Westminster Politics

ArmchairCritic said:
Do we really believe there is no one within 260 miles that he can trust with childcare?
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Its possible yes, certainly that are at an ideal age to look after the kid in the midst of a pandemic. I don’t have kids of my own but I don’t think my brothers would leave their kids with anyone except for immediate family. It’s a pretty big thing to ask of people too.

I think what he did wasn’t in the spirit of the rules but the fact is that he’s from a wealthy family and they had a pretty ideal situation at his parent property as he describes it. If I were him then I likely would have done the same if the other people living at the properties were happy about it.
 
Classical Mechanic said:
I think the pool of people you’d want to hand your kid over to is probably pretty limited and if his young niece could look after the kid it does seem like an ideal situation all things considered. I would have probably done the same thing if what he says about it all is true. I think this is why the left wing press are going after the eye sight story because that part seems implausible.
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Would you have done it if you held the role he does?
 
ArmchairCritic said:
Do we really believe there is no one within 260 miles that he can trust with childcare?
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Of course not. He went up there to have a quiet country getaway with his wife and kid and it coincided with a trip to a castle of his missus' birthday. If they could have snuck into a restaurant they would have so they took the best option available. Now he's been caught out and he's giving us his "dick accidentally fell into a horse" excuse.
 
And he had shouted conversations with his parents and sister while up there.

Thats a big boot in the balls for FaceTime.
 
Thing is he has clearly told a lot of lies today. He had better hope that he doesn't get caught out on even one of them or he's fecked.

How fecking low to use your dead uncle and infant son as a shield though.
 
Still a huge risk just traveling all that way with a sick wife in the car. he's trying to justify it by saying the next day he couldn't move as if that's proof. What if this happened while in his 5 hour journey? He could've crashed or had to stop and get people out to save them, this is the whole point of staying put and not taking risks yourself and many others who have to respond while you're stranded, crashed or crashed through heavy covid symptoms or simply brokedown. Upping sticks in a car for hours is not good for someone ill like his wife rather than recuperating and staying at home and admitted he feared he could be next, hence the drive to Durham. Claims his home was a target but then decides to go back to the target and does a test run with the family beforehand.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
Do we really believe there is no one within 260 miles that he can trust with childcare?
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He made a point of saying there were three exceptional circumstances: 2 parents potentially being unable to take care of a 4 year old, the fact he works at #10, and the fact his house was a target of some kind. He let slip after about the 7th time of asking that some people might think "it's your own fault people were making threats at your house, that's not a good reason to leave" at this point in the press conference. I'm surprised no-one challenged him on that point he kept leaning on. He clearly chose to get out of London because it was his preference, not because it was the only choice he could make. He seemed genuinely oblivious to the fact that other parents have had to deal with worse situations.

I think he's swept it away well enough though. He's given the people that want to support him enough to work with, and that's all he needed to tip the balance on.
 
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Rooney24 said:
Im surprised the Government hadnt appointed a nanny or something for him anyway. But yeah surely there was someone between Point A & B that could have been used.
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so it would be ok for him to travel to the Midlands or Leeds for example? If 260 miles is not acceptable, would 30, 60, 90,150 miles.
 
Makes me question the slogan change all of a sudden. Were they getting ahead?
 
Classical Mechanic said:
Its possible yes, certainly that are at an ideal age to look after the kid in the midst of a pandemic. I don’t have kids of my own but I don’t think my brothers would leave their kids with anyone except for immediate family. It’s a pretty big thing to ask of people too.

I think what he did wasn’t in the spirit of the rules but the fact is that he’s from a wealthy family and they had a pretty ideal situation at his parent property as he describes it. If I were him then I likely would have done the same if the other people living at the properties were happy about it.
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Well, is there any immediate family in London for Cummings? He seems to be suggesting in his judgement he felt that he could drive for 5 hours without having to stop for fuel or to take his son to the toilet, potentially exposing other people to the virus, was a more reasonable decision than finding someone locally to care for his son and potentially exposing them to the virus.

I think the focus will shift away from the initial journey even with the leaps of faith required to believe some of it and onto the journey back into London at more or less the same time as the peak of the pandemic. He is an adviser, he could easily work from home.
 
Classical Mechanic said:
Probably yes but then I’ve never been in such a role.
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I find that surprising, I definitely wouldn’t. Regardless of where I stand on it as a moral act , I could have predicted how people would react to it if it came to light. Most importantly, I’d understand that my actions would undermine the lockdown.

I don’t know if I’d feel different if I was in a position such as his, within the government and the public eye. I think not, my brother’s a cop with an infant and he’s been squeaky clean movement-wise because of the position he holds, despite instances more trying than those described by Cummings.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
Well, is there any immediate family in London for Cummings? He seems to be suggesting in his judgement he felt that he could drive for 5 hours without having to stop for fuel or to take his son to the toilet, potentially exposing other people to the virus was a more reasonable decision than finding someone locally to care for his son and potentially exposing them to the virus.

