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Contacted my Tory MP, who doesn't appear to do anything, ever. Jam and jumble sales get her in the local paper but that's it. Asked her to clarify the following:
I am a father of two young children, both my partner’s parents and mine live over an hour and a half away. As a family, we have been ill with a cough and COVID type symptoms, during which time we self-isolated.
As far as I understand it the advice now is to follow Mr Cummings example if we’re ill again. We should not stay at home and isolate, we should travel with our children to be with our parents in case we need childcare? Of course, this is following my instincts as a father and acting for the sake of our children, which appears to be the course of action endorsed by the Prime Minister.
I also asked if that's not the case could she contact Boris and sort out Cummings.
Not expecting to hear anything at all judging by social media posts asking where her replies are.
I haven't seen this kind of internal division within the Tory party since before the last election. Apart from the true blue bloods there are sensible people within the party who know Cummings is now a fundamental liability to moving forward with policy and public favour. Plenty of people who voted for them at the last election are already jumping ship as they weren't exactly natural Tory voters in the first place. This seems like an event that will stick very strongly in voter's minds because it's so personal to so many who haven't seen loved ones since lockdown started. He cannot remain in position without a fundamental crack in the party now.
Wrote to my MP a few days back - pointing out it was the first time I'd done so. Will be interesting to see if I get a response, he's a junior minister so nothing as yet from him personally or on socials. For those saying it's not worth doing, am not so sure. Genuinely, this makes the UK less safe as people will apply their own judgement to the lockdown rules. Sounds to me like MP's are taking a litmus test of public opinion from their emails, it's a small effort so get it done.
Regardless of all the lies about a jolly gone awry, the dangerous part of it all is that one message - the rules can be examined in detail and judgement used - even if you think you have the disease.. I remain convinced that govt. reaction to this will sit alongside the late lockdown, track/trace and quarantine failures, as central reasons why thew UK has so many cases.
The only way Cummings goes is when it hurts BoJos ego too much that the world is laughing at his weakness. I hope they taunt him relentlessly.
If I were Starmer, at next PMQ's I would start with "When is the actual PM coming to answer questions?"
That would be a savage, savage thing to say. I hope he does.
I still think he will have to go Binbins
But if you win - how about a lochinver pie?
Northwind - I am a bit more cynical than you - its the pressure from folk complaining to their MPS and in Scotland the open goal this gives the SNP for May
I have not seen such a public display of dissent in the tory party ever I do not think - and there will be more to come. Its simply not going to go away. Its going to dominate the news for ages yet unless he goes
No point in contacting my mp alister jack, as he’s so far ensconced up johnsons arse that he has taken root as a polyp
They were always known as 'Spikes' in cricket teams I played in.
So-called because they were so far up the captain/coach's arse that all you could see of them was the soles of their boots.
I'll raise TJ's stakes.
If Binners rides his bike to Westminster and punches Dom square in the kisser then I'll personally take Binners to the Snappy Chapati and treat him to a 16" Tandoori Munchie Box and six cans of his choosing.
Just tell the cops you were following your instincts as a father and it'll be fine.
If I were Starmer, at next PMQ’s I would start with “When is the actual PM coming to answer questions?”
It’s what I’d go for.
Paint the relationship as Boris having a desperate servile reliance on Short Cummings. Which, is basically true.
He said yesterday that he is making many key decisions without bothering the PM with them. He can’t appear at PMQs… but he has to appear in front of select committees when requested. He can’t be a key government decision maker without being held to account by MPs.
The only way Cummings goes is when it hurts BoJos ego too much that the world is laughing at his weakness. I hope they taunt him relentlessly.
Global reaction is disbelief:
The German paper is correct; sending out Ministers to defend an advisor is basically reversing the hierarchy, it's painting DC as being the one in charge. What's worse is that all the Ministers that were out there defending him were doing so even as new evidence was coming to light about where he'd been.
