Dominic Cummings

[MrGongGong]

To quote the Leopold Amery, a Conservative M.P., during the Munich Crisis: "in the name of God, go!" Dominic Cummings is causing the credibility of this government to suffer and, more importantly, the rule of law, to be called into question. This is, by any standards, a disaster, and should be brought to an end now by either him doing the decent thing and resigning, or the Prime Minister sacking him. The longer this drags on, the worse it is for all of us!

Don't you think it merely exposes the way that the idea that "the rule of law" applies equally to everyone is a myth ?




It was amusing to hear on R4 the attempt to get faux outrage at the idea that DC's neighbours shouting at him in the street was somehow unacceptable, but a handy loss of signal left it hanging.... YES we should be calling these people out at every opportunity.

[Frances_iom]

.. more importantly, the rule of law, to be called into question. ..

The rule of law is that the powerful are not subject to these petty restrictions - why people still believe the opposite defeats me as Lord Action explained it very clearly over a century ago - "all power corrupts ..." - DC believes that he is above the law as he holds the present system in contempt

[Flay]

Alistair Campbell's BBC interview. Pure gold

https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/gqzlzl/alistair_campbells_bbc_interview_for_anyone_who/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

[Dave2002]

Don't you think it merely exposes the way that the idea that "the rule of law" applies equally to everyone is a myth ?

Ouch!

Thanks for highlighting the contrasts.

These things work in contexts. In the Dominic Cummings case, as a husband and father, he may have done what he felt was the right thing. I don't have a problem with that. What I do have is the assumption that that is also compatible with his work and context within government. That behaviour is incompatible with the context, and he should be prepared to take the consequences. As a supposedly intelligent man he should be capable of uderstanding this, and have thought this out. He would have had time to reflect on this on the drive up to Durham, and my guess is the road was fairly empty so even if his eyesight was already deteriorating he should have been able to consider things more carefully.

Why does he want to hang on in any case, for heavens sake? What's so important that he has to disrupt the workings of the country? Does he really think he's so important, or a saviour of us all, or is it all about Dominic Cummings? If it's just money, he probably wouldn't be any worse off if he resiged. The country would be better off - and he would still be able to make inputs to government in other ways if he felt so strongly.

[oddoneout]

From the local rag. He is a business man, I wonder how he would react to an employee taking liberties with his company's rules? Would grit in the oyster be seen as desirable then?

Jerome Mayhew, Conservative MP for Broadland, said Mr Cummings should not lose his job.
He said: “For my part, whilst I accept the explanation for the move to Durham, I find it hard to understand the rationale for the later trip to Barnard Castle.”
But he said Mr Cummings should not lose his job.
He said: “If we apply the same rules to him as to the rest of us, I don’t think so. But a recognition that he made a mistake would go a long way.”
Mr Mayhew said that a “media storm” was “rarely conducive to good decision making” and that Mr Johnson had “gone through the detail for several hours with Mr Cummings and concluded that the rules were not broken.”
And Mr Mayhew added: “The media reports suggest that Mr Cummings has a difficult personality. My personal view is that every large organisation desperately needs difficult people like Mr Cummings to ask the awkward questions, to challenge the comfortable status quo, to ruffle feathers, to provoke change.
“People like him are the grit in the oyster that will help make government better. Whilst no-one is indispensable, we definitely need people like Mr Cummings within the decision-making process of government.
Mr Mayhew concluded: “This whole debate is a huge distraction from what is really important: how best to tackle the coronavirus and get the country back on its feet as quickly as possible.

[Andrew]

Ironically, neither Dominic Cummings nor the asylum seeker floating across the English Channel are likely to be punished in any meaningful way for breaking the law!

[oddoneout]

An opinion piece in the Guardian points out that the 'exceptional circumstances' clause invoked by Cummings was inserted in the lockdown rules to enable victims of domestic abuse to be protected, as he must have been fully aware.

[MrGongGong]

Ironically, neither Dominic Cummings nor the asylum seeker floating across the English Channel are likely to be punished in any meaningful way for breaking the law!

In one case the "law" isn't morally justifiable IMV therefore "breaking" it is perfectly reasonable and understandable.
There are many things that have been "against the law" historically.

[MrGongGong]

An opinion piece in the Guardian points out that the 'exceptional circumstances' clause invoked by Cummings was inserted in the lockdown rules to enable victims of domestic abuse to be protected, as he must have been fully aware.

Surely his child is "at risk"?
I would think that Social Services need to consider this case.

[LMcD]

Alistair Campbell's BBC interview. Pure gold

https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/...m_medium=web2x

While I agree with most of what Campbell said, the whole thing is ultimately navel-gazing of a high (or do I mean of a low?) order - 2 media types fretting on air about what the rest of us think, NOT of the state of the nation but of THEM.

[Count Boso]

You forget, this is Matt Hancock you are talking about - the needy middle manager, desperately eager to please his boss (remember the Tory leadership election, the somewhat nauseating spectacle MT how he instantly switching from being his own man to becoming BJ biggest cheerleader).

One of Crace's most inspired sobriquets from this morning's column: "Door Matt"

[DracoM]

Check out today's BBC R4 'More or less' on Door Matt's 'testing' stats...................ouch......!!!

[gurnemanz]

Newsnight last night.

[DracoM]

Sharp and unequivocal? Well, apparently not to BJ?

[johnb]

[QUOTE=Count Boso;794461]

You forget, this is Matt Hancock you are talking about - the needy middle manager, desperately eager to please his boss (remember the Tory leadership election, the somewhat nauseating spectacle MT how he instantly switching from being his own man to becoming BJ biggest cheerleader).
One of Crace's most inspired sobriquets from this morning's column: "Door Matt"

(Whoops - apologies for the nonsensical wording. I must remember to proof read what I write.)

I kind of miss those far off days of The Maybot and The Four Pot Plants.