Could a private prosecution of Dominic Cummings be on the cards?
It's a possibility.
And I certainly would not like to up against Nazir Afzal. He is pretty good in a courtroom...
Nazir Afzal @nazirafzal
^Dominic Cummings a thread:
The big divide was never between black & white, nor men & women, nor north & south
It's between those with power & those without^
The power differential is the greatest cause of inequality
Like 60,000 others my late brother was 1 of the powerless
My experience tells me that there have to be consequences for law breaking otherwise the public lose confidence in those meant to enforce the law, and lose trust in the law itself
The powerful must be dealt with without fear or favour
So when I witnessed the Prime Minister and others wrapping a shield around Dominic Cummings I was horrified. I watched him get the privilege of a press conference in the garden at 10 Downing Street when any other civil servant would be denied on pain of discipline or worse.
I read how he and his wife wrote about their experience of Covid19 to elicit sympathy for their predicament (one experienced by 1000s of others including my late brother) without telling us that he had breached the regulations that were in place to protect every one of us.
I saw when he dismissed his trip to Barnard Castle (a place I know well) as a “sightseeing” exercise, giving new meaning to the word
The fact it was his wife’s birthday being brushed away as a coincidence
He travelled when London was drowning in Covid whilst the North East wasn’t
Is it a coincidence 1000s of our fellow citizens looked at what he did & how he was allowed to avoid justice and decided that they too wouldn’t comply?
Even more of a coincidence that PM altered the regulations prematurely to put us all at more risk almost immediately afterwards?
We since learnt the Chief Nurse was not allowed to attend a Downing Street Briefing after she challenged the Govt’s line & saw the danger
I then discovered 1000s of letters to the police asking for more information, even by MPs, have barely been acknowledged, nevermind answered
So I’ve instructed Mike Schwarz of solicitors Hodge Jones & Allen & Counsel Matthew Ryder QC of Matrix chambers on behalf of all of us who want to get to the bottom of what happened and why
To better understand what police in Durham & London knew & what drove the decision making
I also support the campaign and crowdjustice bid from other citizens horrified by Dominic Cummings and the Prime Minister's action.
www.hja.net/press-releases/launch-of-citizens-bid-for-prosecution-of-dominic-cummings/
If those facts support a prosecution & the Police/CPS choose not to pursue one, then I will have to consider one.
Its the truth we really need for every citizen whose goodwill & generosity led to painful sacrifices in order to comply with the law & protect their fellow Briton
I would suggest this is worth watching, not simply for the possibility of a private prosecution, but also because I think it may give some incite into the line Starmer is likely to take politically going forward.
Afzal was a chief prosecutor in the North West and is highly respected. Starmer was the Head of the CPS and Director of Public Prosecution (though not without controversy over some of the decisions he made).
Starmer is likely to take the role of leader of the opposition as if its a long trial and trying to assess how to best get a 'prosecution' by persuading the 'Jury' (public) that Johnson is guilty. Its been hinted at that he's going to go for a breaking the 'rule of law' approach. Which is essentially what Afzal is hinting at too with regards to Cummings.
May kept becoming unstuck with this both at the home office and as PM. It'll be interesting to see if Johnson has similar problems. And whether we will see more about elected judges etc again, pretty soon (We will)