Either Cummings goes soon, or BJ goes within months. The only time I can remember feeling such a deep sense of utter rage is when I heard about the News of the World tapping Milly Dowler's phone. And we know what happened to the News of the World. You can't cross a line with the British public like Cummings has and expect to survive. This isn't party politics or Leave Vs Remain. This is crossing a fundamental line of decent behaviour. Incredible they can't see this.
Were you around on PB for the the months and months of outrage about the noble News of the World being destroyed by the forces of lefty darkness? It was an..er..classic.
"Johnson would not recognise truth, whether about his private or political life, if confronted by it in an identity parade."
"Almost the only people who think Johnson a nice guy are those who do not know him."
"If the opposition was led by anybody else [but Corbyn], the Tories would be deservedly doomed, because we would all vote for it. As it is, the Johnson premiership could survive for three or four years, shambling from one embarrassment and debacle to another, of which Brexit may prove the least".
"We can scarcely strip the emperor’s clothes from a man who has built a career, or at least a lurid love life, out of strutting without them... I have a hunch that Johnson will come to regret securing the prize for which he has struggled so long, because the experience of the premiership will lay bare his absolute unfitness for it."
"Blame will rest with the Conservative party, which is about to foist a tasteless joke upon the British people – who will not find it funny for long."
Today, I suspect, is the day the laughter stopped.
Overtaking Italy on the test count for the first time I think. Germany and Spain next (they're doing 50k/60k/75k per day respectively, so it was only a matter of time).
Moving on from Cummings, the next battle looks to be over schools re-opening. With councils of all political stripe, ranging from Surrey to Liverpool, warning about the risks of re-opening, Boris has thrown this grenade into the room as a clear attempt to divert public opinion.
He will no doubt gamble the decision to re-open schools will be widely supported but support may not translate into action and it remains to be seen how schools will re-open and how many parents will choose to keep their children at home and what will happen to those who do.
The politics is quite simple - the Government, once again, is trying to line up against the "Establishment" in support of "ordinary hard working families" and allied with those desperate to end the lockdown.
The other side will have local councils, Labour and the teachers' unions and this group will be vilified as "establishment" by the pro-Government media and their supporters. The Mail will be torn between supporting the Government and supporting the "ordinary hard working families" and will take the line it's best for the children to be able to see their friends again.
Boris is undoubtedly hoping this media war will play much better for him but he always wants to be on the right side of public opinion as often as possible or to let someone else take the blame if he is not.
Either Cummings goes soon, or BJ goes within months. The only time I can remember feeling such a deep sense of utter rage is when I heard about the News of the World tapping Milly Dowler's phone. And we know what happened to the News of the World. You can't cross a line with the British public like Cummings has and expect to survive. This isn't party politics or Leave Vs Remain. This is crossing a fundamental line of decent behaviour. Incredible they can't see this.
Were you around on PB for the the months and months of outrage about the noble News of the World being destroyed by the forces of lefty darkness? It was an..er..classic.
As part of a complete failure of Coronavirus strategy, can't see how this doesn't hurt the Government. The biggest pandemic of our lifetimes and many suspect it has no impact on the Government at all?
Either Cummings goes soon, or BJ goes within months. The only time I can remember feeling such a deep sense of utter rage is when I heard about the News of the World tapping Milly Dowler's phone. And we know what happened to the News of the World. You can't cross a line with the British public like Cummings has and expect to survive. This isn't party politics or Leave Vs Remain. This is crossing a fundamental line of decent behaviour. Incredible they can't see this.
I was much angrier listening to File on 4 this evening. Which confirmed pretty well everything we’ve ben saying about the government treatment of care homes over the last two or three months.
So will Starmer publish the internal investigation into Stephen Kinnock? Or Tahir Ali?
I have said all along that the agenda throughout this whole campaign against the government is Brexit, and trying to bring the government down before the end of June so whoever replaces them extends the transition period.
What really pisses me off is that the government is doing all they can to help them
What on earth has any of this to do with Brexit?
You need to get out more! Oh you can't...unless you are Dominic Cummings.
Well, this is Boris’s Black Monday. It’s not quite over yet: Starmer will take Boris’s stance apart at the next PMQs. Tory MPs will begin to make noises about grey suits and letter and Cummings will be gone in a week or two.
But it won’t be enough. The only difference between John Major’s post-Black Monday lame duck administration and Boris Johnson’s post-Coronavirus will be a quarter of a century.
Enjoy the next four years PB Tories. Another decade or two of Labour government begins in May 2024.
I doubt it, Starmer might be better than Ed Miliband and Corbyn but he is still polling far lower than Blair was pre 1997 and even John Smith was pre Black Wednesday.
If he gets in it will likely be with the LDs and SNP, not a 1997 style Labour landslide
Starmer's only been in for a few weeks.....
John Smith and Tony Blair had clear poll leads within weeks of becoming leaders of the Labour Party
So will Starmer after today!
He won't, the Tories still had a 12% lead yesterday and Yougov had slightly more Tories saying Cummings should not resign than he should
HYUFD - you are aware that this poll was of opinion on the 21st-22nd of May? That is - before all this hit the news?
This is largely a media story, it will not move many votes though most voters will think Cummings is an idiot, it is not going to shift many from Tory to Labour or the LDs that will depend more on the state of the economy and how Brexit goes
All stories are media stories. In this case, though, not merely a media story. There are literally tens of thousands of people out there who can say, and are saying, "My spouse or my parent or grandparent or aunt or uncle died in a care home because the government failed to protect care homes, and died frightened and alone because I obeyed the rules. Now I learn that you disregarded the rules, and the PM is happy with that because of who you are." I would think almost everyone in the country is within two degrees of separation of someone who can say that.
Today was a definingly terrible day for the government and the conservative party.
