Did Boris Johnson just call us all bad parents?!

[Hermagsjesty]

Having watched that briefing I am incandescent with rage, less at what Cummings did - I understand people might have needed to make difficult choices and compromises during lockdown - but at the excusing of it. Why not admit it was an error of judgement and apologise?

I have three children. When my husband and I both became ill with what we believed to be Coronavirus in mid-March, we took turns to watch the children whilst the other slept. I lay on the sofa, feeling the illest I have ever felt, while CBeebies played on loop. We relied on neighbours we barely knew to drop off essentials. We would have loved to lean on family but we didn’t because we believed to do so would endanger them and the wider community.

A succession of ministers - and now the Primeminister himself - have suggested that Mr. Cummings behaved as any loving parent would. But many loving parents did not behave as he did. We struggled and made sacrifices in what we believed was the National interest. Are they now suggesting we just don’t love our kids as much as Mr. Cummings loves his?

I don't see a big boozy posh boy, I see a self opinionated narcissistic dick. Then again is there a difference ?

Cummings knows where the skeletons are hid. He's been involved with political leaders for absolute yonks. That's why he was at number 10 yesterday. 'if you sack me, I'll have to tell X about y'

They're all despicable, but he is a particular brand of evil.

He is just an advisor, he is not an elected MP who needs to stand down. And what the press is doing here is wrong. Camping outside his house, driving Van's up and stopping outside with massive tv screens with videos of boris saying stay at home playing over and over really loud. Making the press conference all about it, when the general public want to know about more important things, like the virus.

Just a side issue but there is a great Boy George interview with Louis Theroux on BBC Sounds.

Honestly @Walkingtheplank I don’t think this is a left/ right/ Brexit/ Remain issue. People don’t like being lied to and this does feel like we are being lied to. Because if what Cummings did was within the rules, why wasn’t the fact you were allowed to relocate (with symptoms) to be nearer family made crystal clear to us?

Yes, other people broke rules but as far as I am aware they have all made public apologies and in many cases resigned.

@TabbyMumz that’s what I really don’t understand, if Cummings is “just an advisor” why is the govt squandering so much public trust and goodwill to save his career?

@TabbyMumz respectfully, this is about the virus. It’s about the clarity of the rules that were meant to keep us all safe. It’s about whether we are supposed to follow those rules even when it goes against our own family’s interest. And it’s about if we can trust the government or not. So, while I don’t condone press intrusion I think the press are absolutely right to keep asking those questions until they are actually answered.

I'd love to be able to rewind all the briefings. I am sure it was said multiple times that you could NOT relocate to do your isolation in rural splendour. That was certainly what a lot of media frothing was about (Kirstie Allsopp and Prince Charles, for example) and was never corrected by the government.

We aren't going to hear about the vaccine yet and of course people are going on about DC, he's a tosser who should have known better.
His child being autistic changes nothing. Autistic children need familiar surroundings and I bet they have a nanny of some sort so no need to uproot the poor child. Think I'd have more respect if he'd been honest and said I want a holiday.
I actually thought Boris was doing okay (I don't like him but thought he did the same as any other PM would have) until he defended DC. Now decided they're as bad as each other.

You had the luxury of having your husband present to watch the children whilst you were ill. It's not comparable to him being in London and you in Durham.

What on earth are you talking about @RuffleCrow? They were both in London when his wife became ill.

No, BoJo did not call anyone a bad parent. I watched it twice and he said nothing like that

You're being disingenuous, @Lynda07. By saying that Cummings did what every good parent would have done, he is clearly implying that those of who didn't act in this way in similar circumstances are bad parents.

Gove certainly did.

I agree @Rosebel. I had very much wanted to be supportive of the government through this crisis - and felt largely they were doing what needed to be done. But this feels like a massive error of judgement. They appear to be re-writing their own policy live on TV rather than apologise. It feels dangerous, irresponsible and massively disrespectful to the general public.

So many are flouting the rules already, millions even.

Come off it, millions of people are not travelling hundreds of miles.

