To be infuriated and deeply disappointed by this response from Flick Drummond, my MP

[Claliscool]

Absolutely flabbergasted at the 'let's move on' rhetoric. I wrote expressing my bewilderment at bjs support of dc at such a critical time and this was the response :

Dear.... ,

Thank you for your email regarding the recent matter of the Prime Minister’s adviser Dominic Cummings. I have received several hundred emails on this subject, making the case on both sides, all of which I am reading. I hope you will forgive me sending you a standard response, as otherwise it will be impossible for me to reply to everyone in a timely fashion and there are also many other constituents whom I am trying to help access Government support. I have made the Government very clear of the strength of your views and of the many others I have heard from.

I have never met Dominic Cummings or his family and wanted to wait until I heard all the facts before writing back to you. Having watched his press conference, I understood why he decided to drive to isolate himself in a cottage on his parents’ farm where he could get help from his family had both he and his wife become incapacitated. I have no idea what his childcare arrangements are in London, but it is difficult to place a four year old with people that you do not know. As a mother myself, I have always put my children first, so I can understand this.

We all use our own personal judgement and common sense during crises and this seemed to be a hurried and last minute decision from a worried father at a stressful time. I fully appreciate that many people did not feel that they were able to make the same decisions while undergoing similar or in some cases even worse hardships, and I understand the very real hurt and the anger this has caused.

I do not agree with his trip to Barnard Castle. People were allowed to drive to exercise if they have no local place to walk and this does not appear to have been the case in this situation.

I was disappointed to hear that his home and family had been targeted by the press and others at the beginning of the lockdown and hope that they will now leave his family alone.

There are many other key issues at stake in this difficult time and I am concerned that we are losing focus on those while attention is diverted by this matter. I want to concentrate on helping those constituents who still need my support and work on how we are going to improve our social care system.

I realise that this incident has caused a deep sense of anger, disappointment and frustration for many people, which I completely understand and which I am relaying to the Government. I feel incredibly sad for all of you who have lost loved ones or have not seen family for some time, some of your emails have been heart breaking. I hope that you have now been visiting family outside the home if you are able and I am sure that we will be announcing the further lifting of restrictions very soon.

The most important thing now is that we continue our progress in reducing the infection rate so that we can come out of lockdown and things can begin to return to normal. I will continue to support the Government as we move forward to get Britain back to work safely.

Thank you again for getting in touch. Keep safe and well.

Kind regards,

Flick



Flick Drummond MP

Member of Parliament for Meon Valley

[itsgettingweird]

Try having Suella as an MP. She won't even reply!

[Iwantitidontwantit]

I think you're right to feel annoyed op! It's an extension of the original piss poor attitude towards the rest of the country. I emailed my mp Penny Mourdant and whilst she doesn't outright condemn him, I was pleasantly surprised by her reply...

Thank you for letting me know your views about Mr Dominic Cummings. Your email was one of several I received over the weekend and I have passed on all the sentiments expressed to the Prime Minister’s Office, as it is a matter for the Prime Minister who he has as his advisor.

I can fully understand how angry people are. Many have made huge sacrifices. People have weakened or lost businesses they have worked their lives to build. Many have been at home while ill and being the sole carer for their child. Many will have been separated at huge emotional and mental cost from loved ones, including those at the end of their life. Great efforts have been taken by local councils to ensure that if people needed extra support it could be provided for them locally. Health and care workers, often living apart from their families, are risking their lives for all our sakes.


There will always be situations that are not precisely covered by the rules, so people have to balance the risks. Indeed, during the past few weeks my office has spoken to hundreds of people seeking clarification and advice in a number of scenarios. They have done so because they have wanted to do the right thing. Other families have been faced with the same situation Mr Cummings and chosen to stay put.


Despite Mr Cummings statement yesterday I am personally still not clear of the facts. There are some inconsistencies in his account of events and the reasons behind it. I am not clear about when he would have been symptomatic and on what dates he should have been in isolation. Or whether it was appropriate he drove home at the time he did. There is no doubt he took risks- refuelling at a petrol station is a risk to oneself and to others, which presumably he did. I understand there may have been other issues which would have made other options to care for his child in London impossible. What is clear is that the scenes of the last few days will have undermined key public health messages. I deeply regret this and am very sorry for it.

