The Dominic Cummings Affair And A Whole new Meaning to “A Barney Castle”!

A while back I wrote to our Carlisle MP, John Stevenson to make my displeasure clear about the continued employment of Dominic Cummings as Boris Johnson’s special adviser despite his lockdown breaking journey to Durham. This was followed by an unbelievable piece of bullshit driving to Barnard Castle as “an eye test”! Here’s John’s reply.

Our ref, JO9392

Dear Ray

Thank you for writing to me about Dominic Cummings

The last couple of months have been trying for everyone – and we have all had to make sacrifices in regards to who we can see and what we can do. We have done this not just to protect ourselves, but to protect each other, including of course here in Carlisle.

The Government has issued guidelines and rules to help us do this. I do think therefore, that when someone who is such a key part of Government has broken this guidance, it is incumbent on them to apologise and properly explain the circumstances around this. I don’t believe Mr Cummings did this at all adequately, and so risked undermining the government’s central message. I do believe that he should have resigned as a result and I have expressed this publicly as well as privately.

That said, nobody is perfect – and there were difficult circumstances around Mr Cummıng’s actions. Some of the vitriol and haranguing directed toward Mr Cummings has been appalling and entirely unnecessary.

My hope remains that we are respectful and understanding towards each other during these unprecedented times  – and I will be continuing to support important guidelines about  slowıng this terrible virus so that we as a country, and Carlisle as a city can go ahead with the vital task of returning to normality as soon as it is safe to do so. Thank you again for contacting me, and I do hope this letter finds you well.

Kind regards,

Yours sincerely,

John Stevenson MP

Sadly I couldn’t let it rest at that despite John coming out and calling for Cummings’ resignation.

Dear John,

Thankyou for your prompt response to my message highlighting the completely unacceptable behaviour of Dominic Cummings and The Prime Minister in protecting him. It was refreshing to receive a reply that seemed to be a personal one rather than an intern scripted platitude. I thank you for that.

I was also taken aback, in a positive way, that you did speak out about the necessity of Cummings going, though personally,  I would not afford him the dignity of resignation.

I would like to answer you again more or less point by point. I have taken the liberty of transcribing your letter to my email. I trust I have not made an error that changes your words or your own meaning.

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1. Dear Ray

Thank you for writing to me about Dominic Cummings

The last couple of months have been trying for everyone – and we have all had to make sacrifices in regards to who we can see and what we can do. We have done this not just to protect ourselves, but to protect each other, including of course here in Carlisle.

Though I had to forgo several activities and have been apart from my partner for over 10 weeks now, I do not consider myself to have made any sacrifice at all. The people who have made sacrifices are the nurses, doctors, consultants and cleaners who have worked relentlessly in appalling circumstances, with inadequate supplies of PPE. Despite being left exposed to excessive workplace dangers due to your government’s continued lack of regard to the findings of your own Operation Cygnus in 2016.

2. The Government has issued guidelines and rules to help us do this. I do think therefore, that when someone who is such a key part of Government has broken this guidance, it is incumbent on them to apologise and properly explain the circumstances around this. I don’t believe Mr Cummings did this at all adequately, and so risked undermining the government’s central message. I do believe that he should have resigned as a result and I have expressed this publicly as well as privately.

I agree with you wholeheartedly that Dominic Cummings should have gone, but not with the luxury of resignation. In fact his visible contempt for the people questioning him in the Rose Garden and on the street made it very clear that far from helping “the people” fight the elites, he was just another toxic elitist. As a SPAD, special adviser, it is part of his job description that he is not the story, that he does not take the centre stage! Yet he sat there and disdainfully trotted out a series of almost venal platitudes that were an insult to the rest of us. (They are catalogued here in quite readable form with counterpoints: https://descrier.co.uk/politics/dominic-cummings-faces-fresh-calls-to-resign-after-lying-to-the-public-at-downing-street-press-conference/ This was just one of many sources that record exactly what he said or added in their own counterpoints.)  

