Just So We Clear, D C Should Have Sacfrificed His Kid, Is That What The Left Journos Are Saying?

[ToraToraTora]

Can someone explain what he should have done?

[gness]

Ah well...we can disagree, Roy....I blame the UK and the Dubs..you can blame the Dubs....I have absolutely no problem with that... :-)

[Jackdaw33]

They are not guards, they are gardai. Even I know that.

[royfromaus]

You blame a nation and a city?

[jim360]

I don't believe the circumstances were extraordinary enough to justify a trip to Durham. It is quite simply ludicrous to pretend that the only option, let alone the most sensible one, available was to make such a trip. I can accept that Cummings may have been worried as a parent but he was one of only millions of parents who have had similar worries, and almost all of them would never have countenanced such a journey during the height of lockdown -- it is an insult to parents to imply that staying put in that case was, by implication of Johnson's words on Sunday, not the action of a loving father.

That much I could still have excused all the same, as an error of judgement, but it is clear that Cummings' natural instinct to blame the media rather than himself for this mess won through in the end. It is clear, too, that his excuse for the trip to Barnard Castle -- on his wife's birthday(?!) -- is far from the most reasonable course of action. If you need to test your eyesight then maybe you don't go on a 60-mile round trip with two other people in your car to a scenic town/village and riverside walk. Just read a book, for crying out loud.

In the event, Cummings won't be sacked. He is too important -- or seen to be too important, which is a very different thing -- to the overriding issue of this Government's platform to be cast aside now. But just a single word and he would have been forgiven by enough to justify Johnson's faith.

[gness]

Well, Jackdaw...you know the way you say....cops...bobbies and so on?

Well we just call them guards..... An Garda Síochána is a bit of a mouthful.

[jno]

Gness, personally I thik he was endangering his parents mroe than his child.

But the notion that not being able to get a childminder is an "extraordinary circumstance" that forces you to drive hundreds of miles is an unusual one (though it may indicate just how many friends he has). And the idea that the best way to check your eyesight is to drive a car is an extraordinary circumstance in itself.

[gness]

Spicerack's quiet...no answer?

[royfromaus]

Why on earth has naomi been suspended?

[gness]

Ahh....says Boris.....how can I can calm the public...I know....I'll open some shops.

[Mozz71]

//Why on earth has naomi been suspended?//

I tell you what Roy, if her nemesis was behind it, the fan's going to be covered in sh ite.

[campbellking]

I think it's perfectly understandable and appropriate that given Specsavers is currently closed that he took a long journey to test his eyesight.

[Arrods]

Apparently the Daily Mail are blaming Cummins for the thousands that flocked to the coast, flouting lockdown rules. Speaks volumes.

[retrocop]

Arrods
People would of flocked to the coast in this weather irrespective of Cummins. Unfortunately the government expected people to use common sense when the the guidelines were drawn up.There is a serious lack of common sense and an abundance of selfishness despite Cummins. I am sure he will be made a scapegoat for years to come by the baying herd.

[Arrods]

Exactly retrocop. Just like the baying press outside his home social distancing. Yeah right.

[retrocop]

Another example of stupid badly thought out guidelines and rules rushed out too hastily by people in power who do not have to implement the product of their stupidity but leave others to clear up the mess they create.
Apparently the 'press pigs' or papparazzi enjoy 'special exemption' to social distancing. Let me total up the number of journos who were giving their news reports at home because of corvid symptoms recently.Most of the press pigs were not even attempting to cover their mouth,eyes, and nose in their attempt to get the ultimate photo opportunity. This virus does not take prisoners with or without a press pass.

[10ClarionSt]

There are some great answers on this thread. Thanks everyone. However, I'm glad Cummings made that trip. He knew that the lockdown was a load of cobblers and totally unnecessary and it now means everyone can do the same. If it doesn't mean that, then he should be sacked. Johnson keeps saying Yeh but, yeh but, yeh but, making excuses for him. OK, keep him on but don't be surprised when lockdown disintegrates.

Actually, Johnsons' response is no surprise because he's blustered his way through this pandemic - when he's been around. I know he's been very ill for part of it, but since then how many briefings has he attended? And when he has attended, he never knows anything. He passes the questions on to someone else. So go for it people!

[diddlydo]

I'd love to see Sir Keir Starmer QC question Cummings. I know it won't happen but we can dream! Maybe he'll be able to have a go at Cumming's side-kick aka Boris at the next PMQs. Here's hoping.

[youngmafbog]

Well it has all turned into a witch-hunt now hasn't it? The left are queuing up to get him along with the like so of Soubry, BBC and other such organisations so any pretence it is anything other than political now is out the window.

I still maintain DC should have fallen on his sword up front and then just 'done a Mandy' and return later. Now, BoJo cannot sack him or it will look like he is caving to the left and a few back bench rebels.

[youngmafbog]

Why would Rodney question the oppositions aide?

Like I say, it is now (although it wasn't originally) a political witch hunt.

[Old_Geezer]

I think that DC gave a reasonable account of his actions, but I'm unsure how much of it I believe. It sounds plausible, which of course it has to be, but it also sounds the sort of thing one might say in order to justify one's actions, post eventum. Plus it would depend on he and his wife being so ill that they couldn't think of simpler solutions at the time. Bit questionable that; a chief adviser unable to work out consequences.

Going forward, whether he goes or stays isn't clear; nor am I particularly fussed, although I suspect the PM would miss DC's political mind. Just have to hope things move on quickly as another DC row isn't particularly useful.