Genuine pants-shitting comedy here. Multiple breeches of the basic regulations around not going back to work when your missus has symptoms. And not driving 260 miles. Not taking a 30 minute test drive to see if you can see well enough to drive.
Number 10 attempting to Tunnel to Java. And Dom - "I have to take decisions like this every day". Wow. You're judgement is that shit and you say you are essential to the Downing Street operation
He gives this statement Friday / Sat, steps down, this story would have been done and dusted by Sunday and the government would have been undamaged, and Big Dom would have been back in government by the end of the year.
I'm not really sure the argument that he thought he showed good judgement is going to help the fact millions of people did not do the same. Seems like a kick in the teeth to me.
This explanation would have worked if it had been given immediately along with a bit of contrition, perhaps.
but then we wouldn't have had the big screen outside his house, the absolute nadir of this crisis so far.
I hope you're referring to the 'crisis' of the PM's chief advisor being revealed to be a self-entitled, law breaking, arrogant prick rather than the crisis of tens of thousands of people dying of Covid-19?
He gives this statement Friday / Sat, steps down, this story would have been done and dusted by Sunday and the government would have been undamaged, and Big Dom would have been back in government by the end of the year.
Why gives his opponents the satisfaction?
Now they can just get stuffed with extreme prejudice
I'm a Corbyn supporter and (ashamed) Remain voter* and I stand with Cummings. The complete loss of perspective on this forum and in the media at large is frankly embarassing and it has been scary to witness just how easily the mob can be whipped up.
*This shouldn't matter, of course, but I feel as if it does.
I bet this press conference doesn't change many minds. All the people who detested Cummings before will continue to do so, and those who like him will continue to do so.
I think he came over as reasonable and contrite and many will wonder why he is such a bogey man
I blame Boris for his dreadful presentation last night for making it worse, much worse, and why I believe Boris needs to go on paternity leave
Some things have been revealed that t needed clarification including the police did not consider any further action was required, the guardian and mirror falsely accused him of a second visit, he explained his visit to Barnard Castle , and Boris was not told initially
@Big_G_NorthWales are you really buying this nonsense about driving to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight, which as you know, is also a breach of the rules, and has nothing to do with his kid.
It is a good point. He must have known this would come out, given the neighbours must have known he wasn't there for 2 weeks, the plod visit and the trip to the hospital. If they had got out in front of this, given a statement, probably far less of an issue.
I think he came over as reasonable and contrite and many will wonder why he is such a bogey man
I blame Boris for his dreadful presentation last night for making it worse, much worse, and why I believe Boris needs to go on paternity leave
Some things have been revealed that t needed clarification including the police did not consider any further action was required, the guardian and mirror falsely accused him of a second visit, he explained his visit to Barnard Castle , and Boris was not told initially
Unfortunately his explanation doesn’t cut it.
It should do, actually, because there is no good reason to stop people driving around in closed groups. But his own government’s rules did prohibit it. It was not exercise nor was it shopping.
To me it just sounded like he prepared a statement to fit the available evidence justifying his actions ex-post facto. The bit about going to Barnard Castle to see if he felt well enough to go back was especially unconvincing..
At the time, do you remember the media outrage that "privileged" people like Prince Charles got tested that weren't in the specific category.
I don't understand why he wasn't tested, he'd been around a lot of people who got it, so a test would have been justified.
I don't understand why all the major players in government weren't been tested daily tbh. No reasonable person really thought what Boris jumped the queue on testing, outrageous.
The behaviour of lots of world leaders is baffling to me on this. Not just Trump or Boris, but Merkel got exposed, Trudeau got exposed.
Not seeking to get tested and then going to a place where medical assistance in case of an urgent emergency would be much further away than in his home in Islington seems a little bit irresposnsible, doesn't it?
He, and the government, have two unenviable choices:
1. Allow "the mob" to get Cummings scalp, and he resigns.
2. Allow the story to run on for days (or perhaps even weeks) as CCTV footage is unearthed showing the Cummings family in a service station
I suspect they'll go for (2). And I suspect they'll regret it. They'll have managed to avoid looking weak, but at the expense of pissing off a lot of moderate Tories. The "one rule of them, another for us" meme will not be easily dispelled.
I think he came over as reasonable and contrite and many will wonder why he is such a bogey man
I blame Boris for his dreadful presentation last night for making it worse, much worse, and why I believe Boris needs to go on paternity leave
Some things have been revealed that t needed clarification including the police did not consider any further action was required, the guardian and mirror falsely accused him of a second visit, he explained his visit to Barnard Castle , and Boris was not told initially
Also his kid went to hospital. May not be relevant, but will generate sympathy
The lack of experience in press conferences is very visible - he read off the prepared statement without a hitch, but is stumbling badly with fairly predictable questions.
To be fair the statement sounded quite plausible, but I think the repeated refusal to apologise is a fatal flaw.
My father has said by his reckoning Cummings has broken quarantine (not just lockdown) at least three times. That's utterly criminal from a public health point of view.