He suspected an infection and he broke the one hard rule! If infected or suspicious that you are – don’t travel – ANYWHERE! He should have been sacked on the spot!

What was Boris Johnson thinking when he set Cummings up with a press conference in the Rose garden? This put Cummings centre stage. Both Cummings and Johnson have thumbed their nose at another set of guidelines. Boris is utterly unfit to lead when he defends the indefensible or flouts every piece of sensible advice, rule and law that the rest of us are expected to follow.

3.That said, nobody is perfect – and there were difficult circumstances around Mr Cummings’ actions. Some of the vitriol and haranguing directed toward Mr Cummings has been appalling and entirely unnecessary.

Difficult circumstances? Get a grip John! People with difficult circumstances might include some of those vulnerable people who have had to isolate with nobody else to look after them or their other family members. Those in difficult circumstances might include vulnerable medical staff; still working and trying to stem the tide of this virus who were also following rigorous distancing measures in their own homes: where it was possible they could still infect their own families.

Cummings had relatives nearby in London. But he chose to travel north to a second home – in the grounds of his elderly parents in a building that apparently doesn’t even have planning permission for residential use. He did not approach his local contacts or community support services in Islington, as the rest of the population were doing during that period.

There is real anger: that he has created because of his behaviour before this abuse of position (he is still in contempt of parliament having still failed to present himself for questioning on his previous malpractices). He might be the victim of some unpleasant unwelcome attention and occasional verbal abuse on the streets; but his life has not been materially under threat to the same extent as the people fighting the virus without adequate PPE!

He has quite simply thumbed his nose at any concept of HIS choices needing to be limited in the same way as the rest of us! There was to be no travel to second homes. He deserves every bit of vitriol that comes his way. As for threats of harm… no – that is not acceptable, even for the most toxic of political fixers.

The final straw with him was the absolutely farcical excuse of the “Barney Castle” eye test trip! That your leader stands by such a contemptuous individual is yet more evidence of his unfitness for the job that you and your colleagues put him up for. On top of Johnson’s incompetence in the lead up to this pandemic which has been repeatedly demonstrated as reprehensible in its willingness to cherry pick “the Science” that has been followed, it demonstrates a double standard that is breathtaking in its arrogance.

4.My hope remains that we are respectful and understanding towards each other during these unprecedented times

In the aftermath of this affair, these are hollow words I’m afraid John. Your party and particularly its leaders in cabinet, have demonstrated utter contempt for voters, advisers (apart from Cummings and his neo-fascist ilk) and civil servants not just through this crisis but in the 10 years leading up to this point.

Where was the respect for people when Johnson was strutting around in the first days of the disease in Britain, bovinely hand shaking patients doctors and medical staff against the standard medical advice for infection control?

Where was the respect when Boris Johnson brazenly bullshitted about “taking it on the chin” instead of taking WHO advice and the lived experience of medical personal in Lombardy and Wuhan seriously? An utterly clueless episode of vacuous leadership.

Where was the respect when Theresa May brought in her hostile environment – a truly egregious piece of racist dog whistle politics.

Where was the respect when Ian Duncan Smith doubled down on austerity with his absolutely murderous sanctions regime. You lot had more than 120,000 premature deaths on your hands BEFORE the pandemic struck. (And please don’t repeat that line about statistics being used to show whatever people want – these are based on BMJ figures in 2018).

Where was the respect when your government refused to release the figures for those declared fit for work who died within around 6 weeks after that decision, to a journalist… for almost 6 years?

Where was the respect when those figures were released but fudged to make them obscure the real toll of the sanctions regime?

Where was the respect when Dominic “Data” Cummings and his team were micro targeting social media ads containing lies in the run up to the election?

Where was the respect when Conservative Central Office rebranded it’s Twitter account as a UK Factcheck or something similar during one of the Leadership debates pre-election?

Where is the respect for the people of the Windrush scandal?

Where was the respect when the last 3 governments line ups (of your colleagues) constantly spread bare faced lies about Jeremy Corbyn and utterly failed to curb your media lackeys in their disgusting smearing of the leader of the opposition?

