sister in law is up and down all over the place.
It really sickens me when there are people putting themselves in danger on the front line with this virus treating really sick people, The Government sets out rules for us all to obey to help protect others from infection, save lives and protect the NHS and yet there are so many in Government and it’s advisors who thinks the rules do not apply to them and think they can rewrite the rules after the event.
He needs to go now, he is not going to do the honourable thing and resign and Boris needs to get a handle on this and do the right thing and sack him, you can’t ask the people to make the sacrifices that they have made, only to throw it back in their faces with behaviour like this.
In the scheme of things this is a sideshow; but, and it’s a big BUT, the government’s failing at handling this pandemic hasn’t really dented Johnson’s approval rating…
However, in a nation obsessed by ‘personality tittle tattle’ this incident may have more effect on the government, and Johnson in particular, than the debacle over care homes and the rising death toll..
Sadly a read of the tabloids, and the comments, shows this to be true…
Not sure Cummings has done a lot wrong here. If I’ve got the story right his wife had some symptoms and they were worried about who would look after their child if they both fell ill. They decided to move up to their parents property where they could stay in isolation away from the rest of the family, but with some support nearby. Not sure this is going to win the Lib Dems any political points – I would have though Ed Davey had better things to spend is time on.
I’m pleased to hear Ed Davey press this business.
It looks increasingly likely Cummings will have to go. The Observer website reports tonight he was seen on a SECOND visit to Durham – a week after returning from his first. He was seen walking through Houghall bluebell woods in the grounds of the East Durham College two miles south of Durham City on Sunday 19 April. Significantly, it’s the lead story on the Telegraph website as well.
The old Houghall Colliery used to be there. It’s especially meaningful to me on a family basis. Great Granddad was a collier there. He died aged 27 from miners lung.
Today the pits are gone, but I still have family there. County Durham has been, and still is, hard hit by the virus. Durham University Teaching Hospital has been heroic. Last year they looked after my 93 year old father-in-law with huge kindness care and skill and they’re very much in my thoughts.
Thanks for sharing that, David. It reminds us that people having to work in very unhealthy places is nothing new. Just that nowadays we don’t think it should be happening.
@ Matt. So very sorry to hear this, Matt, and I know you have other things to cope with as well.
Whoops – what I meant to write (more cynically!) was to question the word “blitz”. Nevertheless to get any media at present is unusual and welcome! Surely the person who will be most distressed about all this is the PM, who is not well, recovering from a serious illness, with a very young child, just had to U-turn in a fairly humiliating way on foreign NHS staff paying NHS charges, and not in any need of huge media stress over Cummings. Yet if he sacks him, where is his cover in a Cabinet which is starting to look like a disorganised collection of mediocre self-seekers? And that man Gove on the prowl?
Let’s just be clear what Cummings did.
(1) He clearly broke the rules that were in force during the first part of the lockdown about travel. He broke the rules about isolating for 7 days a person who had clear Covid symptoms. He broke the rules about isolating for 14 days a household when someone in that household had clear Covid symptoms. He broke the rules that applied to everyone about not visiting another household during the lockdown.
(2) He was one of the main people who decided what the rules were going to be. That is what he does – when Johnson says something, it’s Cummings who has written it or approved it.
(3) It is widely thought that he had thought up the slogans. “Stay at Home – Save the NHS”.
(4) He hid the facts of where he was for that fortnight (he was asked lots of times by journalists and refused to say and his wife write about it and never said where they were).
And then it seems he went up to Durham again for leisure and social purposes. At a time when the government was still telling people to stay as local as possible for their exercise/recreation.
I would listen to the reasons from any ordinary family who did this. But Cummings is a man who helps to make the rules, who speaks to the media on behalf of the PM on the rules, who lays down what people have to do and not do. Rules that millions of people have done their best to keep to in spite of hardship and distress it has caused them. But such sacrifice is not for him. He is condemned not by the details but by the insulting arrogance of it all.
@David
Thank you David, with several family members working on the front-line in the NHS and in Care Homes I think it was just a matter of time before one of them came down with something, well that’s been the fear anyway, but then there are many families across the country going through the same thing and we all just have to stay strong and pull together,
My biggest fear right now is my parents have decided to go home next week for a trial to see how they get on. I am worried sick about it, as much as this has been a strain on everyone living under one roof again, I feel better having them here where I know they can be safe, leaving them to their own devices I know they will be tempted to do things they shouldn’t.
