Stan

Starmer has asked for the Cabinet Secretary to launch an inquiry in to this whole Cummings debacle. Saying it's an insult to sacrifices made by the British people with no action being taken by Johnson

Wow.

This is becoming a farce. Journalists/Media being muted on calls so that Boris can stop the lying to them. This is the UK these days

Boris still backing Cummings, saying he followed instinct of every parent. Says we're on course to Step 2 of the recovery roadmap. Death toll 118 up from yesterday. School re-openings expected to continue on June 1. Acknowledges some schools can't do this. June 15th - Year 10 and Year 12 to have 'some contact' in preparation for exams next year.

Be safe @Toinho https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-52787152

Baker on Sky News earlier was quite open about discussing him and his own dislike for him. He mentioned that the only person Cummings respects in government is Gove...

Wow. What a story. Woman lied about being beaten up, drugged, sex trafficked, raped by an Asian gang and is now in trouble for perverting the course of justice https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/22/girl-who-said-was-drugged-raped-asian-sex-gang-charged-perverting-course-justice-12741828/

On a personal level, yes. They probably despised each other. But it goes to show that just cos you might have backed Brexit along with him, doesn't mean Cummings would get the support now. My post was perhaps in response to the narrative that some are playing in that it's only 'loony lefties' or 'rabid Remainers' that would go against him. The list above including those kinds of names shows that isn't the case.

Yeah the middle bit of your post especially. You've got a severly-ill wife (by her own account) and a 4-year old kid in the car. London to Durham is a 4-hour journey at best of times. Isn't it by law (or strong guidance) not to drive more than 2 hours anyway?! Being logical, and showing common sense as the government so wish us to do, there's not a chance in hell they didn't stop. And therefore, although service stations are a bit less busy right now, he's put himself in the position to possibly infect others wherever they have stopped. Government are shitting themselves. They're in that precarious position of knowing they're in the shit, doubling down on it and will pay the price hopefully eventually. It's like a young kid at school who hasn't quite grasped ethics and morals yet and thinking they can keep lying and get away with it, keeps digging that hole...

Some big-ish names in there, even ones that strongly backed Brexit and therefore originally would have backed Cummings wish to get UK out of the EU. Steve Baker and Peter Bone especially. So while they may have agreed on that, they clearly don't approve of him as a person (going by Baker's comments before). This is just the beginning, too...

5? Who are the others so far?

Oops, Shapps made a boo-boo

Enjoying Shapps getting slaughtered here...

First one to break ranks. He's on Sky News now. Need to watch more of Sophy Ridge He'll win a lot of backing and support with his constituents with his comments. Agree with him. Media won't let this go.

Another...

It's the fact he travelled 250+ miles to do it. If you're so ill, how have you managed such a long trip with a kid and an ill wife in the car too, presumably without stopping? Guidelines at the time were not to visit family if you have symptoms. He had symptoms. His wife actually had the virus. So not only did they travel with the virus (safeguarding the kid is no excuse considering, by their own account, they stayed in a separate part of the house), they also put their own family members at risk, and with his parents potentially being in vulnerable categories too. Now, I know this bit is speculation, but I find it hard to believe and very much doubt he's travelled that far only to go straight in to another part of the house and not seen his parents or sisters/nieces etc. Also, his own credibility has gone out the window if this 2nd trip story is true. Where he's gone back up to Durham and ended up going sightseeing or walking in the woods. Especially given we were still under strict lockdown rules at the time (mid-April). So he's gone Durham, come back to London and the gone back up to Durham. Again it smacks of hypocrisy and double standards. Calderwood, the health minister in Scotland, was sacked for travelling in lockdown when rules were explicitly stay at home. Why did Cummings go back up to Durham for second time? The other point to raise is how is it that a man in his position has his closest care providers 250 odd miles away? It later came out in the day that his sister-in-law lives in London too and his own aide lives 2 streets away. Yes there may be other circumstances which prevent them from looking after his kid but having said that, in an emergency surely they'd be easier to accommodate with as oppose to risking the long journey up north?! I think if you don't see what he's done wrong it's a bit worrying...

Yeah they have. They've said take your own transport back to your home. Only use public transport as a last resort. From the gov website.

Agreed. They can either backtrack and call for his sacking and look like idiots for even defending him in the first place or look like bigger fools trying to defend this second shitstorm. Good luck lads

Surely not?! Expertly timed by Mirror if so. Let the first instance get all the controversy then release another story to have a greater effect...

@Bluebird Hewitt I'm guessing this is the thing you were saying about the other day... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-52784439

Yeah that's what I meant. 52/28...

52/48 split. Lovely.

Which is why I think Starmer is fairing well for Labour. Of course Tories and their behaviours/mixed messages give Labour pretty much open goals, but they'd be foolish not to try and score in those open goals. Obviously he's not the governing power but he wouldn't be an effective leader of the party if he was missing these opportunities.