You are not going to switch your vote because Cummings travelled to Barnard Castle for childcare reasons, especially as Boris started to announce further easing of lockdown today.
You might switch your vote if unemployment rises, taxes go up or because you oppose WTO terms Brexit or the transition period is extended
I know more about what is going to influence my vote than you do.
By the way, "COVID-19 is killing young people in Brazil, Mexico and India"
And many other credible sources. So your thesis that non first world countries would get off lightly because the virus preferentially attacks the very old, turns out to be as wrong as I said it was.
Dear oh dear , Tories really are scraping the barrel now. How desperate can you get Carlotta, you have whinged about this non story for some time now. The UK government were involved , what is your opinion on what they did. PS: Pretty seedy to be quoting from the Record , I would have expected that to be well below your status.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
If they are so sure then post a picture of his car at the castle.
If not then it is utter bollocks
I imagine a bunch of journo’s will be phoning people in area who might have CCTV this week. The days of slipping a backhander to someone with access to ANPR data are probably (rightly) over, but a juicy complaint to Durham police by a member of the public will open up that line of enquiry too.
Either Cummings goes soon, or BJ goes within months. The only time I can remember feeling such a deep sense of utter rage is when I heard about the News of the World tapping Milly Dowler's phone. And we know what happened to the News of the World. You can't cross a line with the British public like Cummings has and expect to survive. This isn't party politics or Leave Vs Remain. This is crossing a fundamental line of decent behaviour. Incredible they can't see this.
I concur. This cuts through precisely because it isn't a political story. It resonates because all of us, to a greater or lesser degree, have been through a shared experience. If not of suffering, then certainly, inconvenience. And anxiety and worry. And here is someone openly taking the piss. And being seemingly proud of it. And fucking self-righteous and sanctimonious about it to boot.
Well, this is Boris’s Black Monday. It’s not quite over yet: Starmer will take Boris’s stance apart at the next PMQs. Tory MPs will begin to make noises about grey suits and letter and Cummings will be gone in a week or two.
But it won’t be enough. The only difference between John Major’s post-Black Monday lame duck administration and Boris Johnson’s post-Coronavirus will be a quarter of a century.
Enjoy the next four years PB Tories. Another decade or two of Labour government begins in May 2024.
I doubt it, Starmer might be better than Ed Miliband and Corbyn but he is still polling far lower than Blair was pre 1997 and even John Smith was pre Black Wednesday.
If he gets in it will likely be with the LDs and SNP, not a 1997 style Labour landslide
Starmer's only been in for a few weeks.....
John Smith and Tony Blair had clear poll leads within weeks of becoming leaders of the Labour Party
So will Starmer after today!
He won't, the Tories still had a 12% lead yesterday and Yougov had slightly more Tories saying Cummings should not resign than he should
HYUFD - you are aware that this poll was of opinion on the 21st-22nd of May? That is - before all this hit the news?
This is largely a media story, it will not move many votes though most voters will think Cummings is an idiot, it is not going to shift many from Tory to Labour or the LDs that will depend more on the state of the economy and how Brexit goes
All stories are media stories. In this case, though, not merely a media story. There are literally tens of thousands of people out there who can say, and are saying, "My spouse or my parent or grandparent or aunt or uncle died in a care home because the government failed to protect care homes, and died frightened and alone because I obeyed the rules. Now I learn that you disregarded the rules, and the PM is happy with that because of who you are." I would think almost everyone in the country is within two degrees of separation of someone who can say that.
Today was a definingly terrible day for the government and the conservative party.
You are not going to switch your vote because Cummings travelled to Barnard Castle for childcare reasons, especially as Boris started to announce further easing of lockdown today.
You might switch your vote if unemployment rises, taxes go up or because you oppose WTO terms Brexit or the transition period is extended
I know more about what is going to influence my vote than you do.
By the way, "COVID-19 is killing young people in Brazil, Mexico and India"
And many other credible sources. So your thesis that non first world countries would get off lightly because the virus preferentially attacks the very old, turns out to be as wrong as I said it was.
No it doesn't, as that link shows even in Brazil and Mexico and India the majority of deaths from Covid are in over 50s.
Brazil, Mexico and India have younger populations on average so obviously a higher percentage of their deaths will be younger than in the West, those younger populations mean they also have fewer Covid deaths per head though than western Europe and the USA
Well, this is Boris’s Black Monday. It’s not quite over yet: Starmer will take Boris’s stance apart at the next PMQs. Tory MPs will begin to make noises about grey suits and letter and Cummings will be gone in a week or two.
But it won’t be enough. The only difference between John Major’s post-Black Monday lame duck administration and Boris Johnson’s post-Coronavirus will be a quarter of a century.
Enjoy the next four years PB Tories. Another decade or two of Labour government begins in May 2024.
I doubt it, Starmer might be better than Ed Miliband and Corbyn but he is still polling far lower than Blair was pre 1997 and even John Smith was pre Black Wednesday.
If he gets in it will likely be with the LDs and SNP, not a 1997 style Labour landslide
Starmer's only been in for a few weeks.....
John Smith and Tony Blair had clear poll leads within weeks of becoming leaders of the Labour Party
So will Starmer after today!
He won't, the Tories still had a 12% lead yesterday and Yougov had slightly more Tories saying Cummings should not resign than he should
HYUFD - you are aware that this poll was of opinion on the 21st-22nd of May? That is - before all this hit the news?
This is largely a media story, it will not move many votes though most voters will think Cummings is an idiot, it is not going to shift many from Tory to Labour or the LDs that will depend more on the state of the economy and how Brexit goes
All stories are media stories. In this case, though, not merely a media story. There are literally tens of thousands of people out there who can say, and are saying, "My spouse or my parent or grandparent or aunt or uncle died in a care home because the government failed to protect care homes, and died frightened and alone because I obeyed the rules. Now I learn that you disregarded the rules, and the PM is happy with that because of who you are." I would think almost everyone in the country is within two degrees of separation of someone who can say that.