The dangers of a populist Government:
[I]"Firing Cummings, even temporarily, would remove his right hand – and Johnson’s most important ministers were appointed because of their views on Brexit, not their expert special knowledge or leadership experience.”[/I]
He can’t appear at PMQs… but he has to appear in front of select committees when requested.
Wasn't he famously held in contempt of parliament for refusing to appear before a commons select comittee?
Tells you everything you need to know about him. He clearly thinks he's above that kind of thing
He can’t appear at PMQs…
i didn’t read that as suggestion he could / should. More a dig that Boris isn’t the actual decision maker.
Tory boy top trumps
Like! Turns out mine is a Hawker Hunter / BMW 318 / Jack Leach / Pterandon (he came out against Cummings on Sunday night shortly after I emailed him - coincidence?? ;-)). Which under the current circumstances is pretty good! Not sure I could stomach having USS Nimitz / SR-71 Blackbird in Gove or Mogg.
^^👍^^
Johnson’s most important ministers were appointed because of their views on Brexit, not their expert special knowledge or leadership experience.”
This is a thing that has always baffled my foreign wife about UK ministers - the health minister has no knowledge of health, the education minister no knowledge of education. It's bizarre.
I love you, Marina.
With this on top of Brexit, the rest of the world must be wondering WTF is going on in this country?
As are most of us?
Wait for he deadline for an extension on the withdrawal agreement to sail past in a couple of weeks, meaning a 'No Deal.... oh sorry... and 'Australian Style' Brexit and we'll have a full house of total ****-wittery.
The next few years are going to be pretty bloody grim for this country. And the main cause of this spent yesterday afternoon sat in the garden at number 10 telling us why he's right and we're all wrong.
The health minister in fact knows so little about health that his inability to follow his own government's corona guidance is quite likely what infected Boris Johnson.
He definitely thinks he's the brains behind the whole operation
Changing his blog to show he predicted CV pandemic shows a desperate need to be the smartest guy in the room
From the outside it must look like he is some kind of absolute monarch
Johnson is terrified of sacking him
Cummings got to hold court in the Rose Garden at number 10 yesterday, 1st time an advisor has been allowed to. Even the PM stands as he addresses the nation, HM Cummings gets to remain seated, I'm surprised he didn't have a throne
He delayed by 30 minutes, meaning little Bozo wasn't allowed to start his daily briefing until 2 hours late
MPs have been obeying the dictats to cut n paste responses saying how it's all lies, then that his apology was sincere
Attorney General & Health Sec have undermined their offices of state defending him, MPs all throwing themselves in the firing line to save Dom, look at Gove pretending driving a car was the way to test your eyesight!
The weakness of Johnson is magnified by the thrall that Cummings has over him
My new MP (Mark Jenkinson) is doing a sterling job of projecting the party line on twitter.
False news - check
Obvious falsehoods in reporting - check
Great father doing what anyone would do - check
Acceptable to drive wherever you want - check
I hope everyone in the Workington constituency who voted for the fat oxygen thief is proud of themselves.
And the steady drip drip drip of tory MPs calling for his head increases. Must be pushing 50 by now
He definitely thinks he’s the brains behind the whole operation
There are not many people, capable of tieing their own shoelaces, who would look around that cabinet table and not draw the same conclusion
As are
mostnot enough of us?
The next few years are going to be pretty bloody grim for this country. And the main cause of this spent yesterday afternoon sat in the garden at number 10 telling us why he’s right and we’re all wrong.
We know he's a sociopath.
Game Theory - except he is only interested in the group when it is in his individual interests to do so. When the time comes he will flip effortlessly.
Think of it in terms of parasitism. Bit like a virus in fact. Sneak in, hijack the machinery, stay hidden, con the machinery to make thousands of copies of yourself then blow the cell wide open and destroy it when you've finished with it and have no further need for it.
He is making me tread near the line of 'never wish physical harm to be visited on another person'.