Irrespective of the coronavirus restrictions, driving with impaired eyesight and driving while so ill that you could barely walk are offences in themselves.
So, essentially, what do we know now that we didn't know half an hour ago, except that he went back to Downing Street after being with his wife who was showing symptoms, and that he himself was still showing symptoms when he drove to Barnard Castle?
I think he came over as reasonable and contrite and many will wonder why he is such a bogey man
I blame Boris for his dreadful presentation last night for making it worse, much worse, and why I believe Boris needs to go on paternity leave
Some things have been revealed that t needed clarification including the police did not consider any further action was required, the guardian and mirror falsely accused him of a second visit, he explained his visit to Barnard Castle , and Boris was not told initially
Also his kid went to hospital. May not be relevant, but will generate sympathy
The problem is he has not apologised, yes there were difficult circumstances with his child etc but that is what viewers will have looked for at least even if he stays
Irrespective of the coronavirus restrictions, driving with impaired eyesight and driving while so ill that you could barely walk are offences in themselves.
Do we know that the "public mood" is on this? Media keep referring to it, does anyone give a toss other than Twitter, really, let's be honest?
Almost certainly not. You can feel the fading of the embers and the evaporation of the froth with every passing minute...
Guys: when people like @MaxPB - no Corbyn loving Remoaner - are talking about tearing up their Conservative membership cards over this, then you have to recognise that at least some people who voted Tory last time around are not particularly happy about this.
Now - let's get the economy restarted and the pubs open!
You plebs can go to the pub!
I just want to feel safe enough to be able to complete my conquest of ScotRail by doing those last two trains west and north of Inverness.
Strong call Sunil - I have done both the lines, both are well worth doing and each offer spectacular but quite contrasting views. You should be able to go in July - do it.
My father has said by his reckoning Cummings has broken quarantine (not just lockdown) at least three times. That's utterly criminal from a public health point of view.
There are two halves to that claim.
One is whether there was significant risk to others, which has not been convincingly established.
The other is to do with public perception, on which Cummings has just attempted to skewer media reporting.
Comments
Je never regrette rien.
The Dom effect ?
Number 10 attempting to Tunnel to Java. And Dom - "I have to take decisions like this every day". Wow. You're judgement is that shit and you say you are essential to the Downing Street operation
What a fool.
Next he’ll be blaming Stephen Kinnock.
It was not a complicated situation. It was a straightforward one that you got totally wrong.
So, the story rolls on.
The Spanish government says no quarantine for foreign tourists from July 1st
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52800611
Now they can just get stuffed with extreme prejudice
Lovely present for Starmer, though.
*This shouldn't matter, of course, but I feel as if it does.
PROTECT THE NHS
SAVE LIVES
https://youtu.be/Q3Kvu6Kgp88
It will do nothing to reconcile the public to Cummings and Johnson. No one, but no one, is going to have their minds changed by this.
So why's he doing it?
Well Piers isn't convinced
He is clearly a bastard but I am not wholly unimpressed.
https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/1264947585476964352?s=20
The car thing sounds like nonsense to me
I think he came over as reasonable and contrite and many will wonder why he is such a bogey man
I blame Boris for his dreadful presentation last night for making it worse, much worse, and why I believe Boris needs to go on paternity leave
Some things have been revealed that t needed clarification including the police did not consider any further action was required, the guardian and mirror falsely accused him of a second visit, he explained his visit to Barnard Castle , and Boris was not told initially
But you can’t blame him for suggesting this hasn’t quite cut it.
For goodness sake he broke the rules and admitted to it!
Now - let's get the economy restarted and the pubs open!
It should do, actually, because there is no good reason to stop people driving around in closed groups. But his own government’s rules did prohibit it. It was not exercise nor was it shopping.
The behaviour of lots of world leaders is baffling to me on this. Not just Trump or Boris, but Merkel got exposed, Trudeau got exposed.
He, and the government, have two unenviable choices:
1. Allow "the mob" to get Cummings scalp, and he resigns.
2. Allow the story to run on for days (or perhaps even weeks) as CCTV footage is unearthed showing the Cummings family in a service station
I suspect they'll go for (2). And I suspect they'll regret it. They'll have managed to avoid looking weak, but at the expense of pissing off a lot of moderate Tories. The "one rule of them, another for us" meme will not be easily dispelled.
To be fair the statement sounded quite plausible, but I think the repeated refusal to apologise is a fatal flaw.
I just want to feel safe enough to be able to complete my conquest of ScotRail by doing those last two trains west and north of Inverness.
"Sir, can I ask you to breathe into this bag, please?"
"Well, offisher, I'd thought I'd just drive for 30 milesh to see if I'm drunk."
And the account might have been a great deal more convincing if it hadn’t taken days to emerge (see the ‘lawyered‘ comments above).
Why could this not have all been said when the story first broke, rather than waiting - and then blaming the press for their speculation ?
One is whether there was significant risk to others, which has not been convincingly established.
The other is to do with public perception, on which Cummings has just attempted to skewer media reporting.
We 'll see how it plays.