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Original poster

Why aren't there angry posts about Tim Matthews admitting he made up Dominic Cummings sighting?

319 replies

NotEverythingIsBlackandWhite · 31/05/2020 08:58

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8372911/Boris-puts-Dominic-Cummings-chance-one-witness-admits-sighting-aide.html

Tim Matthews has admitted he made up a sighting of Dominic Cummings at Barnard Castle for a joke. It wasn't a very funny joke. I haven't heard anyone laughing about and why has it taken until now to admit it was a lie?

OP posts:
FliesandPies · 31/05/2020 10:21

Unless it turns out Cummings made up the trip to Durham and actually stayed in London to isolate (as they tried to pretend) then it doesn't change a thing.

Alsohuman · 31/05/2020 10:22

@TheLastSaola

It's irrelevant OP because of Brexit.

This was and is only about Brexit.

What utter bollocks. It’s about who’s actually running the country - and that appears to be the unelected Mr Cummings.
chomalungma · 31/05/2020 10:23

Zen....they did not go out for 2 weeks when they got there. He had been declared fit to return to work before day trip

Except for going to A&E when their son was ill and DC went to collect them, despite being very ill, because there were no taxis in Durham to bring them back - and it seems the people who were supposed to help them with childcare couldn't collect them either.

vdbfamily · 31/05/2020 10:24

Sorry....not exactly true. His son was taken to hospital by ambulance and he did drag himself out of bed to collect them which was a bit idiotic but he stayed in the car and knowing how long hospital patients were waiting for transport home at height of Covid, it was probably so they did not have to wait for hours in hospital. Note he did not ask his sister or parents to collect them, as was obviously still trying to protect all around him from possible Covid

BoreOfWhabylon · 31/05/2020 10:26

"Isn't today's story the reveal that the (large' cottage Cummings stayed in was built with no planning permission and isn't registered for council tax?"

Ah, so that's why he was burbling in the Rose Garden about it only being "concrete blocks".

I did wonder at the time what that was all about.

vdbfamily · 31/05/2020 10:26

Choma...crossposted!

chomalungma · 31/05/2020 10:26

His son was taken to hospital by ambulance and he did drag himself out of bed to collect them which was a bit idiotic

We all remember that one of the key points about staying local was not to to risk the virus being transported elsewhere.

By using local NHS resources, they put Durham hospital at risk - especially knowing that DC had the disease. It would have been better to stay in London and keep the virus there.

Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives

PerkingFaintly · 31/05/2020 10:29

He had been declared fit to return to work before day trip.

Oh yes, that's another a bit that stuck out for me during this SPAD's unprecedented use of the Downing Street premises for his personal presser.

He kept going on that he'd been given permission to return to work.

I could hear lingering in the air that he was carefully NOT saying anyone had given him permission to return to London.

I was listening very carefully, but if anyone can come up with a moment when he did say he had permission to TRAVEL, I'd be grateful to hear it.

vdbfamily · 31/05/2020 10:32

All we know is that at the point where they drove to Durham, Boris had tested positive and his wife had been sick and then felt better. Whilst DC had a high chance of having got it from Boris, he at that stage was not symptomatic and in factsaid in his interrogation, the main reason for going to Durham was to know his wife and child would be safe whether he became unwell or did not , and had to continue to work. Vomitting was not an accepted sign of Covid and so those frothing about his wife or indeed any of them being symptomatic at the point of travel are just making it up.

luckylavender · 31/05/2020 10:33

Well Cummings admitted to all of it, so this is just candy floss

FliesandPies · 31/05/2020 10:33

he did drag himself out of bed to collect them which was a bit idiotic but he stayed in the car and knowing how long hospital patients were waiting for transport home at height of Covid

Were you there??

Barbie222 · 31/05/2020 10:34

He denied the second trip, but luckily for the press he handed out enough in the rose garden for them not to need to pursue it more.

The chemistry teacher, who is a totally separate person, confirmed the Barnard Castle trip, which Cummings has acknowledged. This source obeyed lockdown rules at all time, which is clearly stated in the article. DM readers are not known for their perseverance and often don't bother to digest the whole article, as can be clearly seen on the thread.

This story appears to me to be a late attempt to mitigate the damage and swing public opinion the other way by relying on the poor wit of its readership not to get to the end of the article.