And those who are flouting the rules aren't, in generally, people who were very closely involved in formulating those rules, nor do they work for Ministers who appear in public day after day behind podiums telling everyone to stay home.

This isnt about finding out about the rules, it's a witchhunt. They want blood and they wont stop until they get it. There was allowance in the rules for this.

people are allowed to walk in bluebell woods as far as I know.

For someone who claims not to be a supporter, @Lynda07, you turn up on an astonishing number of threads defending Cummings.

You know perfectly well that at the relevant time the guidance was very clear that people should not be getting into the car to travel for exercise. Barnard Castle is 30 miles away from where Cummings was staying at the time.

Just a question for those who were ill with Covid, and had young children and stayed at home. What would have happened if you needed admission to hospital? Would it not have been better to drive to stay with family?

Not when you have other family members living closer, as Cummings did.

Everyone trying to justify this is happily ignoring the undeniable fact that what he did was the absolute opposite of what the government has been telling the rest of us to do. The advice was absolutely unequivocal: if one of you gets ill, the rest of the family stays put and isolates. You do not pack them all into a car and risk infecting several other people for a totally unnecessary journey.

It's not a witch hunt, not least as mass gatherings are against the rules.

Has Dominic Cummings got dirt on you, TabbyMunz, as well as BoJo?

I don't see a big boozy posh boy, I see a self opinionated narcissistic dick.

The opinionated narcissistic dick has some important information on the big boozy posh boy.

The big boozy posh boy thinks that narcissistic dick will sing if given the push.

It's not very difficult.

The bizarre thing is that Cummings is Gove's man, not Johnson's. Why the desperate measures to protect him?

Come off it, millions of people are not travelling hundreds of miles.

You don’t have to drive anywhere to spread the virus. Our neighbours have a constant stream of visitors. Shoppers in the supermarkets aren’t following the rules. We saw a gathering on the park yesterday. What’s driving got to do with it?

@Judycoolibar

We all make our own risk assessment. My feeling is that 1. The majority of Mumsnetters are labour voters and relish any opportunity to bash a Tory. And 2. Some people have isolated themselves so much and sacrificed so much that they are furious if someone else decides to make fewer sacrifices and perhaps have a slightly easier time of it than them. Misery loves company.

What all of this misses is the fact that it is Cummings who has been closely instrumental in making the rules that you mock others for keeping, @SpokeTooSoon.

This is not just a matter of someone having a different view on how often to go our for exercise, or whether you should wash your shopping. This is the person whose employers have spent weeks telling us to stay home, particularly if we get ill, who instead chose to get in car and drive 260 miles, putting several other people in danger along the way.

By the way, I'm not a Labour voter.

The press have reached an all time low. During the briefing, the BBC Journalist couldn’t get his sound on, so he had two different assistants right up close and personal, fixing his problem. How ironic is that?

Oh so that’s different, the guy is a journalist, not a politician.

It’s a wonder anyone wants to go into politics in this country.

Would people feel differently if it turned out that the child had special needs and only certain people could look after him if parents were incapacitated?

No.

Because the government guidance which he has been closely involved in formulating is so clear: if you or someone in the family gets ill, you self isolate and you don't leave home.

And because it's incredibly unlikely that the only people who could look after this child live 270 miles away and are unable to travel down to London to help.

It's also exuberantly unlikely that they stopped nowhere during the journey, and in stopping they would've endangered others. Their child's welfare doesn't trump anyone else's.

Because there really is nothing to see.. it's really not that interesting. He is not an MP, he is an advisor. He travelled to secure his son was safe and well cared for.

Don't be silly, @TabbyMumz, and don't try to pretend you really believe this. Cummings is not "just an advisor", he is the man who has the Prime Minister's ear, who sits in on SAGE meetings, who the PM is willing to take massive risks in order to keep.

He did not travel for the purpose you claim, because no-one believes that he could not have ensured his son was safe and well cared-for at home. He had relatives close by. In travelling, he potentially put several people at risk when he stopped en route, or if he had had a breakdown or an accident.