I think the focus will shift away from the initial journey even with the leaps of faith required to believe it and onto the journey back into London at more or less the same time as the peak of the pandemic.
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My personal view is that the pool of people you’d give your kid too is pretty limited, especially when there’s a good chance they’re infectious with a disease that’s killing quite a few people. I really do think it would be pretty limited to more immediate family members.
 
ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg said:
so it would be ok for him to travel to the Midlands or Leeds for example? If 260 miles is not acceptable, would 30, 60, 90,150 miles.
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None of them are acceptable, what the feck are you on about? Stop trying to steer the narrative away from an argument you have no answers for.
 
ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg said:
so it would be ok for him to travel to the Midlands or Leeds for example? If 260 miles is not acceptable, would 30, 60, 90,150 miles.
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Well obviously the longer the journey the greater the risk. As he himself highlighted when he mentioned having to pull over because people were sick, taking a shorter drive to "test his eyesight" and having to stop to get petrol.

Though none of them would be acceptable. Because if they were then the many, many people in similarly difficult circumstances at the time would have been free to travel across the UK against government advice based on their "instincts". And the many, many people who will soon find themselves in similarly difficult circumstances would be able to decline isolation.
 
Buster15 said:
And yet he clearly stated that he was going back to London to arrange child care.
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That's the best bit. Number 10 would have found him childcare. This whole thing has nothing to do with childcare and everything to do with the PM's chief political advisor, who has made himself the architect of the lockdown and invited himself to scientific briefings, making everyone make sacrifices and ignoring them himself because he thinks he's above it all and he wanted a holiday with his family to coincide with his missus' birthday. This is the story, not some philosophical debate over what is deemed acceptable childcare.
 
Mr Pigeon said:
Of course not. He went up there to have a quiet country getaway with his wife and kid and it coincided with a trip to a castle of his missus' birthday. If they could have snuck into a restaurant they would have so they took the best option available. Now he's been caught out and he's giving us his "dick accidentally fell into a pig " excuse.
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Fixed that for you.
 
Brwned said:
He made a point of saying there were three exceptional circumstances: 2 parents potentially being unable to take care of a 4 year old, the fact he works at #10, and the fact his house was a target of some kind. He let slip after about the 7th time of asking that some people might think "it's your own fault people were making threats at your house, that's not a good reason to leave" at this point in the press conference. I'm surprised no-one challenged him on that point he kept leaning on. He clearly chose to get out of London because it was his preference, not because it was the only choice he could make. He seemed genuinely oblivious to the fact that other parents have had to deal with worse situations.

I think he's swept it away well enough though. He's given the people that want to support him enough to work with, and that's all he needed to tip the balance on.
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I think so too. The other interesting point was when he was asked about getting things wrong in the pandemic, should have pushed him on that because now is the perfect time to get into not at some point in the future as he referred to.
 
Mr Pigeon said:
None of them are acceptable, what the feck are you on about? Stop trying to steer the narrative away from an argument you have no answers for.
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perhaps read the post I was replying to.

I’m not steering any narrative, this is a football forum that has no consequence. There’s no narrative or agenda.
 
So on the day that just so happened to coincide with his wife’s birthday he decided he’d test if his eyesight was recovered sufficiently to drive by...taking his wife and child on a random drive for a minimum of an hour where they happened to end up at Barnard Castle and where his son needed the toilet so they all had to leave the car and enjoy the scenery. Yep, thanks Dom for clearing that up. How did we ever doubt you.
 
Remember when we had journalists follow around Kyle Walker for flouting lockdown guidelines.
 
BobbyManc said:
So on the day that just so happened to coincide with his wife’s birthday he decided he’d test if his eyesight was recovered sufficiently to drive by...taking his wife and child on a random drive for a minimum of an hour where they happened to end up at Barnard Castle and where his son needed the toilet so they all had to leave the car and enjoy the scenery. Yep, thanks Dom for clearing that up. How did we ever doubt you.
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This.

Feel like this will become the new pizza Express excuse.
 
I'm beginning to suspect that this guy is a really powerful figure. The reaction to him by politicians sounds like something I'd expect in a dictatorship, not a democracy.

His Wikipedia page suggests some incredibly strong political views and he doesn't seem like your typical career politician.
 
Vidyoyo said:
I'm beginning to suspect that this guy is a really powerful figure. The reaction to him by politicians sounds like something I'd expect in a dictatorship, not a democracy.

His Wikipedia page suggests some incredibly strong political views and he doesn't seem like your typical career politician.
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Only now?
 
I really do think the two take homes from that will be.

'I had no regrets' and 'I drove to Barnard Castle to check my eyesight' neither of which will do much to displace the obvious anger with it all.

Of course tits like Clayton will defend it in the hope that they might get some extra gruel when the Tory's reopen poor houses but I don't think he'll cope well with being seen as a laughing stock.
 
Cummings handled it well enough. The journos are fecking useless. Normal people in this thread are posing more pertinent and taxing questions.
 
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