FliesandPies · 31/05/2020 10:35

Ah, so that's why he was burbling in the Rose Garden about it only being "concrete blocks".

That's v interesting. I assumed at the time he was trying to lard it on about what a hard time they'd had and it definitely wasn't a holiday at all.

Barbie222 · 31/05/2020 10:36

And, to answer your question OP, the answer is that even DC only has so many shills, and they've been diverted elsewhere at present.

chomalungma · 31/05/2020 10:36

omitting was not an accepted sign of Covid and so those frothing about his wife or indeed any of them being symptomatic at the point of travel are just making it up

So neither of them had symptoms and then decided to travel....

Original poster
NotEverythingIsBlackandWhite · 31/05/2020 10:36

*@june2007

"The point is it doesn,t take away from Cummings wrong doing,"
It probably confirms he did not lie when he said, in the rose garden, that he not revisit Durham after returning to London.

Durham Police have confirmed he didn't do anything wrong by driving to Durham. So that leaves his drive to the outskirts of the Barnard Castle area to test he we was okay to drive home. I'm inclined to believe he was telling the truth about that too, given that he was telling the truth about not paying a 2nd visit to Durham.

I'm not at all impressed by his wife's article on "emerging into a locked down London" though. That sounds deliberately misleading. Not strictly a lie as they did emerge (from Durham) to locked down London but very misleading. However, his wife stated that. He didn't.

OP posts:
chomalungma · 31/05/2020 10:38

I don't see the point in the DM trying to discredit the Barnard Castle witness because DC already confirmed that trip and the police said that he 'might' have broken lockdown rules.

That just seems malicious.

Alsohuman · 31/05/2020 10:39

So that leaves his drive to the outskirts of the Barnard Castle area to test he we was okay to drive home. I'm inclined to believe he was telling the truth about that too

You seriously believe the eyesight story? Jesus wept.

chomalungma · 31/05/2020 10:39

'm inclined to believe he was telling the truth about that too, given that he was telling the truth about not paying a 2nd visit to Durham

The truth is that he drove on a 50 mile return trip to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight.

Was that sensible?

chomalungma · 31/05/2020 10:40

If it is the truth, then wouldn't it have been better to say what had happened - rather than refuse to comment on the Barnard Castle allegations.

The truth always comes out.

PerkingFaintly · 31/05/2020 10:43

Cummings admitted to all of it, so this is just candy floss

Well indeed.

He even admitted to seeing people in bluebell woods – just on a different date. Given Cummings has admitted this, I'm continuing to assume that the first witness in the bluebell woods (who I understand from the Mail article isn't this Strava running chap), did indeed see Cummings in Co Durham but was mistaken re the date.

The mists of time issue is one of the risks Cummings took in refusing to comment when the initial story was first put to him many weeks ago.

Mumratheevergiving · 31/05/2020 10:43

We are still talking about Cummings a week later because he is a key Government advisor during the pandemic. Leading UK scientists report his actions are damaging to public adherence to health instruction. www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/30/dominic-cummings-actions-damage-public-health I believe the scientists.

The Government believed resignation was right when Ferguson broke the rules. And this clown continues to detract from dealing with the pandemic.

Cummings should resign or Johnson should drop kick him out of No 10 today.

Walkaround · 31/05/2020 10:47

Nice birthday present for his wife, that - to test his eyesight by driving her to Barnard Castle Hmm. If his wife was already better when they left for Durham (he never said that, btw, that just seems to have been made up by posters on here), then when he left for Durham, they were both plenty fit enough to look after their 4-year old, so had no need or reason to trap themselves together in a confined space to to on a jolly up to Durham. So his behaviour was no different from all the other people roundly condemned at the time for driving to 2nd homes because they fancied isolating there, instead.

FliesandPies · 31/05/2020 10:49

Durham Police have confirmed he didn't do anything wrong by driving to Durham

They might have confirmed it to themselves but certainly not to me and millions of others - he broke the instructions given at the time to isolate at home if you develop symptoms. No amount of excuses or bending of the rules can obscure that.

FliesandPies · 31/05/2020 10:51

Fascinating to see other stuff coming out about the building on his Father's estate being in DC's name and hasn't got planning permission. The press are not going to stop on this - they are going to dig and dig til they've turned his life upside-down.

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