Where was the respect when you and your colleagues celebrated in the House of Commons at denying the NHS staff a just pay rise?

Where was the respect when Matt Hancock claimed a protective ring was put around care homes.

Where was the respect when Dominic Cummings wasn’t sacked on the spot for exhortations to pursue a herd immunity strategy and shrugged his shoulders at the death of thousands of pensioners?

Where was the respect when Boris Johnson ignorantly infected his colleagues at work after his bullshit about shaking hands with everyone?

Where was the respect when Matt Hancock repeatedly stood up in front of that pathetic pack of so called journalists and blandly lied about testing and PPE stats?

Where was the respect when journalists from the BBC and the main stream media dismally failed to hold your leadership to account over their risible public pronouncements?

Don’t you dare patronise me and millions of others about respect, when your party and particularly its current toxic leadership have no respect for anybody outside of their little self serving clique!

5.- and I will be continuing to support important guidelines about slowing this terrible virus so that we as a country, and Carlisle as a city can go ahead with the vital task of returning to normality as soon as it is safe to do so. Thank you again for contacting me, and I do hope this letter finds you well.

That you are supporting the guidelines (as put out by public health scientists) is commendable. Unfortunately your leader doesn’t have that simple thread of integrity. He is easing lock down long before his tests have been met against the advice of the Science!

I fully understand the that it is an invidious job to balance the competing pressures of people’s lives and business owners’ work being harmed by the squeeze on economic activity, the mental health costs of this crisis and the physical health dangers of the virus itself. It requires an extraordinarily well informed leader with the ability and commitment to process enormous quantities of information with integrity and with a longer term vision than tomorrow’s headlines.

Boris Johnson is not that man. His substitute brain, Dominic Cummings is not that man either. Despite his flair for using lowest common denominator data science, to target misleading  messaging, that serves his employer’s purpose, Cummings’ influence is malign! He has no personal integrity either: as the Durham debacle demonstrates! As his refusal to submit to parliamentary oversight demonstrates. In fact I have not seen a single politician in your party who meets those criteria! In stark contrast the countries with great leadership have fared remarkably well compared with the more than 40,000 COVID related deaths that the incompetence of Boris’ “leadershittiness” and constant turgid bullshit have inflicted on this country!

I would turn your eye to Jacinda Adern in New Zealand, who did act on the Science and who communicated instead of bullshitting! Vietnam’s health services did remarkably well, albeit under a very different political system. South Korea nailed it despite their proximity to China! Greece responded decisively and effectively. Even in Albania, Edi Rama acted with a maturity and intelligence that has been desperately lacking in this country!

As has been demonstrated by recently published investigations carried out by some of the few remaining investigative journalists of integrity and the reporting of Boris Johnson’s decision making “process” – the response has been driven by political posturing, not the science. You know that to be true! How you can stand with that man and pretend to be representing the best interests of your constituents does beggar belief.

The single biggest threat to this country and its people’s well being is the incompetent man you have installed at the head of your organisation and the toxic individual who is providing the bulk of his thought processing, Dominic Cummings. Cummings must be sacked and if Conservatism is to regain any integrity, you need to remove Boris Johnson, that hollow shell of a poseur from power!

In his desperation to deliver a Brexit at any cost, his lack of focus on the real issues that beset this country, our neighbours and the rest of the world; namely the current pandemic and the rapid acceleration of climate change; Boris Johnson has demonstrated staggering levels of incompetence, that no reasonable person should accept from any person in any role!

I would suggest a vote of no confidence in this appalling example of utterly hollow leadership!  Personally, if I had the resources I would investigate the possibility of pursuing him for Gross Negligence Manslaughter along with the rest of his cabinet team of mediocre yes men and women.

6.Kind regards,

Yours sincerely,

John Stevenson MP

I return kind regards… sincerely, but through gritted teeth. Your government is a danger to our well being. It must change!

Ray Cassidy