Board 8 > Dominic Cummings Stats and Discussion

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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 wish he would Dominic Goings
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MoogleKupo141 posted...

I wish he would Dominic Goings

Same. He should pay for his Cummings and goings.

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can't see him going now, if they were going to sack him they would have already

glad the government's paying in popularity for being so in thrall to the weasel bastard, but even that won't matter much with the next election four years away

thoroughly demoralising situation really

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Giggsalot posted...

can't see him going now, if they were going to sack him they would have already

glad the government's paying in popularity for being so in thrall to the weasel bastard, but even that won't matter much with the next election four years away

thoroughly demoralising situation really

At the very least, next year is a big one for local and regional elections so that will bite them probably. And hopefully this is damage that will stick, it can be hard to turn things around when they start to go bad for you.

Either way, I'm starting to think that Boris doesn't make it to the next election.

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This will blow over and people will be like "are you still going on about this?" in a few months.

The entire modus operandi of these people is to literally never apologise, not accept wrongdoing, and hope partizanship carries them through. And once the outrage dies down, it will.

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XIII_rocks posted...

This will blow over and people will be like "are you still going on about this?" in a few months.

The entire modus operandi of these people is to literally never apologise, not accept wrongdoing, and hope partizanship carries them through. And once the outrage dies down, it will.

https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1266020708313899010

Good news! Fortunately people can have long memories and it can take a very long time to recover from scandal (see: the Liberal Democrats). Though, we are in a time when things seem to change constantly.

Also:

https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/gaming/dominic-cummings-barnard-castle-ps4-game-a4451671.html

lol

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I mean, it hasn't even been a week

His supporters will continue to say things like "change the record" and that it's old news, etc, and eventually talking about it will just seem silly and forced because clearly there will be no apology or any lasting loss

The poll numbers for Johnson don't matter either. There is simply no way this would have any bearing on a 2024 election unless Cummings goes, which he won't. It's not meaningless, but they can treat it like it is, and that's all that matters.

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