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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think Dominic Cummings has to go?

999 replies

RoosterPie · 22/05/2020 20:39

Dominic Cummings apparently travelled to his parents house while meant to be self isolating due to covid symptoms.

Given what happened with Neil Ferguson and Catherine Calderwood, AIBU to think his position ought to be untenable?

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/22/dominic-cummings-durham-trip-coronavirus-lockdown

OP posts:
Thread gallery
15
merrymouse · 23/05/2020 17:04

It's likely he sought guidance from them before proceeding with this anyway.

I very much doubt this, although if they had told him that it was fine to travel from London to Durham incase he needed help, while telling families of children with complex needs that they have to cope alone, it would make things even worse.

It seems pretty clear that the government are retrospectively saying that lockdown was always voluntary and a matter of interpretation, sacrificing trust to save Cummings.

lyralalala · 23/05/2020 17:08

I wonder if he'll chuck his wife under the bus. There is a gulf between her account of their lockdown for Spectator magazine and his account of what they did.

HeIenaDove · 23/05/2020 17:14

Now government ministers are retrospectively telling us that the rules were optional

Fucking Dan Hodges said no laws had been broken and is optional

So you heard it here people. Any fines that have been issued should be null and void

The guy who was told off for standing in his own garden needs to take a complaint even further. So does anyone who had their shopping inspected.

Am Mner posted that she was stopped by police on the way back from the corner shop. Which is harassment either way but if this was all optional even worse right?

So lawyers get ready!

DioneTheDiabolist · 23/05/2020 17:15

Well, at least now we all know. Do not travel unless you have a child and CV19 or suspect you do.

ListeningQuietly · 23/05/2020 17:19

I do hope somebody is going through the CCTV of all the motorway services on the M1
Not many 4 year old boys can do a 4 hour drive without needing a wee break .....

ThePianist38 · 23/05/2020 17:19

Well it says he drove to a house nearby his family in case they needed childcare, not actually to his parents house. I don’t think he should go, if he and his wife needed to be taken to hospital who would have taken the child considering his family is hours away .

Intothesun · 23/05/2020 17:19

why don't you be honest and admit you would slavishly support Cummings and tories whatever they do, however indefensible.

Well I could do that. But it wouldn't be true. I've voted labour all my life. Just because I don't agree with you on this point doesn't make me a Tory supporter. It means that I don't disagree with what he did on this occasion. I don't blindly follow labour and support every one of their decisions just because I vote for them either. In the future I may or may not agree with decisions the Tories make as well, depending on what they are. The beauty of critical thought. We are allowed to step back and analyse each individual situation for what it is you know.

PrimeroseHillAnnie · 23/05/2020 17:22

At least he’s not dragging us into an illegal war !

MaxNormal · 23/05/2020 17:23

if he and his wife needed to be taken to hospital who would have taken the child considering his family is hours away

His wife's brother, in London?

It was supposedly another house on his parents property but that all seems a big vague, reports of him being in the house with his father then the police arrived. Then, that dreadful pious article by his wife where no mention was made of them travelling anywhere.

But hey, fuck it. I've been itching to do some campervanning up in the Highlands. And I don't even have symptoms! And it's a necessary journey for my mental health. So off I go.

ListeningQuietly · 23/05/2020 17:24

At least he’s not dragging us into an illegal war !
No, he just caused Brexit.
Nothing to see here.

MaxNormal · 23/05/2020 17:24

At least he’s not dragging us into an illegal war !

That's a low fucking bar. And was some time ago, it doesn't give every subsequent politician/senior adviser ever, permission to be awful.

DioneTheDiabolist · 23/05/2020 17:26

The police spokesman quoted in the article says otherwise ThePianist38.

"...a spokesman for Durham Constabulary said: “On Tuesday, March 31, our officers were made aware of reports that an individual had travelled from London to Durham and was present at an address in the city. Officers made contact with the owners of that address who confirmed that the individual in question was present and was self-isolating in part of the house. Not in a house nearby.

Alsohuman · 23/05/2020 17:26

At least he’s not dragging us into an illegal war !

