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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

If you were annoyed at Dominic Cummings before

999 replies

NoMoreReluctantCustodians · 26/05/2020 07:41

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

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

OP posts:
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17
lilgreen · 26/05/2020 08:53

Just resign. Nobody is bigger than the party.

Bumpette · 26/05/2020 08:54

I am appalled by him. I hate the fact that we seem to be getting more and more like Trump's America. That there is no accountability any more. We have always had lying MP's but it used to be that if they were found out and there was a big scandal they would have to resign (for the most part. Obviously exceptions.). Now they seem to be taking their lead from Trump 'deny it, don't apologise, blame the media, refuse to budge and everything will be OK'. That scares me to be honest. We need to have some sort of accountability surely? It makes me feel powerless. I've written to my MP, signed several petitions but I feel if Boris and he don't budge we are just supposed to accept it? I had little faith in the government as it was - at one point in this crisis I felt a bit reassured. I've lost all faith now.

Helmetbymidnight · 26/05/2020 08:54

my wealthy friends did the same. soon after 'stay at home' was issued, they went of to a spare house in the country- 'so much better for the kids than london'.

Rosehip10 · 26/05/2020 08:54

@AnneLovesGilbert Agree, Peston is awful, he is so verbose. I used to think he was okay when he wan an economics correspondent - he seemed way more confident/comfortable with this than politics.

DippyAvocado · 26/05/2020 08:56

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.

So why the need to drive to Durham if he didn't think she had Covid??

Either he was worried they would both be incapacitated by Covid so he drove to Durham to get help with childcare, or he didn't think she had Covid so drove to Durham...why??
There isn't a reasonable excuse either way.

Mis-appropriating the part of the rules that was put in specifically to protect vulnerable children in situations of domestic abuse and trying to twist it to his own entirely different circumstances is sickening.

The only thing he could have done to lessen the impact of this is to have immediately apologised, said that he panicked about the possibility of not being able to care for his child and therefore using poor judgment. He'd still have broken the rules and pissed off eveeyone whi managed to stay home in more difficult circumstances, but people might have let it go. However, he strikes me as one of those people that can just never admit they were in the wrong.

ConstanceSalinger · 26/05/2020 08:57

I think the press can be disgusting when they take a dislike to someone. I really want them to go to town on his family now though. He brought them into this by using them and the extended family as a piss poor excuse. Some scummy journo will find out what he's not admitted to already.

FreakStar · 26/05/2020 08:58

The fact he expects people to be convinced by his silly excuses is very telling of how his mind works- he clearly lacks any social intelligence and has the inability to judge other people's perceptions. He seems thoroughly convinced of his own superiority, which in my view is often possessed by those who have a personality disorder which is probably part of the autistic spectrum. These people make the worst kind of politicians- they are akin to the likes of Hitler.

ITonyah · 26/05/2020 08:59

I think the press can be disgusting when they take a dislike to someone. I really want them to go to town on his family now though.

How awful to think like this.

GrapefruitsAreNotTheOnlyFruit · 26/05/2020 09:00

Look a lot of people want to believe him because they are invested in thinking the government is ok. So he just has to give a possible explanation and they will believe him. But at least one of the lies is so silly that people that don't want to support him in the first place will feel more and more enraged.

So it ends up sowing more division.

BertiesLanding · 26/05/2020 09:01

I think the vitriol directed at Cummings hides a lot of displaced guilt about people's own lockdown infractions. He has become a collective scapegoat.

Nonnymum · 26/05/2020 09:01

He had made me even more angry. He was obviously playing the media pretending to be humble and just doing his best but obviously lying. The story about the trip to Barnard Castle shows he is either lying or his judgement is terrible. Both scenarios are terrible for the Governments most senior adviser. What has annoyed me even more are people who are saying 'be kind' and complaining he is being subject to trial by the media!

cathyandclare · 26/05/2020 09:01

I thought he was doing well at first, but the whole driving to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight thing was absurd. He was poor under interrogation too.

Rosehip10 · 26/05/2020 09:01

What was the bullshit about "son needed the loo" which, then turned into "so we played in the woods" (this was on way back from Barnard castle)

Also, he rushed home from no10 as his wife was sick, they were worried about covid and see said she couldn't look after son - all fine. He then a few hours later, goes back to work in no 10 before driving to Durham - potentially infecting loads of poor sods who were working at no10. And for him to go back to work for a bit, his wife made a remarkable recovery after an hour or so OR was able to get childcare somehow.