Today was a definingly terrible day for the government and the conservative party.
It would have been a minor distraction, close to an irrelevance, had he either immediately apologised, or been sacked. And now, the sound of Johnson in full bluster mode, trying to justify the unjustifiable, will perhaps now define this government in the minds of a very large part of the electorate.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
Real respect for you and some of the PB Tories. Clearly misjudged some of you.
There's so much flapping about Cummings going on at the moment that the fact that the Government appears to be getting ready to give a green light to the limited reopening of the schools, and the unshuttering of non-essential retail, has barely received any attention. Which is bonkers, because this is absolutely crucial.
However many schools resist partial re-opening on June 1st, we know that a number of academy chains and local authorities wish to proceed; therefore, a significant number of schools will reopen for some pupils. Likewise, whilst some physical retailers may take their time reopening and do it in a phased manner, a significant proportion of shops will also reopen on June 1st.
Now, insofar as I'm aware, save for a bit of a panic over Germany (and we've heard little more from that direction in the last few days,) there have been no reports of a major second wave taking off in any of the countries that have relaxed restrictions so far. Thus, if the June experiment succeeds and we don't have the start of a big second wave either, then the way is clear for a substantial third phase of reopening and we may get a domestic Summer holiday season this year.
Also, if we assume that the Government makes a complete mess of track and trace, a continued reduction in cases despite this would lend weight to the notion that a substantial fraction of the population may not be susceptible to the virus, and that we are therefore much further along the pathway to herd immunity than was previously supposed. . I think it's far too early to feel optimistic about the situation, but I think we're likely to know just how long a slog we are in for in a few weeks' time
There's no doubt in my mind Boris Johnson leading the Press Conference and announcing the move to Stage 2 is or was a clear diversion and response to the Cummings business.
The week ahead will gradually stop being about Cummings and will be more about whether schools are really ready to re-open and whether parents are ready to allow their children to attend.
The Government and those wanting the lockdown to end will be on one side and on the other will be local authorities, teachers' unions, concerned patients, the Labour Party. The division will be clear and Cummings will become irrelevant.
There are going to be local authorities, academies and parents on *both* sides of the schools issue - especially the latter. A meaningful number of parents will be reliant on schools taking their kids back to return to jobs that cannot be done at home.
Though, of course, the real crunch point in that respect is September. If the schools aren't operating normally - i.e. if they're still largely shuttered or are only taking pupils part-time - then a mass sacking of working parents will surely result. Being sat indefinitely at home with a kid for two or three days every week - and quite probably different days from one week to the next, at that - is wholly incompatible with full-time employment in any role that cannot be undertaken from home.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
Respect to you.
I did the same when antisemitism became endemic under Corbyn.
I wonder if the scene in Downing Street today was like the one described in Tim Shipman's book where the Vote Leave MPs called Cummings to a meeting in order to sack him, and ended up asking him for his advice on what to do?
Well, this is Boris’s Black Monday. It’s not quite over yet: Starmer will take Boris’s stance apart at the next PMQs. Tory MPs will begin to make noises about grey suits and letter and Cummings will be gone in a week or two.
But it won’t be enough. The only difference between John Major’s post-Black Monday lame duck administration and Boris Johnson’s post-Coronavirus will be a quarter of a century.
Enjoy the next four years PB Tories. Another decade or two of Labour government begins in May 2024.
I doubt it, Starmer might be better than Ed Miliband and Corbyn but he is still polling far lower than Blair was pre 1997 and even John Smith was pre Black Wednesday.
If he gets in it will likely be with the LDs and SNP, not a 1997 style Labour landslide
Starmer's only been in for a few weeks.....
John Smith and Tony Blair had clear poll leads within weeks of becoming leaders of the Labour Party
So will Starmer after today!
He won't, the Tories still had a 12% lead yesterday and Yougov had slightly more Tories saying Cummings should not resign than he should
HYUFD - you are aware that this poll was of opinion on the 21st-22nd of May? That is - before all this hit the news?
This is largely a media story, it will not move many votes though most voters will think Cummings is an idiot, it is not going to shift many from Tory to Labour or the LDs that will depend more on the state of the economy and how Brexit goes
All stories are media stories. In this case, though, not merely a media story. There are literally tens of thousands of people out there who can say, and are saying, "My spouse or my parent or grandparent or aunt or uncle died in a care home because the government failed to protect care homes, and died frightened and alone because I obeyed the rules. Now I learn that you disregarded the rules, and the PM is happy with that because of who you are." I would think almost everyone in the country is within two degrees of separation of someone who can say that.
Today was a definingly terrible day for the government and the conservative party.
You are not going to switch your vote because Cummings travelled to Barnard Castle for childcare reasons, especially as Boris started to announce further easing of lockdown today.
You might switch your vote if unemployment rises, taxes go up or because you oppose WTO terms Brexit or the transition period is extended
You seem to be very sure about the voting intentions of all of the14 million people who voted Conservative in December.
Because they're not infants who think that a single breach of the rules means that we should let the country burn? The lockdown was designed in the full knowledge that 20% or so of the population wouldn't comply with it and it would work anyway.
And now the anger and the articles and the tweets and the polls and the vox pops and the news pieces and the podcasts will flow...
And soon enough people will get bored of it and forget about it and move on to the next thing.
I look forward to being lambasted for this reasonable prediction buttressed by ample historical precedent.
So you saying that this will have no impact and the next polls after the bank holiday will show no change in the relative positions of Tories/Boris and Labour/Starmer?
