The story of Dominic Cummings
So, it’s been hard to avoid the public’s discontent with Boris Johnson’s chief advisor, Dominic Cummings after it was found that he had driven to Durham from his home in London, days after nationwide lockdown was initiated.
So, what were the reasons he thought he should drive up there?
In his public statement he clarified that he had travelled to Durham as a precautionary measure in case he was in immediate need of childcare due to his wife becoming ill and the potential he might become ill with Covid-19 symptoms. He made one continuous journey from London to his father’s farm, where there was an isolated cottage, on the night of Friday the 27th of March. He later developed coronavirus-like symptoms and was bedbound for days. Later, on the 2nd of April his son had become ill and upon the advice of medical advice, he was advised that his son should stay in hospital. It was not clear whether he had coronavirus at this time.
The following day he left hospital after what seemed like a spell of food poisoning or a common sickness bug and later received a negative coronavirus test. Cummings got progressively worse whilst his wife and son were getting better. On government advice, he stayed self-isolated for 14 days having his sister bring him food and necessities. As his body fought the virus, he started to feel better and took a walk with his family in the woods of his father’s property.
He and his family no longer had symptoms by the 11th of April and started planning to go back to London. He sought advice from medical experts over whether it was safe to return that Sunday. They said he was safe so before embarking on the 260-mile journey, he wanted to see if he was fit to drive as he had experienced some side effects on his vision so drove for half an hour to Barnard Castle. He didn’t enter the town or come into contact with anyone whilst he was out. They returned to his father’s farm to pack their things ready to leave on Easter Monday. They arrived back in London that evening, and he went back to work the following day.
So, before this statement had been made, there was ambiguity over whether rules had been broken or not and this really wasn’t looking good for the government. Whether or not the rules had been broken, public mood had been turned and this is arguably the most important thing. When figures in government are seen to break rules, it’s seen as hypocritical because they’re the ones who contribute to the creation of these rules, but I don’t think the call of hypocrisy is as prevalent for other ministers. The Welsh Labour health minister broke the rules by having a picnic, Stephen Kinnock travelled hundreds of miles to visit his parents; Tahir Ali, the Labour MP for Birmingham Hall Green, attended a funeral with 100 other people and Kevan Jones who attended a birthday party all broke lockdown rules but there was no call from Keir Starmer for them to resign. The chief medical officer in Scotland had travelled to her second home for leisure purposes and was discovered over it. Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the SNP in Scotland, emphatically defended her and called it a mistake. Nicola Sturgeons position on Mr Cummings however is that he must go. Now I’m not going to turn this into justification for Cummings’ actions nor a game of finger pointing but it’s some actions that have been seen but not acted upon by the media and party leaders.
Dominic Cummings didn’t break lockdown rules and I will happily say that and defend that he was acting upon judgement for the safest way for his family to recover. He did not venture outside of his family unit whilst travelling nor did he break any of the rules to the extent of other MPs. Although the actions may have been questionable, I don’t believe that the rules had been broken in the way that the left-wing media are portraying that he has. I think that he’s being torn apart by the media not because of the “breach of lockdown” but because of his political agenda and positioning within government as it’s no secret that he’s disliked by Conservative MPs and this is an excuse for them to resign over it.
I’d also like to highlight the media and the press who are shouting hypocrisy at the man but the double standards which I’ve seen within them is astounding. Anyone who can condone the press outside Cummings’ house are rather sick-minded and I could guarantee that they were criticising the press when they were bombarding Caroline Flack or even Princess Diana during their time of public scrutiny. The fact that he is being portrayed falsely is having an impact on him. His house is being targeted for abuse and he’s being targeted which is rather reminiscent of the late MP Jo Cox who was targeted because of her political beliefs.
I don’t think that the media should be proud of themselves for what they’re doing. Don’t get me wrong, the media has a role to ask the questions to people in public office to make sure they’re kept under control, but the recent behaviour has been outrageous. Sky News have approached his father’s address with unwarranted questions for his family who are innocent, a Sky News reporter also stood outside number 10 and hurled abuse at Matt Hancock whilst he was attending a daily briefing. Most shockingly, the BBC, who are legally required to be impartial, gave a shocking statement from a controversial journalist, Emily Maitlis. These are just a few examples of the media’s behaviour that should be condemned.
Although his story has been told, the majority of the British population has lost trust in the government. 71% of people believe he broke the rules. Twitter has been metaphorically on fire with people saying they’ve lost trust regardless of his story. Johnson’s approval rating plummeted 20 points today after his government defended the actions of Cummings. There is conflict within the Conservative party with resignations happening. Some may say a vote of no confidence is on its way. This virus is not just a health issue but now a political one and the government will face huge scrutiny and who knows what will come out of that? We will not be living in prosperity; we won’t be reaping the benefits of the manifesto promises and they will pay for that at the next election.