Mum is about to become a Great Great Grandmother for the first time in the next few weeks and is a first time we have had 5 generations in our family and I know the temptation is going to be there to see people she shouldn’t, I just hope others in my family have more sense but alas I also have our fair share of fools in my family who have also been breaching the social distancing rules.
@Malc (11.20 23rd May) check out Tony Greaves at 11.47 for the details of why what he did was wrong. And not just wrong once but wrong over and over again.
Cummings and his wife are both movers and shakers. They know lots of people. Were there seriously no people in London who would have helped look after their child?
They drove to Durham. Over 250 miles. No pitstops on the way? No loo breaks? Not even for the kid? Remember this was while they were ill. How many people will they have risked infecting at rest breaks?
And when they were in Durham they did not stay in the house self isolating – they want out, at least once to a place thirty miles away.
And remember they went there ostensibly so there was somebody else to look after the child, but they claim they isolated themselves from the rest of the family while they were there, so what was the point.
And then he’s been back to London, and then back to Durham again.
This is not one slightly dodgy journey, this is a whole history of rule breaking, rotten to the core. Ed is quite right to go after him.
@expats
I don’t think this is a sideshow at all.
It is damaging to the government.
But more importantly, Ed Davey is right. If Cummings stays after this, how will can we avoid lockdown unravelling. And if lockdown unravels, how will that affect the pandemic in the UK?
I did notice this blitz, couldn’t get away from it in fact. Very well done by Ed.
Cummings did what any sensible person would do & look after his family.
He didn’t leave home to be with his girl friend or was just bored & decided to take his family to a second home.
The police were aware of what he did & if it was wrong why no prosecution?
What Cummings did the first time wasnt lilegal, and guidance is just guidance, but as is nearly always the case – it’s the cover up (and arrogance) that’brings people down.
Mr Cummings takes pride in the fact that he doesn’t live by the rules, just like his boss. Sadly, ‘John O’ expresses how many people may react to the ‘news‘ that, by his actions, he was putting two fingers up to so called government guidelines (they can hardly be called instructions anymore, can they?). As Mr ‘O’ wrote, he was looking after his family. Didn’t a certain PM once say in an interview that there was no such thing as society, only “individual men and women and there are families”? She went on to say; ‘And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first”.
So, it’s OK then to think only of number one. That’s why, I guess, despite everything, so many people still vote conservative. (Mind you, have you seen the opposition recently?) After all, as the late Clive James wrote in his Observer column the Sunday after the 1979 GE, the victory of the Tories just proved that “greed has become patriotic”. I guess it still is.
I’ve just checked that Clive James quote. He actually started that Sunday’s column with the words; “Now that the incoming Tory Government has made greed patriotic…” – rather an unusual start from someone, who was supposed to be a TV Critic, but good on him, I say. He is sadly missed, as is, for me, at least, that regular guest on his TV show, the keyboard playing singer and English mangler, the delightful Margarita Pracatan.
I am shocked at the lack of compassion shown to Mr Cummings and his family. He apparently became seriously ill while in isolation in Durham and seems to have had the foresight to do what many people would have done under the circumstances to protect a vulnerable child. The witch hunt from the Labour press such as the Guardian and the Labour Party is not surprising but where are the old Liberal values of fairness, tolerance and individual rights? The rules were ambiguous at best and alas it is a sign of the times that even Lib Dem politicians jump on the social media bandwagon and bay for blood even before all the facts are known. Alas, it seems we have become a party just as intolerant as the rest.
George Kendall 24th May ’20 – 12:23am………….@expats, I don’t think this is a sideshow at all…It is damaging to the government……………………
The two are not mutually exclusive..However, in any ‘rational’ society there would be far, far more outrage over this government’s criminal mishandling oy the crisis. Having 40,000+ deaths, the testing, PPE and care home debacle should have stripped this government of any credibility; but it hasn’t..
The fact that one of the ‘in crowd’ didn’t think rules applied to them rivals ‘Bears’ toilet habits’ in uniqueness..
I hope this incident damages the government but let’s not pretend it’s more important than even one death and a bereaved family..
