If you were annoyed at Dominic Cummings before

[NoMoreReluctantCustodians]

How has his performance in the rose garden affected your opinion?

YANBU it's made things worse
YABU its cleared things up for me

[RedHelenB]

I keep thinking "he who laughs last"

[Oysterbabe]

He obviously thinks we're idiots. Of course the only sensible thing to do to test your eyes is drive to a castle and have a nice sit down on a river bank with your wife on her birthday and your child. What else would you do?

[Muminho]

He took the piss, he fronted it out, he got away with it.

'Driving 60 miles to test his eyesight' was the biggest crock of shit you'll hear - he knows it - we know it - but he had the balls to say it with a straight face and there's nothing anyone can do. It's always been one rule for those in charge and another for the rest of us.

Time to move on.

[MistyIsland]

Since lockdown started, I have missed 6 (yes 6 family birthdays) yet it’s ok for him to drive to test his eyesight with his wife and child on her birthday! I wouldn’t have to have driven 260 miles to do this...I would have to had driven 15!

I am absolutely appalled by BJ and DC both of them are complete twats.

[TorysSuckRevokeArticle50]

I really hate all the times he said 'but I have a small child and had to do what was best for him' as if the rest of us couldn't give two shiny shits about our children.

That and the fact that at least half of what he said was very clearly lies means that I was left even more unhappy with him after his rose garden chat.

[Besom]

The eye test drive is so obviously fabricated. And even by some great leap of the imagination it is the truth - he has still flouted rules not to mention endangered his child. He doesn't even care if people know he is lying though. It makes no difference- which is infuriating.

[Helmetbymidnight]

i think moaning about the medias lies - when both he and his wife were all over the media lying about being quarantined in london was not a good look.

protesting about the wood being on his dads land, and it not being a fancy second home because its 'concrete' made him look like an incredible toff- which is fine obvs- but dont pretend youre a man of the people fighting the elite- no one is more elite than him. his father in law has a fecking castle!

the eyesight test/40 min drive thing was just silly.

if he was worried about safety in london, why bring family back asap?

hes an unelected bureaucrat - hes massively over-stepped- he shouldnt be in charge.

hes untrustworthy and i fear for this countries future with him and boris in charge.

[LaurieMarlow]

The Tories must think the UK public are stupid.

Those on here saying ‘time to move on’ are hellbent on proving them right.

The people deserve more than being lied to and made fools of by these twats.

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

It’s cleared things up. The eyesight test drive is so ridiculous it has to be true.
The thing that had been bothering me most was why they left the house after Mary had shown covid symptoms, but his story that her symptoms were not the official ones of fever and cough rings true because at that point the line was very much ‘if it’s not fever and cough it’s not covid.’ It was later on we got familiar with the wider range of symptoms.
If someone had posted on Mumsnet in March ‘I have thrown up and feel really really shit, have I got covid?’ they would have been told of course not and to stop being so attention seeking.

[DrManhattan]

He is so gross. I am hoping someone will come forward with some new evidence.
He's a liar and he should be ashamed of himself.

[Helmetbymidnight]

If someone had posted on Mumsnet in March ‘I have thrown up and feel really really shit, have I got covid?’ they would have been told of course not and to stop being so attention seeking.

really? even if they said their dh boss and everyone around them were dropping like flies from covid?

[HorseChestnutTree]

I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt if he really did have a complex personal situation regarding the care of his son. But his circumstances were just the usual parenting dilemmas- what do you do if both parents get ill and you have a small child. All parents have faced that at some point what makes him so different?

There was also no justification for the trip to Barnard's Castle to test his eyesight. That reason was not one of the permitted reasons for being out of his home, and if he had been stopped by police and presented that as a reason they would have not accepted it as valid and either turned him back or fined him. It is also dangerous to try to drive if your eyesight is in question so why put his son in the car in a risky situation? All a load of tosh.

I wonder if his wife is on MumsNet?

[Freddiefox]

but his story that her symptoms were not the official ones of fever and cough rings true because at that point the line was very much ‘if it’s not fever and cough it’s not covid.’

