"Downing St. considers the Dominic Cummings matter closed". AIBU that that statement, more than the actions of Cummings himself, makes my blood boil?

[JovialNickname]

I'm assuming the "so you can all fuck off" at the end of the statement is implied.

[MrsPeacockInTheLibrary]

They want us to feel like it's time to move on.

Two people resigned. He hasn't. That's my sticking point.

[megletthesecond]

They can think again then can't they.

[NoMoreReluctantCustodians]

@heartsonacake Can I ask what qualifies you to know my mind better than I know it myself? You must be an extremely clever person

[LellyMcKelly]

Boris has lost his grip. This has cost him hugely in terms of political capital but inside his own party and amongst the electorate. The fact that he continues to protect a civil servant makes it absolutely clear that he’s nothing more than Cummings’ sock puppet. He can’t sack Cummings because otherwise he wouldn’t have a clue what was going on. We all know who’s running the country, and it’s not someone any of us elected. The sheer arrogance and distain is breathtaking and appalling.

[SunbathingDragon]

I do think Cummings should be fired (not allowed to resign, but fired). However, right now we have a pandemic on and it’s very clear he’s staying. I would support a formal enquiry into it all and hope (but doubts) we will have one. In the meantime though, I’d rather Cummings wasn’t a smokescreen for all the other things going wrong and the government is cross questioned about current matters that are important to our survival (economy included) rather the the journalists wasting that time asking the same Cummings questions when we know we won’t be getting an answer.

[Whydoireadthis]

Anyone else feel dead awkward watching that? 😂

[RuggerHug]

I know it won't happen but I'd love if all the journalist for the briefing tomorrow could say well we have nothing to ask then and have the fucker walk into a blank space with no one listening.

[TheWordWomanIsTaken]

@heartsonacake

I'm not being manipulated by the media.

NoMoreReluctantCustodians Of course you are, you just don’t realise it.

Have you been this angry at all the other people breaking lockdown rules? Has the media turned up this much of a storm frenzy on any of the other politicians/celebrities/public figures breaking lockdown rules? No. You’re this angry because you’re being manipulated.

People are this angry because our government is lying to us to cover up Cummings's actions.
That is the bigger problem.
We are being told that the guidance was not really the guidance.
Black is white etc.
They are angry because Cummings sat in the garden of No 10 and spewed forth a load of carefully constructed bollocks.
They are angry because Johnson and his cabinet are trying to take us for fools.
I worked from home yesterday and intermittently throughout the day there was a government warning in a serious voice telling me to stay at home, do not leave at all if I have any symptoms.
The rogues that govern our lives have shown themselves to be brazen liars and are not to be trusted.
Dominic Cummings 'error of judgement' pales into insignificance when set against what this government has done to shield him.
That is why people are angry.

[TheWordWomanIsTaken]

[quote NoMoreReluctantCustodians]@heartsonacake Can I ask what qualifies you to know my mind better than I know it myself? You must be an extremely clever person [/quote]
Au contraire.
The opposite I would imagine.

[RandomLondoner]

I'm assuming the "so you can all fuck off" at the end of the statement is implied

I agree that is implied. But I wish they'd actually written that, as it would reflect my feelings.

The people get to decide when it's time to move on.

The people can move on whenever they feel ready. But so can Downing Street, they're just letting you know that time is now, for them.

[BringPizza]

I know it won't happen but I'd love if all the journalist for the briefing tomorrow could say well we have nothing to ask then and have the fucker walk into a blank space with no one listening.


Or do the whole thing again with a polygraph.

[doubleshotespresso]

There's a great deal of chatter online that DC only intends to resign if he's still on the front pages this coming Sunday.
We all need to continue to make as much noise about this to ensure this disgrace and danger to humanity leaves as he should have done weeks ago.
It was outrageous how questions were dismissed or completely overlooked in today's briefing. This conduct is not what I understand to be reasonable behaviour and I know I'm not alone

[RandomLondoner]

Just heard him totally dismiss two journalists ask him a question about it, he might have well just put his fingers in his ears

He doesn't have to talk about stuff on other peoples agendas. In his position I would give short answer to those questions and long answers to the the things I want to talk about. If the journalists only asked questions that didn't suit me, I'd stop talking to them.