I suspect what he’s dragging us into is significantly worse than an illegal war.

Intothesun · 23/05/2020 17:27

while telling families of children with complex needs that they have to cope alone, it would make things even worse.

This is very difficult. If people have high care needs and existing support plans they are not being cancelled. Well they shouldn't be anyway as it's breaking the guidelines. That's down to individual councils if they are. But it's also been very difficult to actually get people the support they need in the midst of a Pandemic. If there's not enough people to provide the support then what can we do?

chomalungma · 23/05/2020 17:27

Sure there's going to be more coming out soon

Notonthestairs · 23/05/2020 17:27

Mrs Cummings/Mary Wakefield's brother lives in London. If they'd needed emergency childcare I'm sure he could have stepped in to the breach. DC's PA lives 2 streets away in sure he/she could have dropped off a few ready meals.

They didn't need to travel anywhere.

Mary Wakefield definitely didn't need to write an article describing their experience of CV19 without mentioning that they had traveled to Durham.

BertiesLanding · 23/05/2020 17:28

I guess I'm one of the very, very few people who feel Cummings was entirely justified to do what he did. If my partner were very sick, we had a young child, and I myself were starting to feel sick, I would go to family to help look after our kid if we found that we could not.

Cummings gets such vitriol, and I'm not sure why. I've read all the arguments (most of them unfounded or twisted versions of the truth), and I'm still not sure why.

lyralalala · 23/05/2020 17:30

At least he’s not dragging us into an illegal war !

Pure whataboutery

My father beat the crap out of me and starved me as a child. Doesn't mean I can treat my kids like shit and say "Well, at least it's better than he did"

TheABC · 23/05/2020 17:31

@PrimeroseHillAnnie

But the Government he is advising has seen 63, 000 excess deaths on their watch. British lives. At least 20,000 in care homes who were basically thrown to the wolves.

Whilst Cummings was driving around the country, I was waiting to see if my DDad would survive his emergency op. Or my DGDad would recover from his stroke. I still have not seen them, nor my new baby nephew.

Remind me again why Cummings is so special?

Intothesun · 23/05/2020 17:32

His wife's brother, in London?

Maybe. I don't know his circumstances. Maybe he could have taken the child. Maybe he wasn't in a position to. We don't actually know do we. I would assume if there was a better option he would have taken it. But none of us know whether there was a better option or not.

ListeningQuietly · 23/05/2020 17:34

Berties
If you are ill you do not get in a car and drive for 4 hours
that is stupid and dangerous at any time

Intothesun · 23/05/2020 17:35

If they'd needed emergency childcare I'm sure he could have stepped in to the breach

You're not really sure though are you. How could you be if you don't know their circumstances. Unless of course you know them personally. You just think he could have stepped in. Which is not the same.

mondaynoon · 23/05/2020 17:36

If someone in my family had coronavirus symptoms I would not want to spend 4 hours in a car with them! He was definitely risking his child catching it.

OceanOrchid · 23/05/2020 17:37

In order to justify this, the public are being asked to believe:

  • both parents were too ill to care for the child at home in London, but at least 1 was safe to drive and to care for the child in Durham (is Durham magic?!)
  • there was no options for support in London, ie they have no friends and the mother’s brother is unsuitable as childcare / essential supply drop off
  • the guidance said it was fine (I can’t find that part of the guidance, and nor can any journalists or government ministers)

Obviously, I don’t believe any of those things. I think DC thought himself above the rules (exactly the same as Neil Ferguson and Catherine Calderwood). He ought to resign because he broke the rules and by allowing him to continue in post it sends a terrible message to the public.

Above all else, it is essential for the next stage of lifting lockdown rules that those who have covid19 or have come in to contact with an infected person self-isolate. If the government can’t persuade those who are infected to stay at home we have no hope of controlling the virus. And (imo) they have no chance of doing that while a senior adviser is seen to get away with breaking the self-isolation rules.

Alsohuman · 23/05/2020 17:41

Spot on @OceanOrchid. Of the many, many things this government has done to display its arrogance and contempt for the electorate, this is by far the worst. It’s not going away either.