We were told to stay home. A 13 year old boy died alone because we were told to stay home.
Funeral have been held without families because we were told to stay homes

[Bluebellpainting]

The justification of him driving 260 miles for childcare just in case because he had no one in London aside (You are telling me a very senior civil servant can’t get support for food delivery, emergency care for a child while family travel down if needed and police to organise security at his home if needed)
You have the drive to test his eyesight- in which his is so worried about your sons safety that you needed to go to Durham yet thought it was safe to test his eyesight by going for a drive (dangerous for other road users but also his son who was in the car.)
but also the article in which he and his wife lied- stating you were in London. They lied in this article so what is to say he isn’t lying now!

[SoupDragon]

I'm far more annoyed by all the bloody threads than I ever was about anything he'd done. I wish there was a Dominic Cummings topic so I could hide it.

[glomerulus]

It was up there with the Prince Andrew interview in terms of clearing the air.

His explanation that he was special because he has a job and a child didn't really do much for me, given that I also have a job and more than one child of similar ages, and still managed to not leave the house when we had COVID symptoms. Y'know, like the rules and guidelines (which I read thoroughly at the time) were quite clear about.

The eyesight thing really was something, wasn't it? For someone who is held up as some kind of shadowy genius it really took a bit of the shine off.

[taraRoo]

I think I would have done the same thing as him tbh (Well going to my parents bit the trip to the castle that was particularly dumb). I live in London with no one really to look after my son and I have thought often about what we would do if we both had c.v and were too sick to care for Him. However, i am not a senior government advisor. There is no doubt that he bent the rules and as an architect of the rules he should lead by example. He should have apologised, admitted he was wrong and resigned.

[Inoneminute]

I think it's clear the family had a rough time of it, although some of that does seem to be that they over reacted to the wife's and the son's illness, but even so it must have been stressful.

I still don't see how driving 260 miles helped their situation, was necessary or reasonable and the embellishments to the story to justify the other sightings are ridiculous.

I don't care about him anymore though, I do think the fact that he was given that platform and sooooo much government time has been given to this demonstrates just how weak the PM is and I don't think that will go away. He'll survive for now but the party will have him out as soon as this crisis (that no one else will want to manage) is over.

[rosie1959]

He has given his account
But quite honestly what he has done or not done in his private life is not much concern to me
Certainly cant be arsed to be enraged by it
Was he a prat- most definitely Will it effect my life - no

[caringdenise009]

Google "contact downing Street" and raise your concerns using the email form to make your points directly to the PM. It will take 5 minutes.

[AnneLovesGilbert]

The insistence on it being a complicated situation has pissed me right off. He’s not the only parent in the country. What I heard was his wife had a dicky tummy and after puking once feared - not sure why - that she both have corona, of what vomiting is not a common symptom, and that she’d be imminently incapacitated. So they got in the car and managed to drive for 4+ hours without anyone needing a wee or his wife needing to throw up again. Bollocks. Utter bollocks. And it gets more ridiculous from there. I’m looking forward to her sister, who lives very near them in London, being forced to back up the idea that the only people able to do back up childcare, which let’s remember they didn’t actually need, were some teenage nieces. Who apparently never even saw them in Durham.

Don’t get me started on the fucking eye test driving tripe.

I’d never heard him speak before so was stunned at how pathetic he sounded. Can you imagine him and Boris trying to discuss anything? Umm umm umm, blah blah braying, but um, rah rah rah.

Was he sitting down so the journos looked like they were bullying him?

While I’m ranting, why the fuck does Peston have his job? Jesus, what a waffling shit show of incompetence. He and itv should be ashamed.

[NoMoreReluctantCustodians]

@SoupDragon sorry for irritating you. Maybe if you see DC name in the title, dont open the thread?

[taraRoo]

@inoneminute I think you are right re Johnson. I also think he's shown his true colours for the first time. He is only out for one person and that's himself. He needs Cummings and doesn't care what message this sends to the public. He also shows no understanding or card for those less fortunate than himself. He is extremely privileged and so are his pals. He doesn't seem to get that most people don't have vast estates to retire to.

[InsanityRocks]

Time to move on.

I heartily disagree