Cummings is a habitual liar - think he is above normal people - ironic when he spends all the time sneering at the "elite" - he is firmly in this group!

He won't be sacked of course.

Inoneminute · 26/05/2020 09:03

That's nonsense, Bertie. The vast majority has been very compliant with the lockdown, that is where the vitriol comes from.

PamDenick · 26/05/2020 09:04

It gives me no great pleasure that a family has been hounded by the press. I am pleased also that the family has recovered.

However, the one great thing to come out of this is that many many people now have the scales removed from their eyes over how Cummings and Johnson have manipulated the truth over the last few years. The general public is treated with utter contempt.

They possibly might not get away with it this time.

Jilljams · 26/05/2020 09:05

There are so many holes in the story because that’s all it is - a story. He’s built a story around the facts that he knows are already out there. I think he knew they were looking at having to do a couple of weeks isolation so he wanted to be up in the countryside near his family where they’d be more comfortable rather than in London. I’m sure he also imagined he would still be able to work through the isolation period (doubt he predicted he’d be in bed with it) so wanted to have family on hand to do childcare. His circumstances were in no way exceptional, lots of us have had to deal with childcare/work/sickness pressures. The trip to Barnard castle was because they fancied a trip out once they were all feeling better. When they went to County Durham, cases in that region were low. They ended up using nhs services there, exactly what we were warned would be the risk of going to new areas. They could well have infected people.

lilgreen · 26/05/2020 09:05

I’ve stuck to the rules so I’m angry that he broke them. I have family in Durham, he took the virus there. There were warnings about not travelling to other areas as hospitals can not cope. Durham is a small city. He knowingly broke the rules. He’s now continuing to lie. No excuses. Here’s a slogan for you Dom “Stay home, protect the government, save time!”

ConstanceSalinger · 26/05/2020 09:05

How awful to think like this

Why? What makes his family more special than anyone elses?

Thousands and thousands of family members have died without their loved ones near them. Thousands of people as re heading for a mental health breakdown because of the measures put in due to no support, losing jobs, no social contact.

Why is his family more important than the people dying in hospital on their own?

Let's use track and trace to determine how many people were exposed to the virus because of their selfishness.

Jilljams · 26/05/2020 09:05

Just to add. I’m sure he really does believe his circumstances are exceptional though. That’s what arrogant people always think

Positivevibesonlyplease · 26/05/2020 09:06

The eyesight thing is absolute horse shit. It was on his wife’s birthday, FFS! They just wanted a jolly jaunt.. The fact that he thinks he’s above the rules, Boris is supporting him and they all think the plebs are stupid enough to believe their nonsense, makes me want to vomit. All they care about is their own ambition and their own circle of baronets etc. They don’t care a jot about the people for whom they make decisions. Utterly nauseating, the lot of them.

GrapefruitsAreNotTheOnlyFruit · 26/05/2020 09:07

Also because all of the senior ministers have supported him so adamantly if you don't believe Cummings you lose faith in the government. If you are a government supporter that's a big ask. Even if you aren't it might feel uncomfortable because deep down I think everyone wants the people leading us to be ok. So it's easier just to believe him. I wonder if getting people to say they believe obviously bullshit things like the eye thing actually helps cement the support.

Greenpop21 · 26/05/2020 09:07

Yes I like that slogan.

“ STAY HOME, PROTECT THE GOVERNMENT, SAVE TIME.”

LaurieMarlow · 26/05/2020 09:08

The vast majority has been very compliant with the lockdown, that is where the vitriol comes from.

Absolutely. Often at great person cost to themselves.

lilgreen · 26/05/2020 09:08

That’s a slogan for Dom obviously.

sunglasses123 · 26/05/2020 09:08

Some people regardless of what he said would be moaning, stating that they havent left the house for months, etc etc.

Did you see the crowds at Brighton? Those people knocking back the beers, crowding into beauty spots, those are the sorts of people you need to pull up.

If he had made a statement and not taken questions the same people would be complaining. If he sat on a table in No 10 taking as many questions as possible people would be moaning. Just admit you are a Labour Remainer.

What happened to the other visits the Mirror and Guardian claimed went on? Any evidence of them?

I am more interested in moving on now, shops opening, death rate rapidly going down.

I think he has done enough to stay. What about the Labour MP who went to the large funeral, what about the Welsh Labour minister who had a picnic and had to be moved on? What about Stephen Kinnock? Or is that all 'different'.