Tory MP Steve Baker was on BBC1 before 9.00 saying that Dominic Cummings should resign. This was twice interrupted by Sky News ‘phoning him asking for an interview.
Boris Al Johnson will face the Liaison Committee on Wednesday.
Pippa Crerear is on the Andrew Marr Show at 09.00
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=u%2fvzKJ0x&id=59857CCAF7F0A1FC1D2BAA45656080B6D006F0F9&thid=OIP.u_vzKJ0xY-GLH0QRXykt3wAAAA&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fwww.pressgazette.co.uk%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2018%2f10%2fPippa-Crerar-L-121f0b1bc358ce552cc67a5ddcc16c8424f4b3a6-e1539184653759.png&exph=280&expw=374&q=pippa+crearer&simid=608003361247989160&selectedIndex=0&ajaxhist=0
Tony Greaves 23rd May ’20 – 11:47pm
3) It is widely thought that he had thought up the slogans. “Stay at Home – Save the NHS”.
Steve Baker MP confirmed this.
@Mark Humble
You are certainly living up to your surname. If Cummings was so ill, how come he was also seen out and about while up north and might even allegedly made a quick return trip to a London? No, given the damage that Mr Cummings, and his other unelected mate, Matthew Elliott, have done over the years, depending on which side you’re on, of course, it’s pretty obvious that many of us, who have been largely doing as we have been told, are going to latch on to any possible misdemeanour on his account.
It’s not about a Westminster psycho drama, it’s about ‘do as I say; not do as I do’. So, if my outdoor antics were questioned by the police, all I need to say is; “Well, I’m just doing what Dominic Cummings did”. As they say; “Those, who live by the sword….”
Tony Greaves
“And then it seems he went up to Durham again for leisure and social purposes. At a time when the government was still telling people to stay as local as possible for their exercise/recreation.”
It would appear those allegations are untrue:
Responding to the allegations, a No 10 spokeswoman said: “Yesterday the Mirror and Guardian wrote inaccurate stories about Mr Cummings.
“Today they are writing more inaccurate stories including claims that Mr Cummings returned to Durham after returning to work in Downing Street on 14 April.
“We will not waste our time answering a stream of false allegations about Mr Cummings from campaigning newspapers.”
What did Cummings actually do?
1. Troubled by his wife’s illness and the prospect of him too becoming seriously ill, and for the well-being of his four year old child he drove 260 miles to live (not with!), but close to his parents for potential backup help in the likelihood that their illness took a turn for the worse.
2. Whilst in Durham, he and his wife drove a further 30 miles from the family home to have a woodland walk amongst the general public. I’ts not clear if the child was with them, but if not it begs the question who they had looking after the child with consequences of potential Covid contamination.
3. After their period of self isolating in Durham, now clear of virus, the family drove back to London instead of staying put in Durham.
4. Cummings did a second round trip to Durham in recent weeks. It isn’t clear if he went alone, whether he stayed and what the purpose was for that second 260 mile trip.
If only 1. is true I can have sympathy with that decision for the protection of their child, and Cummings would have some credibility in staying in his job.
However, if 2… 3.. and 4. prove to be true he must go from his position.
Cummings is a very arrogant man, but arrogance is not of itself a threat. However if he did (2. 3. 4.), and is allowed to get away with it he will be emboldened making him both arrogant and dangerous. A dog that bites and suffers no consequences, is a dog that will bite again.
So it’s admitted Cummings drove a return trip to Durham once, and is accused of doing it twice. Given it’s admitted that his wife had Covid, and he had symptoms and was about to get it, did he never consider he was putting his children and other road users at risk because of his own physical capacity to drive ?
And, given many older men in the Durham area are retired miners with lung conditions did he not consider he was putting the University of North Durham Hospital in Durham City at additional risk as well as impacting on other people’s lives ?
Se…… The Medical Research Council Pneumoconiosis Research …academic.oup.com › occmed › article-pdf Their brief was to ‘investigate the incidence and characteristics of … Correspondence to: Dr J. E. Cotes, 9 Almoners Bam, Durham, DH1 3TZ,.
You’d think a Spad would know this… unless they just don’t care. ‘Stay alert’ for yourself and ‘Stay at home’ for the rest of us.
