to think Dominic Cummings has to go?

[RoosterPie]

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

So, Boris will say he's accepted his resignation or he's backing him and standing by him.
What do we think?

SophieB100 will be very interesting.

I honestly think that he has to go, but the chutzpa of this lot makes me wonder if they will try to bluff it out.

He will call us all 'big sillies' and shake his mop of golden hair at us. There will be some mumbling and waffling and then DC will still have a job and Putin will still have his man in number 10.

Wow, that must have taken some serious thumb-screws from Cummings to get Bozo to do the briefing! I'm still going with (non) apology 'error of judgement let's draw a line under it' type bullshit.

I've heard that 111 responders, on attending a single parent household where a child was having COVID problems, and mother was herself coughing blood, said no way should anyone leave the house. Even if her second, clinically vulnerable, child needed caring for by someone else. Luckily none of them needed hospital in the end.

"At the government’s daily press conference on 24 March, England’s deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries spoke of the “exceptional circumstance” of an unwell adult unable to care for a young child."

“A small child clearly is a vulnerable individual, so in this case, although we are encouraging everybody to stay in their own households–that’s the unit with the same risk of exposure–clearly if you have adults who are unable to look after a small child, that is an exceptional circumstance,” Dr Harries said."

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/coronavirus-symptoms-parents-children-childcare-dominic-cummings-a9529481.html

So, Boris will say he's accepted his resignation or he's backing him and standing by him.

No idea!

My theory is that MW did the driving & DC was merely Doggo in the car.
It would be nice to get the timeline from DC & MW.

@Shortsally Not really, as it seems the virus isn't that serious, advice was just that... take it or leave it, You have convinced me!

Whats good for the Goose is good for the Gander.

A small child clearly is a vulnerable individual, so in this case, although we are encouraging everybody to stay in their own households–that’s the unit with the same risk of exposure–clearly if you have adults who are unable to look after a small child, that is an exceptional circumstance,” Dr Harries said

Falls down somewhat as Cummings could drive to Durham, so was clearly also able to look after a child OR he was unfit to drive, either way highly irresponsible

They are saying he didnt go back to Durham after 19 April But he did.

Sturgeon's just tweeted that he must go!

clearly if you have adults who are unable to look after a small child, that is an exceptional circumstance

Except this point was not reached.

Many, many people with caring responsibilities were self isolating because of symptoms at the end of March. They did not all pre-emptively jump in a car and drive 250 miles, because the government advice was very clearly 'stay at home'.

If the government advice had been 'stay at home, unless you would rather move somewhere else', that should have been made clear to everyone, and Dr Harries could have said this on 24th March. I am sure that many people self isolating alone would also have liked to move to another household, incase they needed support, but we were told to stay at home.

"I know it is tough to lose a trusted adviser at the height of crisis, but when it’s a choice of that or integrity of vital public health advice, the latter must come first. That’s the judgment I and, to her credit, Catherine Calderwood reached. PM and Cummings should do likewise."

Sturgeon's tweet above.

So that means you can definitely drive as far as you need to stay in another residence if any of

A) you have a small child or anyone vulnerable in the family
B) anyone in your household has c19 symptoms
C) you're worried that anyone in your household might get c19

Cool! at 5pm today Is BJ apologising that he didn't explain that sooner? Second home owners have a lovely green light now.

Apart from the principle I'm not sure why it matters if DC is sacked or not
He's a political adviser - it wouldn't stop him advising Boris, would it - even if not quite so openly?

the “exceptional circumstance” of an unwell adult unable to care for a young child

Yes but DC wasn’t unwell so this wouldn’t have met that exceptional circumstance. And the chances of them both becoming so unwell that they couldn’t muddle through (like everyone else has to) were extremely small considering the vast majority of people will not have severe symptoms.

Some think Boris may say there will be an inquiry so it buys him a bit more time. Not sure that would stop the difficult questions. I wonder if The Mirror/Guardian have anything else.

It would mean removal of his Downing Street access and his authority over other civil servants. It would cut his political balls off.

And the chances of them both becoming so unwell that they couldn’t muddle through

Also their access to resources unavailable to other people.

It would mean removal of his Downing Street access and his authority over other civil servants. It would cut his political balls off.

Yes, and also, crucially it would show us that Boris isn't scared to make a decision. It would reiterate the message of the lockdown, and might, just might go some way to restore a bit of credibility to the government. If he does say there will be a public enquiry (which Peston thinks will happen) then it will buy him some time, but do nothing to improve the current storm against this. They need to keep the public on side, it's crucial that they address this swiftly, otherwise their giving us the green light to interpret the rules just as we want to - a few days before they are due to announce a possible loosening of restrictions.

Spot on @SophieB100.

Surely people aren't going to have any patience with wasting time and money on a public enquiry during a pandemic?

Does resignation even mean anything in politics? Priti Patel was forced to resign in Nov 17 and was then back in the Foreign Affairs Committee by Feb 19 and the was Home Secretary a year later. It’s such a joke. You shouldn’t be able to come back.

I've written to my MP to express my disgust. All MP's contact details can be found here: members.parliament.uk/members/Commons
We don't have many ways to let parliament know how we feel about something but writing to your MP, especially if enough of us do it, is one way.