LogFAQs > #939770326

Major scandal in the UK right now that doesn't seem to be getting talked about on here so I thought I'd bring it up.

For those who don't know, Dominic Cummings is the chief advisor to Boris Johnson and was the central architect of the official brexit campaign. He's effectively in charge of the UK government's strategy including having a part in the Coronavirus response, and is famed for being "anti-establishment" (despite being in it). A major scandal has developed in which, all after lockdown was implemented in the UK:

• He and his wife developed symptoms of coronavirus in London.
• He was spotted a day later at his family home in Durham, 260 miles away.
• He again confirms that he has symptoms and is self-isolating, and is described as being so ill he could not get out of bed, but is spotted outside by neighbours (this is a rural home, so his nearest neighbours live half a mile away).
• Around this point the police confirm the reports and start investigating.
• A week later, (on his wife's birthday), he and his entire family are spotted at Barnard Castle, a tourist destination 30 miles from Durham.
• A few days later, he is then spotted back in London
• Several weeks later this is all reported in the media, the government first denies all claims and blames it on the media (despite it being confirmed by the police), then when more reports come out claim he did not violate lockdown. Thousands of people have been fined and other advisors have been sacked for smaller violations.
• Amid growing calls for him to resign (including from some Tory MPs) he announces a press conference. Government advisors are not supposed to have press conferences, and if they become the news, the policy is for them to be sacked.
• He then holds an insane car crash of a press conference hosted in a part of Downing Street typically reserved for major PM addresses (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGLRBwYZEHs) in which he confirms the reports (and contradicts the government and his wife's earlier defences of him) but refuses to apologise or admit wrongdoing, and among other things claims he drove 30 miles to check that his eyesight he lost while ill was good enough for the drive back.
• This is then followed by a later car crash interview with Boris Johnson in which he again defends Cummings and starts muting the microphones of journalists asking questions about it. The entire government puts all their focus on defending Cummings, including having a minister say that he's driven to test his eyesight live on air.
• The outrage over Cummings' actions is now believed to be leading to more people violating lockdown, and is expected to potentially lead to a second wave of infections. The message the government seems to be giving is either he did nothing wrong and people can leave their homes or it is one rule for the elite and another for everybody else.
• Recent polls show an overwhelming majority believe he broke lockdown and should be sacked, and government approval has dropped 20% in four days - the only country in Europe where this has happened during the crisis. The Tories' lead over Labour in the polls has also been crashing.
• Cummings still refuses to resign and the government still defends him.

Tl;dr: Top UK government advisor violates lockdown by driving 260 miles and back apparently to visit his family while ill with COVID-19 symptoms, then is spotted having driven a tourist destination 30 miles away which he claims was just to test his eyesight. Despite the fact that this is illegal and a sackable offence, the government fully defends him even though it has caused the public to turn on them and endangered lockdown.

So if you wanted to know who's really in charge in the UK, it's him.


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I just decided to change this sig.
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