I think people are reasonable and sympathetic to the situation’s others are in. When making decisions about our families, all of us have been presented with incredibly hard choices and judgments to make. In all of this though is also our obligations to others too. It is because of that shared responsibility and the public making those sacrifices that we have reduced the infection rate. The rules and those obligations apply to all of us. We cannot thank people enough for all they have done.

[ITonyah]

Somerville

Our high death rate has nothing to do with DC driving to Barnard Castle. How on earth could it have?

[itsgettingweird]

Why are people still saying they are defending him because he didn't break the rules?

It's been established he may have and if stopped at the time it would have been considered to have.

Fine, stand by DC if don't think he morally did anything wrong.

But don't tell people who feel gaslighted and disappointment in the strength of leadership they are wrong over a proven point.

[ITonyah]

I'm not defending him. I'm saying his trip to Barnard Castle hasn't caused our high death rate.

[SerendipityJane]

Why are people still saying they are defending him because he didn't break the rules?

Because that way they can be right. Move the discussion on to how the government from the Prime Minister down have handled the affair, and you are onto much more fertile ground for finding upsetting and displeasing things.

It's a little bit like claiming the Krays were good to their mum when discussing organised crime.

[user1471500037]

Such a good answer - I love the response!

[Chienloup]

My scumbag MP hasn't even acknowledged my email. He also deleted a tweet where he slagged off the media in relation to Cummings, because he had an article in The Times the following day, making him a part of the media. This is a Tory MP who is a good friend of Boris, who was helicoptered into our safe Tory seat at the last election. Nice job for him.

[SerendipityJane]

My scumbag MP hasn't even acknowledged my email.

I hope people email there MPs via

www.writetothem.com/

as that way it's logged against their MP (and the site chases you up to ask if you received a reply, and whether it satisfied you or not).

[Alsohuman]

I emailed my MP on Sunday morning. His only response? To request my postal address so he’s sure I’m one of his constituents.

[itsgettingweird]

I've written again serendipity but I still don't hold out much hope of getting a reply.

[Claliscool]

@Iwantitidontwantit that is a very considered, dignified and balanced reply

[Msmcc1212]

”If you also want to copy your complaints to Mark Spencer - chief whip to the Conservative party. His email is: [email protected]“

This was on another thread on here. I had an amazing response from my MP and on another thread there is an example of a Tory MP condemning his actions too.

This is not a party political or Brexit issue. This is a Global pandemic!! His actions will cost lives because lots of people will now interpret the rules and guidelines loosely to fit with their own needs and wants. That behaviour has now been ratified at the very top. The message is that we can interpret the rules how we see fit. That will cost lives and increase suffering.

Regardless of how you feel about DC as a person, or your views on his past behaviour, or which party you usually vote for, he has to go to give any further guidelines any kind of credibility to limit further death, trauma and suffering as much as possible.

[maxonebitch]

It's a variation on the standard reply I received but has more of a personal touch. Mine was I don't give a shit and I'm just writing what Boris told me to right,

[itsgettingweird]

Mine still thinks she's far to above people in her constituency to reply. But she supported him on Twitter. So at least we know her stance in a round about way!

[imgardening]

I'll reiterate what other posters have said regarding responses from MPs. My DH works in the office of an MP (currently in our spare bedroom) and over the weekend alone there were over 500 emails related to the DC issue which he has spent all week working through and still has plenty more to go, this is in addition to usual daily research and casework not related to DC. I do hope you will receive a response soon but it may take longer than usual due to volume of emails. I also appreciate that not all staff/MPs are as hot on keeping up with workload.

[WeAllHaveWings]

Durham Constabulary does not consider that by locating himself at his father’s premises, Mr Cummings committed an offence contrary to regulation 6 of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020. (We are concerned here with breaches of the Regulations, not the general Government guidance to “stay at home”.)
Durham Constabulary have examined the circumstances surrounding the journey to Barnard Castle....and have concluded that there might have been a minor breach of the Regulations that would have warranted police intervention.