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
Boris is a lazy lying bluffer, that's been known for many years. What's really surprising is that he's so politically inept that he cannot see the mess he's getting into.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
Respect. I abandoned Labour over Corbyn’s antisemitism and, frankly, the general disdain for anyone from the social democratic tradition. It’s difficult I know.
The thing is if Big Dom had gone straight away, most people don't know or care who he is. Yes the Guardian and twitter would have been very excited that they got the boogeyman, but it would have no more impact on Boris or government than Prof Pantsdown incident. Especially as Boris was very ill at the time.
That's the utterly inexplicable bit for me. Six months on the shelf and Doms back.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
I have withdrawn my support for Boris tonight.
His performance was a car crash and I am ashamed, as indeed is my good lady
I hope he stands down or the 1922 take action
I am not resigning as I want a vote when Boris goes to have time with Carrie
I wonder if the scene in Downing Street today was like the one described in Tim Shipman's book where the Vote Leave MPs called Cummings to a meeting in order to sack him, and ended up asking him for his advice on what to do?
As David H said yesterday, on that occasion those perpetrating the coup had failed to secure the troops and the communications lines so Cummings was able to move quickly to give himself a chance.
Because they're not infants who think that a single breach of the rules means that we should let the country burn? The lockdown was designed in the full knowledge that 20% or so of the population wouldn't comply with it and it would work anyway.
One rule for me, another for you oiks / peasants / fools take your pick...
In one move Boris has destroyed all his credibility. Likewise you have by not seeing the consequences of the initial decision.
If they are so sure then post a picture of his car at the castle.
If not then it is utter bollocks
Seriously, I think you've misunderstood.
No one ever claimed that his car had been photographed at Barnard Castle on Easter Sunday. The claim was that he was seen there and the number of his car was noted, and that the witness did an online search for the number at the time, which could be confirmed by his computer records.
Obviously what's being said here is that it has been confirmed that the number that was noted then did belong to Cummings.
You are not going to switch your vote because Cummings travelled to Barnard Castle for childcare reasons, especially as Boris started to announce further easing of lockdown today.
You might switch your vote if unemployment rises, taxes go up or because you oppose WTO terms Brexit or the transition period is extended
I'd also argue the emerging story about the disaster in our care homes is going to be much worse in the long run for the Government.
I hope you would support a full independent public enquiry into what has happened and if it is revealed those accountable, up to and including Cabinet level, took decisions with full knowledge what they were doing would cause further deaths, that they should be held responsible and removed from their posts.
And now the anger and the articles and the tweets and the polls and the vox pops and the news pieces and the podcasts will flow...
And soon enough people will get bored of it and forget about it and move on to the next thing.
I look forward to being lambasted for this reasonable prediction buttressed by ample historical precedent.
So you saying that this will have no impact and the next polls after the bank holiday will show no change in the relative positions of Tories/Boris and Labour/Starmer?
No, the government will probably take a hit in the polls next week, but it will be both temporary and irrelevant in 2024.
I'm not a member of the Tories to leave it but as of now I'll be voting for Starmer till something changes. Just seen today's press conference, Johnson has gaslit a nation to save his adviser, simply shocking.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
I don't take much notice of what he says as a journalist because he doesn't even bother to hide the fact that he's a Labour supporter. I prefer journalists who at least make an effort to be impartial.
Looks like I was right, and an awful lot of the overly excitable short-termists were wrong. Not for the first time.
You weren't right, I was.
He should go. He won't go. No inquiry.
And that outcome differs from what I've been saying for the last two days how, exactly?
You failed to offer the first of the holy trinity. That he should go.
Reason being that you have (as all know) zero intellectual integrity and lack a moral compass.
I'm afraid a socialist's view of my moral compass is not terribly relevant to me. The fact remains that my thinking was exactly the same as that of Boris, and so I knew early on what had to happen and why, in the face of much angry opposition to the contrary (admittedly not from you).
Think of me not as a socialist but as a person of uncommon perception whose affection and respect you would like to enjoy.
Indeed I would, since you're both clever and witty. But I don't change how I present my political views and analysis unless they actually change, no matter how easy it would have been for me to lie and soften my stance as so many others did. I didn't believe that I should, so I didn't.
Sorry.
I am duly disarmed.
But, really, the BJ/DC defence here. You have to be a mug to buy it. I think you know this.
Just wanted to comment how I have thoroughly enjoyed your posts today kinabula. Excellent stuff today.
The thing is if Big Dom had gone straight away, most people don't know or care who he is. Yes the Guardian and twitter would have been very excited that they got the boogeyman, but it would have no more impact on Boris or government than Prof Pantsdown incident. Especially as Boris was very ill at the time.
That's the utterly inexplicable bit for me. Six months on the shelf and Doms back.
Absolutely no harm.
Why do this except to show you can?
Because they aren't bright enough to see - that Cummings could leave, sit at home and make suggestions and come back later.
either that or Boris is in far worse shape than we've been told and his mental capacity has gone the same way as his lung capacity.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
Real respect for you and some of the PB Tories. Clearly misjudged some of you.
He was in it for 8 years, to be a true PB Tory you must be so for life, not just for Christmas
Because they're not infants who think that a single breach of the rules means that we should let the country burn? The lockdown was designed in the full knowledge that 20% or so of the population wouldn't comply with it and it would work anyway.
One rule for me, another for you oiks / peasants / fools take your pick...
In one move Boris has destroyed all his credibility. Likewise you have by not seeing the consequences of the initial decision.
'Credibility' on an internet forum doesn't mean terribly much. I would point out that I was absolutely right about what would actually happen ever since the story broke, but whatever.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
Respect to you.
I did the same when antisemitism became endemic under Corbyn.
I can't believe I am saying this, and it is hard to get to grips with I know, but even Corbyn would have had a fighting chance of being less crap than Boris was today.