See also : Pneumoconiosis – Washington, Co. Durham http://www.raggyspelk.co.uk › selections10 › pneumoconiosis
In some cases, the inflammation is severe enough to cause scar tissue to form. The damaging effects of the inhaled coal dust may not show up for many years, and ……….
Cummings and Ferguson don’t really believe in the great lockdown. They’re laughing at you. That is why they ignore their own suggestions. There are probably loads more like them in positions of power, all sniggering as they tell you where to stand, who you can visit and what they will allow you to do.
@ Glenn Some people are more responsible than that.
Durham Miners Gala – CANCELLED – This is Durhamwww.thisisdurham.com › whats-on › durham-miners-g…
The annual Durham Miners’ Gala is a unique and inspiring spectacle. … A wonderful #lockdown2020 video from Durham Miners’ Association Brass Band …
@malc:
“It would appear those allegations are untrue:”
See this from a Private Eye journalist:
https://twitter.com/adam_macqueen/status/1264310655110258689
Paul Walter
Fair point, but it does seem to rule out that Cummings made a second trip to Durham. For me the it’s mainly a none story. However, if the Cummings family made any stops on their way up to Durham (loo breaks, coffee breaks etc) and put the public at risk that would be different.
This clip from the Guardian nicely sums up what rules have been broken:
Malc:
Seriously, who belives anything that number 10 spokespeople say these days, I am surprised you do.
theakes
Whoever the political party are if they are specific – as the government are about the second journey – I will believe them until it is proven false.
It looks to me as though this issue and particularly the responses from the heart of government may spell the end to a tacit truce during which opposition parties have been restrained in their criticism of the government.
If not, it should be.
” We will not bother answering a stream of false allegations from campaigning newspapers” ? But quite happy to use our own Tory supporting media to promote our own propaganda though???
Shapps was on Marr (who did a good job at trying to pin Shapps down); avoidance of giving any straight answers was the least of it but he, as with the rest of this cabinet, won’t give a damn..
Anyone who could defend saying yesterday, “Durham police didn’t contact the family” by saying this morning, “It was Cummings’s father who first contacted the police” is so without moral compass that nothing will embarass them.
Without photographic evidence of stops, extra trips, etc. the government will brazen it out until it ‘dies a death’..
Two or three weeks ago, during one of these beautifully sunny weekends, my brother and his wife, who live in County Durham, came across a group of young men sunbathing and apparently preparing a camp-fire or barbecue to cook food. They did not appear to be members of the same household. If DC was gallivanting about in the vicinity, it’s hardly likely that these youngsters felt free to do as they liked.
Malc
I’d be interested to know if you believed this government when they said there would be no border in the Irish Sea.
With this government it will save you a lot of time if you believe them to be lying until it’s proved they’re telling the truth.
Just on the Politics, the latest Polling, done before this story broke, shows a steady decline in Johnsons approval ratings & a steady rise in Starmers. It seems that Political “Normality” is already returning.
Paul Barker has just commented on the rise in Keir Starmer’s approval ratings in the polls. As nobody else has mentioned it yet, can I draw people’s attention to Starmer’s statement reported in yesterday’s Daily Mail that he is strongly opposed to Britain rejoining the EU, a complete rejection of his stance pre the General Election This could be quite significant in terms of its effect on some Lib Dem voters who might have thought he was going to become a possible alternative for them to back
To pick up Rob Parson’s point, the government have now pretty much admitted they lied over the matter of the sea border between N. Ireland and the rest of the UK and yet no one, not the media, not us, seems to be giving them a hard time over this. We have moved on to this Cummings business instead. Mistake. We (and the BBC if they can grow a pair) should be showing clips of Gove and Johnson saying “no hard border, no sea border” on a loop.
Paul Walter
You cite Susan Miche.
From Wikipedia: Michie has served as a national executive committee member and president of the London Region of the trade union MSF. She is a member of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB), but has donated to the Labour Party[5] under the Corbyn leadership. In March 2018, Michie, described as a leading member of the CPB, said that the party would no longer stand against Labour in general elections and CPB members should be “working full tilt” for the election of Corbyn as prime minister.[6][7]
Hardly a trustworthy source. Dominic Cummings may be a nasty piece of work but let’s not join the left-wing lynch mob
Rob Parsons
There is a difference. Saying that “there would be no border in the Irish Sea” was a political promise that wasn’t kept – or lie if you prefer. Now every political party has a history of saying things that aren’t possible just to win votes. Whether Cummings made a second journey or not is just black or white. If the media and others think the government or Cummings lied about that second journey, they must provide the evidence.