He broke the guidance (not rules/law) the rest of the country were expected to follow at the time. He then subsequently broke the rules (might is only inserted as it is now retrospective) and would have been turned back if he had been stopped.

His actions and the response from the PM and most of his ministers has destroyed what little trust the government had left. Future guidance messages will be ignored or people will interpret to their own unexceptional circumstances as he did and it will cost lives. Police are already stating they are finding it harder to do their jobs due to publics new perception of the guidance/rules.

All above is from Cummings statement without even mentioning the holes in his jackanory. Testing eyesight with a 4 yr old in the car to drive to a local beauty spot on what happened to be his wife's birthday......does anyone really believe that?

Did you see the where Gove tried to defend Cummings and say he also takes a drive to test his eyesight........ffs they are all taking the piss and laughing about the publics valid concerns.

Of course the public are angry and I hope they continue to be and MP's mailboxes continue to fill up as Johnson tries to treat the British public he serves like unruly children and dictate what the press are allowed to ask and what his ministers and advisers are allowed to answer.

[SerendipityJane]

At least our cartoonists have enough material till Xmas

[SockYarn]

I agree with the MP

trip to self-isolate in a cottage on parents' property with childcare on tap - OK and I would have done the same.

Barnard Castle trip - not OK.

what did you expect?

[Msmcc1212]

Psychopathy is traditionally a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. It is sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy.

[RoseGoldEagle]

I’m not a Tory supporter, but I think that response is fine.

[Lynda07]

Seems a reasonable enough response to me. What did you expect? Your MP - any MP - has to be careful what they say in case the recipient posts their response on social media to be analysed by anyone.

[PicsInRed]

Whatis it with these tories and these ridiculous Anglo-Saxon names?

What exactly is wrong with being English in England?

Re: the letter, it was a measured response. She understands part of what he did whilst stating that she does not agree with the trip to Barnard Castle.

She hasn't stuck to the party line, she has delivered her own opinion which deviates from that. Sounds like an honest response to me.

[Changedname1468]

You might like my MPs response too:


Dear Change,

Thank you for writing to me regarding the controversial lock-down movements of Boris Johnson’s chief advisor Dominic Cummings during the Covid-19 pandemic. I too am extremely angry at what has happened.

I share your concerns over this issue and agree with Keir Starmer that an urgent inquiry must be held. The public – who have already sacrificed so much - deserve to know the truth about this.

There is no doubt that the Prime Minister’s actions over the past few days have undermined confidence in his own public health message at this crucial time.

The message at the moment appears to be that there is one rule for the Prime Minister's advisors, and another rule for everybody else.

Millions of people across the country have made the most agonising choices not to visit relatives during lock-down - some of whom were ill or dying - and not to go to the funerals of loved ones.

Yet, our Prime Minister’s chief adviser sees fit to ignore his own Government’s advice to travel 260 miles from London to Durham with his family – despite his wife showing Covid-19 symptoms.

Boris Johnson’s explanation – that Mr Cummings was acting on a ‘father’s instinct’ – is just not good enough. Millions of others in the same situation, or worse, obeyed the rules and stayed at home.

We must have answers as to why it has been deemed okay for Mr Cummings to follow his instincts, whilst the rest of us must follow the rules.

It cannot be one rule for Boris Johnson’s advisors and one rule for the rest of us. It is simply not good enough.

Thank you for getting in touch on this issue, I can assure you I am as angry as you are about this. We need answers, rather than more questions. The British people deserve better.

I have written to the Prime Minister to ask for his comments on your concerns and will contact you again once I receive a reply.

Yours sincerely,

MP

[KeepWashingThoseHands]

I don't like DC and think what he did was wrong.

Interested how many people on this thread emailed their MP to complain about the testing and PPE debacle. I care WAY more about sorting that than the hypocrisy of a Tory MP - like that is anything new.