Well, this is Boris’s Black Monday. It’s not quite over yet: Starmer will take Boris’s stance apart at the next PMQs. Tory MPs will begin to make noises about grey suits and letter and Cummings will be gone in a week or two.
But it won’t be enough. The only difference between John Major’s post-Black Monday lame duck administration and Boris Johnson’s post-Coronavirus will be a quarter of a century.
Enjoy the next four years PB Tories. Another decade or two of Labour government begins in May 2024.
I doubt it, Starmer might be better than Ed Miliband and Corbyn but he is still polling far lower than Blair was pre 1997 and even John Smith was pre Black Wednesday.
If he gets in it will likely be with the LDs and SNP, not a 1997 style Labour landslide
Starmer's only been in for a few weeks.....
John Smith and Tony Blair had clear poll leads within weeks of becoming leaders of the Labour Party
So will Starmer after today!
He won't, the Tories still had a 12% lead yesterday and Yougov had slightly more Tories saying Cummings should not resign than he should
HYUFD - you are aware that this poll was of opinion on the 21st-22nd of May? That is - before all this hit the news?
This is largely a media story, it will not move many votes though most voters will think Cummings is an idiot, it is not going to shift many from Tory to Labour or the LDs that will depend more on the state of the economy and how Brexit goes
All stories are media stories. In this case, though, not merely a media story. There are literally tens of thousands of people out there who can say, and are saying, "My spouse or my parent or grandparent or aunt or uncle died in a care home because the government failed to protect care homes, and died frightened and alone because I obeyed the rules. Now I learn that you disregarded the rules, and the PM is happy with that because of who you are." I would think almost everyone in the country is within two degrees of separation of someone who can say that.
Today was a definingly terrible day for the government and the conservative party.
You are not going to switch your vote because Cummings travelled to Barnard Castle for childcare reasons, especially as Boris started to announce further easing of lockdown today.
You might switch your vote if unemployment rises, taxes go up or because you oppose WTO terms Brexit or the transition period is extended
I know more about what is going to influence my vote than you do.
By the way, "COVID-19 is killing young people in Brazil, Mexico and India"
And many other credible sources. So your thesis that non first world countries would get off lightly because the virus preferentially attacks the very old, turns out to be as wrong as I said it was.
No it doesn't, as that link shows even in Brazil and Mexico and India the majority of deaths from Covid are in over 50s.
Brazil, Mexico and India have younger populations on average so obviously a higher percentage of their deaths will be younger than in the West, those younger populations mean they also have fewer Covid deaths per head though than western Europe and the USA
Woah....Hold on a moment!
You said it was that because these countries had very few very old people that the pandemic would not be like it is in Europe and the USA. And when I pressed you on whether it's the relative age or the absolute age, you said it was the absolute age that matters. Now you are shifting the goal posts by saying it is the over 50s that matters.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
Real respect for you and some of the PB Tories. Clearly misjudged some of you.
He was in it for 8 years, to be a true PB Tory you must be so for life, not just for Christmas
Either Cummings goes soon, or BJ goes within months. The only time I can remember feeling such a deep sense of utter rage is when I heard about the News of the World tapping Milly Dowler's phone. And we know what happened to the News of the World. You can't cross a line with the British public like Cummings has and expect to survive. This isn't party politics or Leave Vs Remain. This is crossing a fundamental line of decent behaviour. Incredible they can't see this.
I was much angrier listening to File on 4 this evening. Which confirmed pretty well everything we’ve ben saying about the government treatment of care homes over the last two or three months.
A very good friend and colleague Gary Lemin contributed to that programme. He lost his father in a Cornish Care Home a few weeks before your own loss. It was his story as well as yours that convinced me that the Government were criminally accountable for the failings that have led to so many unnecessary deaths.
Worth noting today the actions of Brent Council who clearly had more sense than most of our political classes and set up a separate care home for those coming out of hospital so they could have a 14 day quarantine before going back into the general care home community. It is so simple and yet seems to have escaped most of those in power.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
Real respect for you and some of the PB Tories. Clearly misjudged some of you.
He was in it for 8 years, to be a true PB Tory you must be so for life, not just for Christmas
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
This is why I don't join political parties.
Better to snipe at all of them from the sidelines.
For those who think that this is a media story or a "Westminster bubble" story, when Yougov done their last polling (May 12-13th) on Cummings about 60% of people had an opinion. https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1264135217213775872 This would indicate that even before this incident that a large majority of people in the country had heard of him. (some people have no opinion of Boris...) More so than some slightly obscure Cabinet minister or back bench MP visiting family when they should not of.
This is why there is so much anger up and down the country and why there will be in the coming days probably a much great breaking of the lockdown than might of been the case. A sizeable number of people are just going to think if he can do it why not us? It might actually prompt the opening up of the country a bit quicker at least in England whilst some of us in Scotland might still be unable to go back to work until July or August. (That is a whole different thread)
Still I think that Cummings is going to stay since Boris has backed him so far and the strategy seems to be one of "This will all be over in a few more days and then the focus will be on the schools opening (or not)".
If only people would say nice things about Boris rather than that pesky Scot. Unionists are pathetic insecure creatures.
It's got the Yoons crawling out from beneath their news-avoiding rocks. I'm sure they'll be firing stiff letters off to STV and the government which licences them.
It is becoming embarrassing but for unionists to get it pulled says a lot more about their fear than an innocent if mawkish tweet. Unionists really are crapping it nowadays.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
Real respect for you and some of the PB Tories. Clearly misjudged some of you.
He was in it for 8 years, to be a true PB Tory you must be so for life, not just for Christmas
Pathetic garbage
Well you voted for Blair twice.