I'm going for my ride in a bit, though. Clear the mind and hopefully let the anger subside a bit.
@binners To think we used to have an international reputation for good governance…
Must be pushing 50 by now
Beeb are reporting 30. Out of 300. With a 80 majority and 4.5 years left in the term. Those are the numbers Joris will be most bothered about now, not x hundred plebs dying, the ****. He will be a bit worried, but I think the calculation is that if nothing else emerges he will get away with it.
If you look at the way the Beeb are presenting this and what other lines are being thrown around, it is pretty clear they have been told to spike the story as a top priority and try to maintain journalistic integrity as a distant second.
If this had come out a month earlier I think he would have gone. We're seeing numbers coming down and by the end of the month everything will be about opening up the economy.
Now we just have to wait to see Bojo and Cumstain screw that one up and the pressure will increase.
You have to ballance out the number of Tory MPs dissenting against Doms penchant for removing the whip. If it was restored to those from whom it was removed then that would make an interesting picture.
Hopefully most of the questions tonight will be about the blog. I'm sure more of the story will unravel as well
https://twitter.com/campbellclaret/status/1265261062653427712?s=19
The don't like Robert Peston do they! And a party line to Laura's and others questions.
So, now we need to focus on more important things (aka brush this under the carpet).
hancock didn't much like Peston's question; no follow-up allowed.
Not a single Q so far on the developments hancock announced at start of briefing so the media are maintaining focus on cummings.
Also shuts down next media questioner.
Not a good look.
I'm watching this through my fingers.
Surely they can see how bad this looks, when he says people have to self isolate as their civic duty
Civic duty?
Also I wonder if there'll be something in this
https://twitter.com/MichaelPDeacon/status/1265312679738118145?s=19
I can't see either of them lying on TV, if at all
Surely they can see how bad this looks, when he says people have to self isolate as their civic duty
They keep hammering the message, but ignoring the fact it wasn't good enough for Cummings. 71% disagree - surely they can't be that blind to think this is going away...
Surely they can see how bad this looks, when he says people have to self isolate as their civic duty
They are just beyond shame. Civic duty? I can feel my blood pressure going up again. The absolute front of these ****s!!!
They're all now existing in a complete moral vacuum
I'm glad the BBC are also helping keep Cummings obvious lies in the public eye: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52808059
Though I'm not 100% sure why it is in the business pages...
Now I am not really a politically minded person.... but... I have never felt so embarrassed for a government ever.
Just watching these press conferences is beyond grim.
It's cringeworthy, no matter what your political bent.
And whilst Scottish Independence is not something I want, I feel all this really does make it almost inevitable. Queen Nicola must be having a ball watching.
Contrast the behaviour of Cummings with the Dutch PM who didn't visit his dying mother:
https://guardian.ng/news/dutch-pm-didnt-see-dying-mother-due-to-virus-rules/
It's only a manner of weeks before someone has to remind us not to drink Bleech surely......
@mehr I spotted them both leaving Downing Street, behind the BBC journo, between DC and BJs conferences, wonder why they didn’t stay to help? Dinner reservations perhaps?
His spin seems to be working according to quite a few posts from people I used to go to school with on FB and social media. These are all university educated people and they are all expressing outrage at the media witchhunt for the poor father Dominic Cummings! *face palm*
Not wanted to speak as they have a conscience & know too much?
Please don't forget Cummings is still firmly in charge of this show, and though parliament is closed, some contract, some legistlation, something big is going under the radar and under our noses. My first instinct would be to check share prices today of any US pharma.
I think there’s a Brexit related US deal going on. “Extreme circumstances” blah, blah.
in his 4x4 **** mobile 😀
Tells you everything you need to know about him. He clearly thinks he’s above that kind of thing
Thus far he's been proven correct.
Brewdog beer should be called Immoral & Lardy.
US trade deal in the background I hope, we will need all the bleached chicken we can get to cure covid.
