THE PUBLIC BACKLASH:
– STEVE JEFFERY, 45, DEPUTY HEADMASTER
AS Dominic Cummings attempted to tell his side of the story yesterday, furious Brits sent their own message to Number 10 – if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for us.
Tens of thousands of people descended on beaches and filled beauty spots around the country amid a 79F bank holiday heatwave.
And many justified throwing aside social distancing rules themselves by referring to Cummings’ 260-mile trip during lockdown.
In Bournemouth, all car parks were full by 11am, while the pier was so crowded it was impossible to socially distance.
By the afternoon, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council warned the Dorset resort was approaching “maximum capacity”.
One woman said she travelled 250 miles from Liverpool “because of Dominic Cummings”.
Patricia Smith, 28, a fitness instructor, said: “The situation with Dominic Cummings encouraged me to come here from Liverpool.
“I was thinking about whether it was right to or not but if he can do it in his position then why shouldn’t I?”
Stuart Beer, 50, an insurance broker from Poole, said the public were now less likely stick to the rules.
He said: “If the Government are not practising what they preach, why should the rest of us? How can they complain about people who do break the lockdown.”
At the daily press conference, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was asked about a problem with large groups congregating, and said: “It’s absolutely vital that we all continue to observe the rules of social distancing.”
Yet, it was a similar story in Brighton, Southend and Margate and other beaches across the country, and there were queues of swimmers at the Serpentine in Hyde Park.
One person, who asked to remain anonymous, said scenes at Botany Bay in Broadstairs, Kent were “business as usual” for a bank holiday.
They estimated there were at least 3,000 people there.
Steve Jeffery, 45, a deputy headteacher, from Worthing, West Sussex, said Mr Cummings had “opened the floodgates”. He said: “The beach in Worthing was heaving! One huge group had a sign up which read ‘If Cummings can, we can too’.
“My partner lives in with her children – we haven’t seen each other for months.
“My extended family are a short drive away, but we have respected the rules and joined each other on Zoom.
“We’re desperate to get back to normal but have listened to government advice and followed the rules.
“I never imagined high-profile members of this government would blatantly disregard rules we followed.
“It’s a disgrace. Heads should roll. This is about life and death, right and wrong, not left and right.” Chloe Ribeiro, 27, a nanny, from Bishop’s Stortford, Herts, accused Mr Cummings of “blatant lies” and “just covering up”.
“What left me fuming is that he can’t just accept he made a mistake and shouldn’t have done it,” she said.
“It’s still wrong but at least he’d be admitting he’s human”
“My son hasn’t seen his grandparents for months, only through a window or two metres away to wave, and he hasn’t seen his cousins or played with friends.”
Hairdresser Catherine Maguire, 53, of Wythenshawe, Manchester, has not seen her NHS worker son for months and said she was not impressed by Cummings’ “excuses”.
She added: “Most of us are following the
If they don’t practise what they preach, why should we do it?
STUAR BEER ON EFFECT OF CUMMINGS’ ROAD TRIP
rules and making sacrifices. People are flocking to beaches and going out a lot because they see people like him doing it and think it’s acceptable. Cummings should be fired.”
But personal trainer Marcus Nelson, 48, from, Mansfield, Notts, said: “I will give him the benefit of doubt, that he may have panicked and things escalated quickly.
“He should have kept things simple and stayed home, and looked into provisions for his fouryear-old. More importantly, he should’ve apologised.”
University of Manchester student Rahal Chahak, 22, said: “It’s an absurd thing for him to have done – I can’t believe he’s not been fired. He’s just been spared to save the image of the Tory party.”
Call centre worker Jade Ratcliff, 23, of Wythenshawe, said: “He’s been telling people to protect the NHS and then he does this.
“It’s so hypocritical – they should sack him.”
Her boyfriend Chris Young, 27, added: “I’ve had to stay away from Jade. “But he seems to have just gone where he likes.
“It’s completely out of order and he should be removed from office.” Jean-Paul Wheater, 48, an operations manager, from Mansfield, said: “In the middle of a pandemic how can your partner falling ill and having a dependant child be deemed an exceptional circumstance meriting transporting both the virus and your four-year-old for 260 miles?
“Plus, driving for 30 miles to see if you can drive? Absolute cod sh*t and it makes a mockery of all the sacrifices made by so many others.”
Rob Hazelgrove, 54, a former head teacher, from Lincoln, felt Mr Cummings “didn’t show any remorse” adding: “The part about driving to Barnard Castle was bizarre. Why drive when you have sight problems?”
And Becky Reynolds, 45, a mortgage consultant, from Worksop, Notts, said: “More bullsh*t, trying to cover his back.
“He should have just put up his hands and admit he cocked up. It’s one rule for him and another for us.” Nikki Smith, 42, a geologist, from Derby, branded Mr Cummings “breathtakingly arrogant”.
“But he’s Boris’s puppet master so Boris isn’t going to want him to go. “I would have given anything to have visited my nana in Wrexham, especially as her 97th birthday is coming up. But we wouldn’t dream of doing a 150-mile round trip.” Southend councillor Matt Dent said the Essex town’s seafront was “packed” yesterday making socially distancing impossible.
He said: “On the beach, people are doing quite well, but on the footways it’s a nightmare.
“I’ve also heard pretty sickening reports of what people are resorting to rather than queuing for the toilets. “People are staying alert, but on the whole I think it would have been better if they’d stayed at home.”
THE crowded beaches show a country voting with its feet on a lockdown the Tory elite in Downing Street didn’t observe.
We urge people to keep a safe distance from those they don’t live with. With no vaccine available, slowing and stopping the disease’s spread is the only way to defeat it.
Many now flocking to the beaches did Stay Home as the PM’s closest aide disobeyed that instruction and stayed on his father’s estate.
Boris Johnson’s refusal to acknowledge he’s ruined his own lockdown by not sacking Cummings is sticking his head in the sand.