You are a Tory leaning floating voter, not really a PB Tory
Overtaking Italy on the test count for the first time I think. Germany and Spain next (they're doing 50k/60k/75k per day respectively, so it was only a matter of time).
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
This is why I don't join political parties.
Better to snipe at all of them from the sidelines.
Oh absolutely. A plebeian in a similar situation to Cummings would've been told to stay put and suffer, if necessary unto the point of putting the child into care, rather than traversing the length of the country. There was at least one complaint about double standards in the presser, IIRC, involving the tale of a single Mum with a ten-year-old to look after who had stayed at home with the child and had managed not to leave her home at all by virtue of having local volunteers to deliver food parcels.
Multiply that by many millions, for all the people who didn't make exceptions for themselves to comfort sick and even dying relatives, or to attend funerals, or to shunt their own children around the country, and of various health and social care workers who've isolated from their own households to carry on working, and you appreciate the scale of the problem. Oh, and this:
If it does turn out that we need an effectively functioning track and trace system to get out of this, and the Government screws it up, then the Cummings debacle will inevitable be cited as one of the causes. And at that juncture one imagines that the men in grey suits will be coming after the Prime Minister himself.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
Real respect for you and some of the PB Tories. Clearly misjudged some of you.
He was in it for 8 years, to be a true PB Tory you must be so for life, not just for Christmas
I'm not a member of the Tories to leave it but as of now I'll be voting for Starmer till something changes. Just seen today's press conference, Johnson has gaslit a nation to save his adviser, simply shocking.
Putting school children on the line with his reiteration of June 1st for a return to school is a big call. If so much as one returning child contracts Covid-19 or God forbid worse, Johnson is finished.
The press conference was an embarrassment; Johnson trying to defend the indefensible. The original trip on its own without all the Barnard Castle stuff should have been enough to do for Cummings. It was a few days after formal lockdown, and the message was absolutely clear and being strongly adhered to: Stay at Home, and definitely don't leave if you've got the virus. The childcare stuff is a red herring, and is quite insulting to less well to do folk who really have got serious challenges with childcare.
Will this go away? That would have been more likely if Cummings had gone.
On its own, it may not be a game changer, but along with everything else, a narrative builds of incompetence and double standards. People have noticed that our death rate is pretty dismal compared with most. The data on testing is opaque and unreliable: it should be simple, number of people tested and the actual results of those test once they are in. I could go on. The government got a huge boost of sympathy when Boris was seriously ill, but that has now dissipated and people are beginning to see it for what it is. Largely, a bunch of lying, incompetent charlatans.
I don't really do anger at all, but I was absolutely furious watching BJ dissembling at the press conference.
For those who think that this is a media story or a "Westminster bubble" story, when Yougov done their last polling (May 12-13th) on Cummings about 60% of people had an opinion. https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1264135217213775872 This would indicate that even before this incident that a large majority of people in the country had heard of him. (some people have no opinion of Boris...) More so than some slightly obscure Cabinet minister or back bench MP visiting family when they should not of.
This is why there is so much anger up and down the country and why there will be in the coming days probably a much great breaking of the lockdown than might of been the case. A sizeable number of people are just going to think if he can do it why not us? It might actually prompt the opening up of the country a bit quicker at least in England whilst some of us in Scotland might still be unable to go back to work until July or August. (That is a whole different thread)
Still I think that Cummings is going to stay since Boris has backed him so far and the strategy seems to be one of "This will all be over in a few more days and then the focus will be on the schools opening (or not)".
The government have been trying to nudge us out of hiding to get the economy going, as you know. So where you say "probably a much greater breaking of the lockdown than might of been the case": maybe a unexpected plus from this shitstorm? A cynic may wonder whether this was planned?
Well, this is Boris’s Black Monday. It’s not quite over yet: Starmer will take Boris’s stance apart at the next PMQs. Tory MPs will begin to make noises about grey suits and letter and Cummings will be gone in a week or two.
But it won’t be enough. The only difference between John Major’s post-Black Monday lame duck administration and Boris Johnson’s post-Coronavirus will be a quarter of a century.
Enjoy the next four years PB Tories. Another decade or two of Labour government begins in May 2024.
I doubt it, Starmer might be better than Ed Miliband and Corbyn but he is still polling far lower than Blair was pre 1997 and even John Smith was pre Black Wednesday.
If he gets in it will likely be with the LDs and SNP, not a 1997 style Labour landslide
Starmer's only been in for a few weeks.....
John Smith and Tony Blair had clear poll leads within weeks of becoming leaders of the Labour Party
So will Starmer after today!
He won't, the Tories still had a 12% lead yesterday and Yougov had slightly more Tories saying Cummings should not resign than he should
HYUFD - you are aware that this poll was of opinion on the 21st-22nd of May? That is - before all this hit the news?
This is largely a media story, it will not move many votes though most voters will think Cummings is an idiot, it is not going to shift many from Tory to Labour or the LDs that will depend more on the state of the economy and how Brexit goes
All stories are media stories. In this case, though, not merely a media story. There are literally tens of thousands of people out there who can say, and are saying, "My spouse or my parent or grandparent or aunt or uncle died in a care home because the government failed to protect care homes, and died frightened and alone because I obeyed the rules. Now I learn that you disregarded the rules, and the PM is happy with that because of who you are." I would think almost everyone in the country is within two degrees of separation of someone who can say that.
Today was a definingly terrible day for the government and the conservative party.
You are not going to switch your vote because Cummings travelled to Barnard Castle for childcare reasons, especially as Boris started to announce further easing of lockdown today.
You might switch your vote if unemployment rises, taxes go up or because you oppose WTO terms Brexit or the transition period is extended
I know more about what is going to influence my vote than you do.
