An interesting day. Boris's ldefence of Cummings was neatly summed up by The Times' Writer-in-Chief Philip Collins
Quote:
|
Johnson’s defence was ludicrous. He is just taking us all for fools. What a stupid thing to do.
|
The Financial Times' Chief features writer Henry Mance observed
Quote:
I think the PM actually made it worse. He said he’d had long conversations with Dominic Cummings but then refused to answer basic question about whether or not Cummings went to Barnard Castle.
That implies - I have a right to know but you, the public, don’t.
|
Many commentators went far further, with variations on the taking-the-public-for-idiots and one-rule-for-them, another-rule-for-us themes.
A reminder of two key allegations:
- Travelling 30 miles on his wife's birthday (12th April) to Barnard Castle at a time when travel for non-essential purposes was not allowed. This trip has not been denied by the Government.
- Travelling 264 miles with symptoms of the virus at a time when no exceptions were permitted and the clear policy for anyone with symptoms was to stay home and isolate. The Government has acknowledged this journey but tried to obfuscate matters by playing up childcare. Some have even mentioned an exception introduced some two weeks later, but the public is wiser than this.
Boris gets to keep Cummings for now but his government's reputation is now tarnished and the press will persist with their questions. It's bad news for efforts to enforce the lockdown and a clearly-divided Conservative Party but good news for Cummins and the opposition parties.