Heat is on Cummings to quit over flouting lockdown rules
Dominic Cummings, senior adviser to the UK prime minister, must have some serious dirt on Boris Johnson not to be sacked immediately for breaching Britain’s lockdown regulations.
It has emerged that on March 30, seven days into lockdown, Cummings drove with his wife and young son from his home in London to his parents’ farm in Durham, about 435km away, after showing symptoms and testing positive for Covid-19.
After complaints from neighbours who spotted him, the Durham constabulary “had a word” with Cummings on March 31, reminding him of the lockdown rules. Moreover, the family undertook a jolly to the town Barnard Castle 30km away, and were seen out and about in Durham at least once. Cue moral outrage, Twitter rage, public disgust and calls for him to resign.
Cummings maintains he made the journey because his wife, The Spectator columnist Mary Wakefield, was also struck with the virus. They were therefore concerned that they could become incapacitated without child care.
They further justify their actions because they stayed in a self-contained outbuilding on the farm and had their shopping delivered.
Johnson’s sycophantic cabinet ministers were clearly under orders on Saturday to tweet their support for Cummings, saying he was only trying to look out for his wife and child. But the public isn’t having any of it. Nor are eight Tory backbench MPs, who in defiance of the whip and prime minister on Sunday also called for Cummings to resign or be sacked.
People are understandably livid and saddened, because many have themselves made difficult sacrifices, such as being unable to attend the funerals of loved ones or see their grandchildren.
Nobody understands why Cummings has not been sacked when “Professor Lockdown ”— the scientific adviser to the government, Neil Ferguson — resigned (or was pushed to resign) on May 6 when it emerged that his married lover visited his home.
The chief medical officer to the Scottish government, Catherine Calderwood, was also forced to resign on April 6 when her position became untenable after she visited her second home during lockdown.
Nor does anybody understand why, when Cummings’s brother-in-law lives in London, they were so concerned about child care. Nor how Cummings and Wakefield claim to have made the five-hour journey without stopping once.
Nobody is interested in Cummings’s explanation of the technicalities, or if the visit to Barnard Castle was made during or after the period of self-isolation. The rules were clear: “You must not travel. You must stay at home.”
Cummings’s flagrant breach of the lockdown stems from a toxic arrogance and political influence that has resulted in him being able to pretty much do and say what he wants and, crucially, wear what he wants.
His famed dishevelled neogrunge aesthetic has even been featured in Vogue magazine for its devil-may-care “up yours” signifier to the establishment.
But he may be underestimating the rapid rate at which the public’s support for the government is waning due to its handling of the crisis. Particularly given that he has been one of the chief architects of its response.
This may be the “people’s government”, but if Cummings stays it is certainly not the people’s lockdown.
It remains to be seen whether Cummings is so untouchable that Johnson will continue to protect him, or whether he is soon to become Dominic Going.
Masie, a former senior editor of the Financial Mail, is chief strategist at IC Publications in London and a fellow of the Wits School of Governance.