By the way, "COVID-19 is killing young people in Brazil, Mexico and India"
And many other credible sources. So your thesis that non first world countries would get off lightly because the virus preferentially attacks the very old, turns out to be as wrong as I said it was.
No it doesn't, as that link shows even in Brazil and Mexico and India the majority of deaths from Covid are in over 50s.
Brazil, Mexico and India have younger populations on average so obviously a higher percentage of their deaths will be younger than in the West, those younger populations mean they also have fewer Covid deaths per head though than western Europe and the USA
Woah....Hold on a moment!
You said it was that because these countries had very few very old people that the pandemic would not be like it is in Europe and the USA. And when I pressed you on whether it's the relative age or the absolute age, you said it was the absolute age that matters. Now you are shifting the goal posts by saying it is the over 50s that matters.
Percentage wise they do have fewer older people than the West and a lower median age of population, hence not one developing country is in the top 5 for Covid deaths per head
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
This is why I don't join political parties.
Better to snipe at all of them from the sidelines.
Mistakes get made, things happen. One of the things the Tory Party is supposed to be good at is getting rid of a leader when necessary. That time is now.
"Johnson would not recognise truth, whether about his private or political life, if confronted by it in an identity parade."
"Almost the only people who think Johnson a nice guy are those who do not know him."
"If the opposition was led by anybody else [but Corbyn], the Tories would be deservedly doomed, because we would all vote for it. As it is, the Johnson premiership could survive for three or four years, shambling from one embarrassment and debacle to another, of which Brexit may prove the least".
"We can scarcely strip the emperor’s clothes from a man who has built a career, or at least a lurid love life, out of strutting without them... I have a hunch that Johnson will come to regret securing the prize for which he has struggled so long, because the experience of the premiership will lay bare his absolute unfitness for it."
"Blame will rest with the Conservative party, which is about to foist a tasteless joke upon the British people – who will not find it funny for long."
Today, I suspect, is the day the laughter stopped.
Very prescient comment by Hastings. I doubt he expected to be proved right quite so soon.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
Real respect for you and some of the PB Tories. Clearly misjudged some of you.
He was in it for 8 years, to be a true PB Tory you must be so for life, not just for Christmas
Pathetic garbage
Well you voted for Blair twice.
You are a Tory leaning floating voter, not really a PB Tory
And the rats tied in the sack are already attacking each other.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
Real respect for you and some of the PB Tories. Clearly misjudged some of you.
He was in it for 8 years, to be a true PB Tory you must be so for life, not just for Christmas
Pathetic garbage
Well you voted for Blair twice.
You are a Tory leaning floating voter, not really a PB Tory
People have a past. To be a Tory you don't need to have been a Tory all your life, being one now would be enough.
You do realise Churchill wasn't always a Tory don't you?
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
Real respect for you and some of the PB Tories. Clearly misjudged some of you.
He was in it for 8 years, to be a true PB Tory you must be so for life, not just for Christmas
Pathetic garbage
Well you voted for Blair twice.
You are a Tory leaning floating voter, not really a PB Tory
You are a very sad individual talking to someone who has given more years of loyal service to the party than you have ever done
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
This is why I don't join political parties.
Better to snipe at all of them from the sidelines.
Mistakes get made, things happen. One of the things the Tory Party is supposed to be good at is getting rid of a leader when necessary. That time is now.
I think they will both be gone in a few months at the most. The only way Boris will survive is if Cummings falls on his sword after new revelations, even so not sure that is enough. Could be face saving illness excuse. Boris's reputation is shot and he looks out of his depth.
So that's my 8 year run in the Conservative party coming to an end.
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
I have withdrawn my support for Boris tonight.
His performance was a car crash and I am ashamed, as indeed is my good lady
I hope he stands down or the 1922 take action
I am not resigning as I want a vote when Boris goes to have time with Carrie
At least when it comes to the PB end of year flaky flip-flopper of 2020 award, Eadric will now have a runner up...
Are we going to hear more on here about so-called "Boris Derangement Syndrome" ?
Yes, there's an awful lot of it about. But the frothing will subside as the country moves on and we get back to the serious business of beating the virus and saving the economy.
Comments
If not then it is utter bollocks
"Johnson would not recognise truth, whether about his private or political life, if confronted by it in an identity parade."
"Almost the only people who think Johnson a nice guy are those who do not know him."
"If the opposition was led by anybody else [but Corbyn], the Tories would be deservedly doomed, because we would all vote for it. As it is, the Johnson premiership could survive for three or four years, shambling from one embarrassment and debacle to another, of which Brexit may prove the least".
"We can scarcely strip the emperor’s clothes from a man who has built a career, or at least a lurid love life, out of strutting without them... I have a hunch that Johnson will come to regret securing the prize for which he has struggled so long, because the experience of the premiership will lay bare his absolute unfitness for it."
"Blame will rest with the Conservative party, which is about to foist a tasteless joke upon the British people – who will not find it funny for long."
Today, I suspect, is the day the laughter stopped.
Moving on from Cummings, the next battle looks to be over schools re-opening. With councils of all political stripe, ranging from Surrey to Liverpool, warning about the risks of re-opening, Boris has thrown this grenade into the room as a clear attempt to divert public opinion.
He will no doubt gamble the decision to re-open schools will be widely supported but support may not translate into action and it remains to be seen how schools will re-open and how many parents will choose to keep their children at home and what will happen to those who do.
The politics is quite simple - the Government, once again, is trying to line up against the "Establishment" in support of "ordinary hard working families" and allied with those desperate to end the lockdown.
The other side will have local councils, Labour and the teachers' unions and this group will be vilified as "establishment" by the pro-Government media and their supporters. The Mail will be torn between supporting the Government and supporting the "ordinary hard working families" and will take the line it's best for the children to be able to see their friends again.
