LETTERS

PM is on shaky ground

OUR Prime Minister, whose speciality is blustering buffoonery in his public persona and ruthless self-interest in private, has just told the nation that the distress, sacrifice and in many cases human misery he has asked the people to accept in order to save lives in this pandemic is irrelevant to his chosen ones — in this instance to his unelected adviser Dominic Cummings, a disruptor at heart.

All remaining trust in the Prime Minister and his hapless Cabinet has evaporated. It was already shaky. Cummings is merely a catalyst.

LORRAINE FANNIN, Edinburgh.

End of my Tory era

THIS is now my stance: a Conservative no more.

I was born and brought up in a working-class family in Central Scotland. It wasn’t until 1979, and the arrival of Margaret Thatcher, that I went to the polls for the first time and voted Conservative.

I have been a Tory voter and supporter ever since. However, the actions of that wacky Dominic Cummings and the delirious endorsement by Boris Johnson, has completely turned me off from a party I have supported for almost a lifetime.

Boris Johnson’s obvious backing of Cummings with the words, ‘acted responsibly, legally and with integrity’ just do not exonerate his adviser.

If Cummings was anything verging on a man with integrity, he would have resigned — but his dark narcissism has left me no longer a proponent of the Tories. He, and to a lesser extent, Mr Johnson, have lost my confidence. I shall not vote for the Conservatives ever again.

IAN P. OLIVER, Aberdeen.

Unfairly hounded

WHO actually benefits if the sanctimonious mob and hypocritical politicians get their way?

At no time was Dominic Cummings on a crowded beach, flitting between lover and spouse, picnicking in a crowded park, partying in a friend’s garden, visiting neighbours and breaking distancing rules or having a weekend or two off in his holiday home. He was in isolation the whole time — in a car, in a family home and the open air.

Many of those baying for blood flout the lockdown rules daily but aren’t in the public eye, so a blind eye is turned.

By the way, why is Robert Jenrick not being hounded in the same way for an almost identical ‘crime’? FELICITY THOMSON, Symington, Ayrshire.

Credibility gap

CAN I say that the letter from Alan G Gardner of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire on the subject of Boris Johnston and Dominic Cummings has stated entirely what I was thinking.

There is no doubt in my mind that Boris Johnson has dealt himself a rather severe blow to his credibility and I think it unlikely he will recover from this come the next election. DAVID R MELROSE, Musselburgh, East Lothian.

Don’t target Dom

THIS time it’s Dominic Cummings’s turn. Many people I know break the lockdown rules virtually on a daily basis and the media is full of examples — and these are the same people who condemn Mr Cummings for being a desperate and caring father.

Meanwhile, senior politicians who have made mistakes which may have cost avoidable deaths dismiss calls to resign with nonsensical comments and even complaints of a cover-up.

I don’t often disagree with the Daily Mail’s stance, but this time I think you have got it wrong. Go after those who really deserve to go.

ALLAN BELL, Edinburgh.

No reason to resign

DOMINIC Cummings has made plenty of headlines for all the wrong reasons, but his ability to do his job is still the same as it was before he broke the rules put in place by the Government.

The political posturing from opposition parties is predictable but unnecessary, and despite what he has done, there is no reason why Mr Cummings should resign or be sacked. ALAN LOUGH, Dunbar, East Lothian.

Were rules really broken?

AFTER reading reams of pages and listening to hours of comment and debate, I am no nearer knowing whether or not Dominic Cummings broke the lockdown rules.

So far, all I am hearing and reading is political puff, full of point-scoring, gossip, grievance and more than a touch of old score-settling. We even have reports of someone seeing a person who looks like him being given credibility.

I await with anticipation further reports of someone who looks like him being spotted in the company of Elvis in a flying saucer.

Either he broke the rules or not: a simple question. If he did, then he should go — but if he didn’t, let’s put

away the torches and pitchforks and move on. There are more pressing issues.

PAuL LEWIS, Edinburgh.

Do the right thing

I HAVE to applaud the stand the Daily Mail is taking on the Prime Minister’s special adviser.

As a former Conservative voter, I say this not from a Remain vs Leave stance but due to respect for public office. Mr Cummings’s explanation was risible. It was an insult to everyone who has done the right thing during the lockdown.

His ‘instinct’ reminds me of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s comments regarding residents trapped in Grenfell Tower and how, if they had followed their instincts, they might be alive.

Most of us are not part of the political elite or Etoneducated and, for right or wrong, we do what we are told by the government of the day.

In addition, the Prime Minister was forced to delay his press conference as a result of the Cummings briefing. Who is in charge? ANDREW JONES,

London SW1.

I’M CONFUSED about the rules. Many now say Dominic Cummings only broke the ‘spirit of the rules’. But I thought rules were rules, not requests, such as ‘don’t break the speed limit’. Or is that just the spirit of the rule, too? MICHAEL SOLOMON WILLIAMS, London N22.

An odd oversight

SO Dominic Cummings didn’t telephone Boris Johnson before driving to Durham and indeed didn’t contact him for a couple of days after that?

Did nobody in No 10 Downing Street notice that the Prime Minister’s top adviser had gone missing? IAN WHITE, Falkirk,

Stirlingshire.

Emotional error

DOMINIC Cummings emotionally made an unfortunate decision. There are ruthless people in politics. Dominic Cummings is not one of them.

MARY LATIMER, Edinburgh.

Cummings must go

BORIS Johnson made big inroads into converting his party from one seen by many as the enemy of the average man to one worthy of giving up a generation of dislike and voting them into power.

He now seems unaware that, rightly or wrongly, his adviser Dominic Cummings must go if his Government’s tarnished image it to be restored.

Johnson must ‘man up’ to stand on his own two feet, proving he is in charge, not an adviser.

Instead of focusing on beating the Covid-19 contagion, the Prime Minister is in danger of creating another which will see the Conservatives swept from power.

Time for Cummings to be goings! GRAHAM WYLLIE, Airdrie,

Lanarkshire.

Danger zone

WHAT would have happened if Dominic Cummings had had an accident on his car journey with a sick wife in his car?

Could he have put the lives of emergency services, the police and the general public in danger? DEREK BLACKLOCK,

Orkney.