Surely they can see how bad this looks
Sort off...But remember, all they have to do is convince the Tory voters that it's a left wing remainer witch hunt...They know full well that the charge is going to be lead by folk who (at least partly) want him gone for a whole bunch of reasons that aren't to do with this. Don't get me wrong, there's a shopping list of things I could point at which makes me think he's unsuitable to be anywhere near Whitehall, but my thoughts aren't really that important (along with, I suspect) the 20 or so Tory MPs As long as they keep up with the "The lefties can't abide him, and want him gone" line, the Red Be-trousered brigade will eventually fall in line
Is this the deal going on?
'Hancock to look at family lock down fines'
@$#@%&&&******
Get caught breaking the law so change it retrospectively! Unbelievable.
I read this report from a link on that page as well. I have a feeling it may have been posted before on this thread but worth a look if you haven't seen it:
Brilliant isn't it, a government forced to retrospectively change the law with no parliamentary scrutiny to suit the needs of one person. I hope they do him the honour now of renaming all the lock down legislation as "Cumming's Law"
‘Hancock to look at family lock down fines’
@$#@%&&&******
Get caught breaking the law so change it retrospectively! Unbelievable.
and reinstate Neil Ferguson, who presumably just wanted to check his nob was still functional?
.
I’ve been really struggling for words with this whole story but I think Pie, in that clip up there ^^^ may have saved me from finding them. Superb summary and the 4x4 **** mobile comment was the icing on the cake. Pie for PM
My wife's in tears this evening coz her dad with terminal cancer is declining rapidly & her mum has been in tears on the phone asking her to go & visit
Cummings can do one
Yep, I think Pie summed up what most of the nation thinks 🙂
Jonathan Pie summed my thoughts rather well. I’m just shocked that this hasn’t been put to bed by him resigning. I can see this being a significant contribution to losing their next election.
Great video by Pie!!
I can see this being a significant contribution to losing their next election.
Should that be a by-election in a marginal seat, maybe.
Too many of our electorate have the attention span of a coked-up gnat.
Given that Cummings can arrange his own press conf. in the no. 10 it seems difficult to avoid the conclusion that Johnson is PMINO. Cummings is quite happy for chaos to ensue, personality politics is transient, useful cover for whatever else he is up to.
That TrueRepublica piece is very short on detail. IF that is indeed happening, let us know what and his, otherwise it’s just conspiracy theories.
Just watched the news and after that I don't care what Cummings did. No interest whatsoever.
Any interest I did have has been overshadowed by the media demanding to run the country and tell parliament what to do.
Move on. especially the scummy BBC.
Pie, as ever, nails it.
tell parliament what to do
Anyone knows what this means? Anyone seen Cummings in parliament?
Parliament haven’t been relevant for weeks now.
Are the MPs calling for Cummings to go part of parliament?
US trade deal in the background I hope, we will need all the bleached chicken we can get to cure covid.
This didn’t get the recognition it deserved. Well played.
Just watched the news and after that I don’t care what Cummings did. No interest whatsoever.
You should care if you have any moral compass.
It isn't just about the current issue, the media have been at it for ages and it has negated much of what they say in my view.
Too many of our electorate have the attention span of a coked-up gnat.
Not always. Hillsborough killed 96, Grenfell 72 and the families haven't let them go. This is killing many more than that every day. Those families will want answers. And this is not a few scousers or council tenants, it's everyone. There will be multiple public enquiries and the government and its advisers will be in the spotlight for years, if not decades.
the media have been at it for ages and it has negated much of what they say in my view
At it? Are you complaining about media voices that question the words and actions of politicians? Do you think their role should be to support all politicians and the teams they surround themselves with, or just those currently in number 10?
brads - are you my MP?
Nope and I'm not that interested in folk defending the press, that's your choice. The media are scum in my opinion.
I trust them less than any politician.
I trust them less than any politician.
you must really distrust Blojo then.