Boris Johnson Beware! The Knives are out for Dominic Cummings

The Prime Minister has treated the British people with contempt.
One rule for Dominic Cummings, another for everybody else. pic.twitter.com/XIFCztZnbu

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) May 24, 2020

It's pretty much universal: Boris Johnson's support of Dominic Cummings is a suicide move. A petition calling for a public vote of no confidence in the PM has 107,000 signatures so far and cross-party calls for Cummings to go are burgeoning out of control. Nineteen Conservative MPs have gone on record.  International press is scathing of Johnson. So is the Church of England. Thirteen bishops have publicly expressed their outrage.

Johnson is trying to brazen it out, unwilling to accept that what worked for him over Brexit and in the GE has turned into a minefield. Even going back to post election, he has cynically tapped into the heroism of the second world war and the spirit of unity, playing at Churchill, to get voters to like him, forgive him his incompetence and faults, and do what he wants. He was successful enough to win a giant majority and then to get most to accept lockdown when Covid-19 hit us between the eyes. But he made the rookie mistake of thinking the loyalty is to him and his government.

It isn't. It's to the principle of honour. Not difficult to rouse in a country that prides itself on exceptionalism – even though it faded away long ago – and where nationalism has been heavily exploited for political purposes for four years.

Honour is a fierce animal, though and once roused, it's not easily hoodwinked. So the government's constant lies, incompetence, cover-ups, and the suffering and lives lost as a consequence, have registered; slowly at first but with increasing rapidity. Especially since Keir Starmer took over as leader of the opposition, because he is a man of honour and easily recognizable as such, even to Conservatives.

The UK is often compared to the US. Now, in backing Dominic Cummings' inexcusable lockdown flout, flying in the face of significant rebellion in his own party and even the right wing press, and following close on the heels of the latest opinion poll that showed Starmer surging ahead in popularity and respect, Johnson is playing Trump's game. It's an unwise move. This isn't America, where Republicans have allowed Trump to reduce them to a pack of zombies. Some Conservatives do have independence of mind, or at least enough to make them see the dangers of siding with Johnson, and they're more open to facing the reality that the power they gained with the last election is disintegrating at the speed of light.

He also wrote a very punchy letter to Kent Tory councillors urging them to do all they could to stop Johnson winning the leadership 11 months ago... https://t.co/bdq41MEKOK

— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) May 24, 2020

No matter how much power you think you have, you can't survive in politics without friends. Dominic Cummings has made a lot of enemies in the Cabinet, MPs nursing their grudges secretively, craving an opportune moment. That moment is now.

I’m told there are only three Tory MPs defending the Government on their backbench WhatsApp group tonight, out of 200+. They are IDS, Sheryll Murray and Andrew Mitchell.

— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) May 24, 2020

And a petition calling for Cummings to be sacked has 419,000 signatures and counting fast. That damn hubris. It will take you down every time.

It's impossible yet to know why Boris Johnson is clinging onto his aide. Speculation is rife on social media that Cummings has something on him. Darker secrets and conspiracy theories aside, Cummings is a vindictive bully. It could be that Johnson doesn't want to get on the wrong side of him or that he's become so dependent he can't bear the idea of life without him. Hopefully his hand will be forced. To date nineteen Conservative MPs have gone on record calling for Cummings to be fired.

Dominic Cummings has a track record of believing that the rules don’t apply to him and treating the scrutiny that should come to anyone in a position of authority with contempt. The government would be better without him.

— Damian Collins (@DamianCollins) May 24, 2020

Meanwhile, Keir Starmer is being the leader the whole country is yearning for, so the longer Boris Johnson lets the wounds inflicted by Cummings fester, the better it is for Labour.

The question now is: do we accept being lied to, patronised and treated by a PM as mugs? The moral question is not for Cummings - it is for PM and ministers/MPs who find this behaviour acceptable. What are we to teach our children? (I ask as a responsible father.)

— Nick Baines (@nickbaines) May 24, 2020

UK Government Admits To No Tracking and Tracing as Lockdown Eases

We need enforced social distancing.

We need protective kit for our NHS staff.