Boris is undoubtedly hoping this media war will play much better for him but he always wants to be on the right side of public opinion as often as possible or to let someone else take the blame if he is not.
Which confirmed pretty well everything we’ve ben saying about the government treatment of care homes over the last two or three months.
You need to get out more! Oh you can't...unless you are Dominic Cummings.
By the way, "COVID-19 is killing young people in Brazil, Mexico and India"
https://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2020/05/covid-19-is-killing-young-people-in-brazil-mexico-and-india-the-washington-post.html
And many other credible sources. So your thesis that non first world countries would get off lightly because the virus preferentially attacks the very old, turns out to be as wrong as I said it was.
PS: Pretty seedy to be quoting from the Record , I would have expected that to be well below your status.
https://twitter.com/helenhayes_/status/1264600281184194567?s=20
@DavidL, @Big_G_NorthWales and other members I hope you do the same. I can't be a member of this party while Boris is leader. His lack of judgement here has been absolutely appalling. The ruling elite can't have a special set of exemptions to rules the rest of us live by, it's just not right.
This week is going to be 🔥.
And as a English Heritage property it would have been closed.
But good try to try and reduce a small bit of this mess.
This cuts through precisely because it isn't a political story.
It resonates because all of us, to a greater or lesser degree, have been through a shared experience. If not of suffering, then certainly, inconvenience. And anxiety and worry.
And here is someone openly taking the piss.
And being seemingly proud of it. And fucking self-righteous and sanctimonious about it to boot.
Brazil, Mexico and India have younger populations on average so obviously a higher percentage of their deaths will be younger than in the West, those younger populations mean they also have fewer Covid deaths per head though than western Europe and the USA
And now, the sound of Johnson in full bluster mode, trying to justify the unjustifiable, will perhaps now define this government in the minds of a very large part of the electorate.
Though, of course, the real crunch point in that respect is September. If the schools aren't operating normally - i.e. if they're still largely shuttered or are only taking pupils part-time - then a mass sacking of working parents will surely result. Being sat indefinitely at home with a kid for two or three days every week - and quite probably different days from one week to the next, at that - is wholly incompatible with full-time employment in any role that cannot be undertaken from home.
I did the same when antisemitism became endemic under Corbyn.
Boris has either got the biggest pair of clanging brass bollocks I’ve ever seen, or the largest tin ear in terms of public opinion about this.
Fascinating to see where we go from here.
Absolutely no harm.
Why do this except to show you can?
His performance was a car crash and I am ashamed, as indeed is my good lady
I hope he stands down or the 1922 take action
I am not resigning as I want a vote when Boris goes to have time with Carrie
In one move Boris has destroyed all his credibility. Likewise you have by not seeing the consequences of the initial decision.
No one ever claimed that his car had been photographed at Barnard Castle on Easter Sunday. The claim was that he was seen there and the number of his car was noted, and that the witness did an online search for the number at the time, which could be confirmed by his computer records.
Obviously what's being said here is that it has been confirmed that the number that was noted then did belong to Cummings.
I hope you would support a full independent public enquiry into what has happened and if it is revealed those accountable, up to and including Cabinet level, took decisions with full knowledge what they were doing would cause further deaths, that they should be held responsible and removed from their posts.
Just seen today's press conference, Johnson has gaslit a nation to save his adviser, simply shocking.
either that or Boris is in far worse shape than we've been told and his mental capacity has gone the same way as his lung capacity.
You said it was that because these countries had very few very old people that the pandemic would not be like it is in Europe and the USA. And when I pressed you on whether it's the relative age or the absolute age, you said it was the absolute age that matters. Now you are shifting the goal posts by saying it is the over 50s that matters.
Worth noting today the actions of Brent Council who clearly had more sense than most of our political classes and set up a separate care home for those coming out of hospital so they could have a 14 day quarantine before going back into the general care home community. It is so simple and yet seems to have escaped most of those in power.
https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1264135217213775872
This would indicate that even before this incident that a large majority of people in the country had heard of him. (some people have no opinion of Boris...) More so than some slightly obscure Cabinet minister or back bench MP visiting family when they should not of.
This is why there is so much anger up and down the country and why there will be in the coming days probably a much great breaking of the lockdown than might of been the case. A sizeable number of people are just going to think if he can do it why not us? It might actually prompt the opening up of the country a bit quicker at least in England whilst some of us in Scotland might still be unable to go back to work until July or August. (That is a whole different thread)
Still I think that Cummings is going to stay since Boris has backed him so far and the strategy seems to be one of "This will all be over in a few more days and then the focus will be on the schools opening (or not)".
You are a Tory leaning floating voter, not really a PB Tory
Multiply that by many millions, for all the people who didn't make exceptions for themselves to comfort sick and even dying relatives, or to attend funerals, or to shunt their own children around the country, and of various health and social care workers who've isolated from their own households to carry on working, and you appreciate the scale of the problem. Oh, and this: If it does turn out that we need an effectively functioning track and trace system to get out of this, and the Government screws it up, then the Cummings debacle will inevitable be cited as one of the causes. And at that juncture one imagines that the men in grey suits will be coming after the Prime Minister himself.
Will this go away? That would have been more likely if Cummings had gone.
On its own, it may not be a game changer, but along with everything else, a narrative builds of incompetence and double standards. People have noticed that our death rate is pretty dismal compared with most. The data on testing is opaque and unreliable: it should be simple, number of people tested and the actual results of those test once they are in. I could go on. The government got a huge boost of sympathy when Boris was seriously ill, but that has now dissipated and people are beginning to see it for what it is. Largely, a bunch of lying, incompetent charlatans.
I don't really do anger at all, but I was absolutely furious watching BJ dissembling at the press conference.
You do realise Churchill wasn't always a Tory don't you?
Just a newby who voted remain