1/ I’ve seen a lot of criticism of Laura Kuenssberg for what some perceive to be pro-government PR. Certainly the “close source” tweets are very annoying and the way she leapt on Pippa Crerar’s tweet when the Cummings story broke last night DID seem helpful for Cummings.

2/ My instinct, *perhaps* like hers, is to look for balance. In our bubbles, we tend to be more exposed to the amplified tweets that enrage is. But in the wider context there appears to be an attempt to present both sides. See this tweet, for example. https://twitter.com/bbclaurak/status/1263924180032147457

3/ I suspect her overriding objective is to be the first to get the news out. And Cummings exploits that. While writing this thread he’s done just that by being behind this thread that she’s just tweeted: https://twitter.com/bbclaurak/status/1264123880626585602

4/ The third tweet in her thread reports a statement that refers to “Mr Cummings”. Laughable when Mr Cummings is likely to have written it. And this statement hardly puts him in the clear. Unless I’m reading it wrongly, it now seems to suggest that only his wife was ill.

5/ I can’t see how that justified his journey. And if it was all fine, why not clarify the guidelines so that other struggling families could have taken similar measures?

6/ My thread has moved from a partial attempted defence of Kuennsberg or at least an explanation of how she operates and appeal to occasionally look at the wider context of her tweets to an exploration of the Cummings story. I suppose that’s because they’re inextricably linked.

7/ The jury is out in my mind over Kuennsberg; if I were a juror on a Cummings trial I’d want *A LOT* more questions to be asked. There are many baffling inconsistencies and, to me, it feels he’s very much gone against the spirit of the rules and probably the letter of them.

8/ Hopefully Starmer will head up the asking of those questions. And he shouldn’t let anyone try to play down this story because there’s a crisis on; we need a government we can trust and that obeys the rules it sets. Otherwise everything breaks down. /Ends