Westminstenders: Magical Thinking

[RedToothBrush]

This week has seen reports of the government editing footage of Johnson to avoid embarrassing questions about the early government response.

We've been asked to accept that the rules were different to what we were told to excuse the law breaking behaviour of a senior government advisor. As Johnson said he was being a responsible father (as if Johnson knows what this is) and it wasn't as if he was visiting a lover (this Johnson would know all about). Let's be honest Johnson is the master of brazening out controversy.

We also have the ERG complaining they were lied to by Gove about the new Withdrawal Agreement and the border in the Irish Sea which surprises precisely no one else.

They appear to be a little upset by the Cummings debarkable too.

Oh, cross post. Guess it's been pushed back whilst they frantically decide what to do.

Lies, Damned Lies and Press Briefings.

Remember plebs: your children don't matter as much as Dominic Cummings

He said he was worried about people turning up at the house to hound him and his family but the whole country was in lockdown at this point, surely the streets near his house were virtually empty.

@Violetparis he clearly isn't well liked in his street judging by the video of him being heckled, maybe some of his neighbours could clarify how quiet the road was at the time?!.

Don't forget that Tony Blair was Teflon coated once, and then whoosh, the whole coat peeled away.

His briefing must have a been the biggest fairy story ever told, reckon the Brothers Grimm would be hard pressed to come up with such a work of fiction, I didn’t think I would end up laughing today but the bit about driving to test his eyes, was priceless.

Maybe this is all a convoluted plot to reach herd immunity after all, because no one will take the rules seriously now!

The memes are out

PMK

500 posts???!?

Everybody can sit and pick holes in this story, because it is all so achingly DUMB. Stupid decisions, not thought through, no creative solutions to his supposed problems.
We know he doesn’t care about he truth, but does he care that he comes across as someone who really can’t make sensible, let alone smart, decisions? Isn’t that his ACTUAL JOB?

Who believes that Johnson wasn't informed that DC and family were heading North?

Not me.

Actually Specsavers would do well to copy that one. "Don't go for a 30 mile drive. Do Come to Specsavers."

If that was a competency based interview, he would have flunked it. No ability to think creatively to make difficult decisions.

Would he care he looks stupid?

I thought the rules were expressly clear that you must not go to your second home?

And the Barnard Castle thing - crazy.

A lawyer speaks.

In my view, on the basis of the information provided by Cummings himself, Cummings was in breach of Coronavirus Regulations in trip to Castle Barnard.
Nothing in his account, even at its highest, amounts to a "reasonable excuse" under regulation 6 of the Coronavirus Regulations

mobile.twitter.com/davidallengreen/status/1264963267136544769

He took the virus up to Durham and exposed people to it at the hospital there. And he has no regrets?!

I live close by him and take walks on weekend mornings in the neighbourhood sometimes walking up his street. Until this weekend I had not seen press or public milling on his street.

You do see photos of him in the press coming out of his house which show his front door. Someone could work out his address. But there is a police station a mile away who I'm sure would come and clear hecklers or worse.

Normally when you see him filmed leaving home he is picked up from the door by a car. Presumably the car drops him at the door on returning. But last night he chose to walk down the road - it's c200m from a main road if he got dropped at the main road - so exposing himself to verbal abuse. Has any other footage of abuse on his doorstep appeared on social media? Any police reports made? I think he manipulated the narrative last night by walking home so he could play the protective husband and father today.

Choux I think also he expertly manipulated that situation last night, London was practically a ghost town at that point & pretty sure the police would have shown up if people were causing a disturbance during lockdown.

The story of the 2nd visit seems to have been useful in that it allowed him/boris to claim untruths in the media - wonder if the originator of that story could be linked to DC.

Best yet

I can't obviously speak for the whole of Islington but in week 1 of lockdown I was not doing any outdoor exercise, was doing one supermarket trip every 7-10 days and was doing that at 7am. I was jittery if I had to pass anyone on way to shop or reach for anything next to where someone else was standing. Every day the death toll was higher than the previous day and it was a nerve wracking time.

I think the mood was more of relief that we were finally locked down and compliance was high. If people were hanging around his house they would have stuck out like a sore thumb and a quick call to police would have got them moved on and warned not to come back.

So far it all reminds me of their attitude when proroguing Parliament.

Choux I’m in southeast London, was the same here & the police were visibly noticeable on the streets.

Arguing subjectivity over rules designed to protect lives is a new low for government.

IMO his main issue was that he broke the number 1 rule based on a whole number of"what if's" - not one of which actually happened. He was sick but wife was well enough to look after Sediment.

If this is how he acts in his job we are in serious trouble. It also says a lot that he decides what the PM "pays attention to" - clearly his idea not to bother with all of those COBR meetings then, wasn't it?

Look! Squirrel! Open up shops! Open up Schools! Open it all!