[NoMoreReluctantCustodians]

Thank you @thewordwomanistaken apparently I dont know my own mind and pp knows better what is going on in my head. Apparently I have been brainwashed, presumably by the evil Guardian or Mirror

I must be stupid. At least I didnt
believe the far fetched story from the rose garden. I'm not THAT stupid

[Notejode]

Well, the DC witch hunt and Sir Ed Davey asking for two years Brexit extensions to Michael Barnier are now being considered by some frustrated Brexiteers to be part of plot to sabotage Brexit.

[YouTheCat]

At this point, he should be sacked. He shouldn't have the luxury of resigning. He was given that chance and chose not to take it.

[LexMitior]

Look, his defence of Cummings is weak. It makes him look weak. It’s easier for him to make himself really unpopular than tell Cummings to go.

They’ve mucked up the handling of this from day one. Cummings could have gone on some sort of sabbatical or other wild goose chase and then come back. Easy. Instead you will have three ring circus where the media won’t let go and the PM looks more and more impotent. Long term very damaging.

[AgeLikeWine]

The Sunday papers have had a full week to dig as much dirt on Cummings as they can. If they can produce evidence (eg a date stamped ANPR photo of him driving his car in Durham) which proves Cummings lied to the PM, who in turn lied to parliament & the media , Johnson will be forced to sack him.

If they can’t come up with a smoking gun, it’s over.

[TheWordWomanIsTaken]

@NoMoreReluctantCustodians

Thank you *@thewordwomanistaken* apparently I dont know my own mind and pp knows better what is going on in my head. Apparently I have been brainwashed, presumably by the evil Guardian or Mirror

I must be stupid. At least I didnt
believe the far fetched story from the rose garden. I'm not THAT stupid

I know NoMore
They really are scraping the bottom of the barrel now.
Don't you know, you must have been manipulated if you believe the media frenzy.
Imagine, being someone who is taken in by Johnson and his cabinet in their black is white world, who don't understand the enormity of what has happened.
I pity them tbh.

[GreyGardens88]

Yes, it's the governments arrogant attitude that people are raging at, not DC. It's a car crash of government ineptitude.

I think the people on here that aren't still angry about this and saying to move on etc are probably saying that because they're lockdown breakers themselves

[Haffiana]

This is a Prime Minister right at the beginning of a 4 year office. He is gambling that in 4 years, at election time, this will have been completely forgotten about.

He is correct of course. We will have forgotten. Problem is, that we will be in such full-on shit in 4 years time (Brexit, recession etc) that his party have no hope of getting re-elected.

[Mumratheevergiving]

I should be thinking about the implications of stage 2 of lockdown and all I keep thinking is we’ve got an unaccountable madman in charge (well it now would appear 2 of them but only one is centre stage). Boris told us to make our minds up he just didn’t like the collective finding. It’s his reluctance to deal with it which is why it’s rumbling on. I could not believe what I was hearing!

[CaraDune]

The amusing thing about all of this is that Boris and his spin doctor, the arch manipulators, seemed to be hoist on their own petard. They've campaigned for ages by making truth secondary to sentiment, and having political prejudice trump facts.

Now suddenly they're in the situation where they want to argue that "technically" Cummings was in the right. But it doesn't matter whether he was or not (I personally think not, in fact, big fat not). It's now a political issue in that what matters is not whether Cummings can weasel out of it on a technicality, but how the public perceive it, and the public are perceiving it very badly indeed (that's not me living in a left bubble - opinion polls show a majority of Tory voters think he was wrong, and a majority of Leave voters think he was wrong).

The not so amusing thing, in fact the bloody scary thing, is that this has blown up just as the government was starting to ease up on lockdown while we still have the second highest deaths per million of any country in the world (CDC data here), and R0 is nowhere near low enough. If cases begin to rocket back upwards, and Boris tries to call for a second lock down, not enough people will listen because Cummings has been a weaselly little gobshite and Boris has stood by him.

I want to know what the negatives show and where Cummings keeps them...

[DippyAvocado]

So any time the government does something completely unacceptable to the public,we are allowed to make a fuss about it for a few days but then we have to move on because they've told us to? At what point does that stop?

[seriousandloyal]

100% agree with you OP. It is bloody outrageous.