Jane Ann Liston
How would anyone know without asking? They could have been students living in a shared house, or flat mates or from a hostel. It is not uncommon for people to spread the cost of renting by sharing a property.
Ray Atkins – the Daily Mail is as honest and trustworthy a source of accurate information as a Conservative Party spokesperson. The Daily Fail has an agenda, and it certainly isn’t in favour of either the EU or Keir Starmer. Surely you knew that?
I remember a longer afternoon at a Lib dem event. A member of Mrs Thatcher’s cabinet had made an undiplomatic event about Germans, which was totally unworthy at the time, and would be now. We waited patiently for the PM to “hand him a silver-plated revolver”. which she eventually did. We did not mourn his passing.
We did not hear the classic that “friends of ” had made supportive comments.
In the case of Dominic Cummings it seems unlikely that there will be many “friends” rallying to his support. Those who do, such as on the Andrew Marr Show, today 24/5/2020, are presumably acting under instruction from the conservative whips office.
There are reportedly eight elected Tory MPs who think the opposite and are willing to say so on the record. Steve Baker MP did so on BBC1 today, just before 9 o’clock. His portable ‘phone rang twice from Sky, presumably watching BBC tv for news.
An interview in Downing Street lasting more than four hours is unlikely to be a resignation, nor is a dismissal usually organised at Downing Street, an office in the House of Commons is more usual. It therefore seems likely that Boris Al Johnson and Cummings have disagreed. Boris has decided to take the daily press conference today and has not, so far, decided to inform the world’s media about what they most want to know.
Robert Peston (ITV) asked the obvious question and also asked about the date for opening schools.
Gary Gibbon (Channel 4) drew a distinction between rules and instincts. Boris waffled and is accepting Cummings’ story.
Ian Watson (BBC) asked about Conservative MPs and one specific of fact. Boris waffled but has accepted Cummings’ version of the story.
Boris said that the rules remain unchanged. The Scotsman asked how can this be? Boris continue to waffle, in a way familiar to those who remember his performances as Mayor of Greater London.
He was also asked about a disciplinary case in Scotland which was decided by the First Minister.
We need to know who is telling the truth?
It is obvious that Boris does not need a haircut and is not ruffling his hair as he so often does.
A few years back I served on an appeals panel for the Association of British Travel Agents, to consider breaches of the trade association rules and regulations against travel agent and tour operator members of ABTA There were three of us on the panel. Along with myself there was a retired judge and former Royal Navy rear-admiral. The experience taught me the importance of weighing the evidence and not rushing to judgment until we were sure of the facts. The judge certainly went to some lengths to do so in considering the appropriate penalty, if any; the rear-admiral seemed to put more weight on the need for maintaining discipline and cracking down hard on offenders.
There is a, perhaps surprisingly, balanced article on ConservativeHome on the Cummings affair https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2020/05/at-a-stroke-the-cummings-row-has-weakened-the-authority-of-the-lockdown.html that is worth reading.
Ultimately, however, in the arena of politics, I think I have to agree with John Marriott on this “Those, who live by the sword….” and Ed Davey has every right to call the government out on this.
@Paul Walter – Paul, I don’t suppose that Susan Michie, a member of the Communist Party for 40 years, then a Corbyn supporter and Labour Donor, had any political motive for criticising Cummings?
Gary J and Peter
Oh come on! She’s a professor and a member of Sage. And can you actually fault anything she says?
Let’s not forget that when Boris Johnson left hospital he didn’t go back to his place of residence which would have been the lockdown rules at the time. He went on a three week country break with his girlfriend to Chequers. I have wondered ever since who else, perhaps on the quiet, might have got to tag along?
Paul, “She’s a professor and a member of Sage. And can you actually fault anything she says?”
That really must be a question asked in jest.
