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Will he resign?

(1001 Posts)
MaizieD Fri 22-May-20 22:09:15

News breaking tonight that Dominic Cummings and his wife, when ill with Covid-19, put their child in the car and drove 260 miles from London to Durham so that they could isolate at his parent's place and his parents look after the child. This happened some time after 27th March. Remember lockdown was imposed on 23rd March.

Seen in his parent's garden with his child on 5th April.

Neil Fergusson resigned because his lover visited his house after lockdown.

Scotland's Chief Medical Officer had to resign after visiting her second home twice after lockdown.

Cummings and his wife drive 260 miles to stay with his parents (who must be in their 60s at the very least)... What will he do?

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/dominic-cummings-investigated-police-after-22072579?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar

Story is in most of the MSM now.

Iam64 Mon 25-May-20 13:44:14

MaizeD - thanks for the link to the piece by the parent who has autism, an an autistic child. Not only is it a good piece, it isn't any different than the kind of fail safe's any parents need. Our grandchildren can't be cared for by grandparents, as they usually would be. But - their 2 sets of parents have plans in place in case anyone becomes ill. That's what parents do.

MamaCaz Mon 25-May-20 13:38:25

JenniferEccles Mon 25-May-20 13:27:52
Having someone come to his house to help with his son would also have broken regulations, so that wouldn’t have been an alternative

I thought that the original rules allowed visits to people who needed care?

Whitewavemark2 Mon 25-May-20 13:37:43

If people don’t get this is an outrage they should understand that it goes to the very heart of the British constitution and the separation of powers.

Whitewavemark2 Mon 25-May-20 13:31:35

How does Johnson explain this?
From the spad code of conduct

Special advisers must not take public part in political controversy, through any form of
statement whether in speeches or letters to the press."

Whitewavemark2 Mon 25-May-20 13:28:43

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL
@campbellclaret
Re Cummings press event, a note to Cabinet Secretary and to chair of the lobby. 1. Cummings, an unelected adviser, should not use same venue/format as ministers/scientists. 2. As it is personal he should not be associated with any government messaging related to the crisis. 1/3
3. It should be a socially distanced event so questions are asked/answered face to face. 4. After his statement the media not Cummings should decide who asks questions. 5. As lobby chair
@PippaCrerar
should chair this q and a 6. No 10 cannot exclude either the Mirror or the a Guardian

7. There should be no limit in either time or number for follow up questions. Journalists will confirm that this was the approach taken in the past when unelected advisers faced the media 3/3

JenniferEccles Mon 25-May-20 13:27:52

Having someone come to his house to help with his son would also have broken regulations, so that wouldn’t have been an alternative

Urmstongran Mon 25-May-20 13:25:26

No Lucca just hoping those on here get the answers they need. There’s some very annoyed posters on this thread, signing petitions and urging others to contact their MP’s.

Hopefully DC can assuage their annoyances.

NfkDumpling Mon 25-May-20 13:25:06

So, having read Maisie’s link, the son is NOT autistic!

That’s that excuse gone then.

Whitewavemark2 Mon 25-May-20 13:22:50

Why is an unelected bureaucrat who has flouted the law being given a propaganda platform? Who will he asking the questions? Won’t this prejudice any enquiry into his actions?

MaizieD Mon 25-May-20 13:22:31

I*t is not reliably established that the child is autistic.* So far it's just a rumour that originated on twitter.

What is the saying? "A lie can run all the way round the world before truth has put its shoes on "

harrigran Mon 25-May-20 13:16:51

If the child is autistic surely it would be more injurious to him to remove him from all that is familiar to him.
Does not get the sympathy vote from me and no respect for DC's mother who should have developed a backbone and told her son to stay at home.

Whitewavemark2 Mon 25-May-20 13:15:45

At least we can now be in no doubt as to who is in charge.

Lucca Mon 25-May-20 13:15:32

You seem to find this amusing UG. I have never seen so many people of all political persuasions and from all backgrounds so furious

MaizieD Mon 25-May-20 13:14:25

It seems that the 'autistic' child could very well be very fake news. One twitter user decided to try and track down its source as there is no mention of it from reputable online sources.

This is his account of what he found:

threadreaderapp.com/thread/1264731537913925632.html

The originator of the story 'thought' he'd heard someone mention it on a LBC morning show.

Can anyone refute this from a reliable source dated well before all this blew up?

Whitewavemark2 Mon 25-May-20 13:14:24

An unelected bureaucrat is taking part in a press conference.

This is so wrong from whichever way you look at it!! What is the constitutional status. Who is he answering for?

Urmstongran Mon 25-May-20 13:11:34

Cummings is prepared to answer questions after his statement.

Line up ladies!

Urmstongran Mon 25-May-20 13:10:11

This afternoon Lucca is all I can find so far.

Parsley3 Mon 25-May-20 13:09:16

I repeat. Brilliant tactic to slip in the news that the child is autistic at the height of the fury. People will now change their opinions about his actions as witnessed in some of these posts. The other sightings however might take more thought to be made easier for us to swallow.

Urmstongran Mon 25-May-20 13:08:56

The Doctor who threatens to resign at the end of this week if Cummings doesn’t reminds me of all the luvvies who said they’d leave the U.K. if Brexit won! They are still here, bless.
?

Lucca Mon 25-May-20 13:02:57

Remember when dian Abbott had to apologise for drinking can of mojito on a train? If Cummings had at least apologised .
When is he talking to the press ?

Jane10 Mon 25-May-20 12:58:28

No time for expensive foot dragging enquiry. Any savvy SPAD would have resigned by now. His continued employment is seriously affecting the credibility of the party he's supposed to be helping.
Long past time for him to fall on his sword. Boris will go down with him.

GrannyGravy13 Mon 25-May-20 12:56:41

grannyactivist I totally agree with your post ?

Niobe Mon 25-May-20 12:56:10

Surely political advisors are there to advise but it’s up to their boss to accept or reject that advice. No politician has just one advisor anyway, the buck stops with the politician or PM in this case.

grannyactivist Mon 25-May-20 12:55:21

I feel very uncomfortable seeing reporters breaking social distancing rules whilst doorstepping Cummings outside his home. I also think that the way forward in this situation is for an independent Inquiry to be established immediately in order to ascertain the FACTS, using evidence from the police, ANPR records should be accessible to verify or refute claims of travel within the time frame. Then if DM has been proven to have broken the rules on lockdown he should be dismissed.

Urmstongran Mon 25-May-20 12:54:10

Well well.

Dominic Cummings is about to make a statement and answer questions - according to an on line alert from the Guardian.!

This will be very interesting.
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