And we need testing to happen on a mass scale. pic.twitter.com/KO51XTcvX4

— Jonathan Ashworth (@JonAshworth) March 23, 2020

“The UK decision to abandon tracing on 12 March 2020 is widely viewed as one of the most serious mistakes of this crisis.” – Jonathan Ashworth, MP, Labour Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary

It's well known that if you don't learn by your mistakes or those of others you will repeat them and every time you do the consequences will be increasingly disastrous. It's been the modus operandi for the UK government since Covid-19 made its first appearance.

The government, led by Boris Johnson the Incompetent– or not, since he was nowhere to be seen - arrogantly sat back and watched as infection went viral in Europe. In the blink of an eye the UK was on track to repeat Italy and Spain's experience, and then we overtook them both to become the worst hit because the government stopped testing, tracking and tracing in March. At first they said they stopped in accordance with advice from "the science", pretending there was no difference between their "science" and that of the WHO.

Then recently they admitted without shame that they told a barefaced lie and the real reason they stopped testing was a lack of capacity. No attempt back then to get up to speed as quickly as possible. No hint of lockdown. Let's play a game of herd mentality shall we?

How surprising that disaster struck. The government has made empty promises and inaccurate assertions on a daily basis and showed no remorse for the incompetence, lies and cover-ups, or the blood on their hands. They kept comparing the UK to the rest of Europe until the day UK deaths were highest in Europe, 2nd highest in the world. Then overnight it was a useless comparison.

Why has the government suddenly stopped publishing the international comparison? #PMQs pic.twitter.com/wfUQrp4KOP

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) May 13, 2020

Now, in defiance of all good sense and without consulting Scotland and Wales the government has eased lockdown. There's debate over what the R figure actually is and even if consensus were reached that it's below 1, it isn't low enough to be safe; it's an average, meaning that in some areas it's still dangerously high and now people can drive around the country, carrying infection with them. Good planning, Boris Johnson. Or is that Dominic Cummings?

Schools have been ordered to open on June 1. Teachers and unions are refusing, for good reason. Scotland and Wales are refusing to end lockdown. For good reason.

Already in England vast numbers of people have ignored social distancing and swamped parks and beaches. As if that weren't bad enough, the government plans to ease lockdown further in one week without - you guessed it - adequate testing, tracking and tracing securely in place.

What could possibly go wrong.

Keir Starmer Approval Ratings Overtake Boris Johnson's

In the 2019 general election Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party had its most crushing defeat since 1935, handing Boris Johnson the gift of a lifetime – absolute control in Parliament. Corbyn resigned and the shattered Labour party held a leadership election. On 2 April Keir Starmer won by a landslide. Hope flickered that the next election could be a win for Labour. Then Covid-19 hit us between the eyes.

Despite the shambling incompetence and criminal negligence of Boris Johnson and his government that has landed us in the unenviable position of being the worst hit in Europe, opinion polls consistently showed the British public supporting the government. But Boris Johnson and his unskilled, bungling cabinet have been living on borrowed time. When Parliament opened again Keir Starmer took the government to task in PMQs with forensic clarity, persistence – and dignity – and he hasn't let up.

He's the leader that we long for, while Boris Johnson has only made a fool of himself, unable to back up his own assertions, or to answer Starmer coherently.

Not surprisingly, Starmer's net approval ratings have overtaken Johnson’s. In the latest Opinium poll 35% back Labour's opposition to the government, 20% disapprove, and 33% are neutral. Government approval ratings have plummeted from 65% when lockdown was announced to 39%. Disapproval rose by six points to 42%.

Calls for an inquiry into the government's failures are increasing in volume. Thought you could do anything you wanted, Boris Johnson. That breaching of the red wall in the election, your control of Parliament? Squandered. There's a revolt in the north, with many cities refusing to end lockdown. Now it looks like the blue wall is going to come crashing down as Keir Starmer proves that integrity in British politics is alive and kicking. That's leadership for you.

Being in opposition to a government with a large majority doesn't mean you don't have power. Truth is hugely powerful. Some people don't recognise how much they long for it until they hear it. They may not realise how much lies and cover-ups have left them feeling assaulted until they witness integrity.

Meanwhile, in the US, Barack Obama is weighing in again and Joe Biden is doing a brilliant job of uniting Democrats. All of this gives me hope that good will triumph over evil, that the upsurge of the far right, with Donald Trump and Boris Johnson and their respective parties, has been more of a death rattle than the start of anything sustainable.