Dear Sir
As a constituent I am writing to express my disgust at the Tory party backing of Dominic Cummings behaviour in lockdown this government now has zero credibility and their lockdown is broken ,
I expect you to bring pressure to bear please for the rest of us who have been doing the right thing
Thank you
Kind Regards
Virginia Grose
Elmbridge Avenue Surbiton
Peter,
it’s a free country and being a card-carrying member of the Communist party is as legitimate as any other political affiliation (just don’t try to apply for US Citizenship). In the 1970s, I think it was virtually mandatory for economics professors at the LSE to have solid Marxist credentials.
They should no longer be called the Conservatives. Nor should we call them the Tories. They are now the Covid Party.
Well well, it was twelve months ago today Theresa May announced her resignation. At the time I thought she was one of the worst Prime Ministers in my lifetime.
But, hey, now we have the bumbling stumbling BoJo.
I wondered how long before the politics/family ties of those criticising Cumming’s actions would be quoted as disqualifying their opinion…
I didn’t have long to wait
@ Joe B, @ Peter,
“She (Susan Michie) is a member of the Communist Party of Britain………”
If so, she’s probably got less reason to hate Dominic Cumming’s guts than the Lib Dems. It’s not really a question of left and right. Dominic Cummings is loathed by remainers because of his role in the Leave campaign. The CP are, of course also to a greater or lesser extent, eurosceptic too. It’s been suggested to me more than once by supposedly Labour comrades that I’m in the wrong party and I should go off and join them too! I usually have a two word answer to that!
My own view is that Dominic Cummings, as the facts are known at the moment, hasn’t been open and honest and should resign. I suspect, though, that he actually cleared his trip with BJ. If so then BJ does have an excuse because he was ill and wasn’t thinking straight at the time and that will give DC some excuse too. All this should be fully explained so we can make an informed judgement. But if it turns out he was up and down the M1 more than once he definitely will have to go.
Yeovil Yokel The Daily Mail article on Starmer turning his back on the EU were actually a report on an interivew which Starmer himself had given to the Daily Telegraph.
Starmer was reorted as saying: ”We’ve left the EU, and therefore, the Leave/Remain argument is over and the only argument now is what sort of a deal we have with the EU and what sort of deals we have with the rest of the world,’ he said.
‘It’s very important for the Labour Party to be clear that whatever position we and others may have taken in the last three and a half, four years, that divide between Leave and Remain is now over.’
Pressed on whether he will try to take the UK back into the bloc if he wins the next general election, scheduled for 2024, he said: ‘I don’t think there’s a case for rejoining the EU and I’m certainly not making that case.’,
@ Ray Atkins,
“…he (Keir Starmer) is strongly opposed to Britain rejoining the EU, a complete rejection of his stance pre the General Election”
I don’t follow this. We hadn’t actually left the EU pre the General Election so he can’t have had a stance on rejoining.
There was a better case for being an EU member when we didn’t have to sign up for the euro, be a part of Schengen, and we still had our opt outs. There’s not much of a case at all for rejoining on the terms we’ll likely be offered. That is if we’re offered any at all!
peter
‘@Paul Walter – Paul, I don’t suppose that Susan Michie, a member of the Communist Party for 40 years, then a Corbyn supporter and Labour Donor, had any political motive for criticising Cummings?’
Guaranteed to be impartial,just like the nurse at Southend hospital complaining about lack of PPE (where management proved their was no shortage), just happened to be a Labour activist.
24th May ’20 – 5:39pm
“Sources” are saying that “Dominic Cummings will resign in 6 months time”.
Not a moment too soon. Awaiting this event, if it happens as forecast.
Whatever the Cummings and goings the credibility of the current PM is adversely affected. Opinion poll data are awaited. If he visits a professionally qualified optician we should be told.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bc/Film_Poster_for_I_Never_Promised_You_a_Rose_Garden.jpg
Richard Underhill 29th May ’20 – 8:45am…“Sources” are saying that “Dominic Cummings will resign in 6 months time”….
Now there’s a surprise. It’s just another way of getting us to ‘move on’ ; after all, why continue making a ‘fuss’ if he’ll leave anyway in a few months?
When you read it on the front page of the Mail it’s always worth wondering why?..
expats 29th May ’20 – 9:55am
Please see short career history on Wikipedia. Pensionable?
One child under five at the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Cummings
It seems that the blitz is over. No sir Ed for a week.We have to make this constant. Still a good day nevertheless to remind people we still exist.