to think Cummings is being blackmailed?

[randomer]

Why now? Why has it come out?

Don't care.

I suspect they kept this until they saw the reaction. Government have asked for this.

@LizzieMacQueen just his family. They are a tight bunch.

Alternatively, what is this cover for?

Journalist who broke yesterday's story is saying here was there again mid April...

I agree the timing of these revelations is weird.

If only Armando Iannucci was still writing ‘The Thick of It!’

No. He has dirt on the others.

@lljkk Are you allowed to say who MW is? I can't work it out.

Ianuccio has said several times, it's not possible. Political satire depends on recognised norms being challenged. There are no norms in politics anymore.

@lljkk Sorry I've just read your other post and it clearly says who MW is!!

Mary Wakefield mentioned earlier in the thread assume she is MW

@SummerDayWinterEvenings Thanks - I'm off to look up who she is!!

MW is Cummings wife, Mary Wakefield. A commissioning editor at the Spectator.

MW = Mrs Dominic Cummings = Commissioning Editor of the Spectator = author of an article discussing their lockdown & Ribena.

Mary Wakefield, editor at Spectator. = Mrs. Dominic Cummings.
She is (quite minted) aristocracy too, as well as I understand that word. It's not like DC is only adult who broke rules found out that he had superior common sense to everyone else who didn't think what he did was allowed within the rules.

I don't like people coming forward afterwards, tbh. The witnesses are named in the Mirror so I guess they are brave to face the backlash & media frenzy that will descend on them (or deluded & wanting attention).

Interesting that DC has used the phrase 'Fake News'. He's speaking to a specific constituency with that wording, isn't he? The same sort who believe Trump when Trump dismisses any criticism as 'fake news'. Same playbook.

Why would Cummings have more on johnson/govt ministers etc than any Govt minister themselves or indeed a civil servant?

I suspect the story didn't go national because the papers felt that combating CV was more important but now with the terrible cock up of easing restrictions/schools, they feel its time to make a mark.

you'd have to prise him out of number ten with a tyre lever

🤣🤣🤣

Yes 1morewine, who knew it was a documentary?

Alternatively, what is this cover for?

This is what I have been wondering

He's being targeted because he's a noteworthy scalp (to say the least).
But, equally, he knew this, and did nothing to be transparent about it at the time - effectively hoping nobody would notice or question it.

The fact that he didn't foresee this as a blindingly obvious banana skin suggests he's not the amazing strategist people proclaim.

He should go. He could have been open about it from the start.
I suspect a number of the Tory party would have been aware of his travel too, and if so, they have colluded to cover it up.

His initial justification (if true), is understandable - for a single trip, and 'technically' probably still within the guidelines, but both he and the Party ought to have been entirely open about it. They weren't.

I've been watching The New Statesman recently. I have to say Alan B'Stard doesn't seem like such a bad bloke compared to the government we have.

To be honest, I trust this government so little that I’m scouting the papers to see what this ‘dead cat’ is hiding. Is there a steep rise in deaths? Some unpopular legislation?

I said this on the other thread, but I had to cringe today when he came out making a show to the press of carrying a child’s bike and ball. He was so obviously trying to play to the, “oh look, he’s just the dad of a four year old, trying to do the right thing....” Ha!

Then he had the audacity to tell them all to stand two metres apart

You couldn’t make it up.

This man is the scourge of Britain and I hope Brexiteers can now see what they were manipulated by. He thinks the public are truly stupid, but it’s backfired.

The press are releasing these stories now to put pressure on the government to get the economy going. It will work too.