If only Number 10 had acted as quickly and forcefully on the pandemic in March as it has to save Dominic Cummings.

For the sake of an unelected adviser, the government has today chosen to dismantle some of the most important guidelines governing Britain at the moment.

Given the choice of a rules-based society or an aide, the cabinet has chosen to support the aide.

Senior cabinet ministers humiliated themselves today, claiming that Cummings only went to Durham for the childcare and stayed put.
Now eyewitnesses say he went back after his return to London and took strolls with his wife to admire the bluebells https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/23/new-witnesses-cast-doubt-on-dominic-cummingss-lockdown-claims">https://www.theguardian.com/politics/...

"In most rows, the public see one set of clowns slinging mud at another. When, much more rarely, they judge their overlords are breaking their own rules we see genuine wrath which isn& #39;t easily quelled, as with the expenses crisis." https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/the-cummings-doctrine-normal-rules-do-not-apply-coronavirus-lockdown-durham
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/... href="https://twitter.com/prospect_clark">@prospect_clark

The Cummings doctrine: Normal rules do not apply

From drug-dealer dress to shutting down parliament, his contempt for the old ways helped him navigate the baffling and boring crisis of Brexit. But this time we really care—and No 10 will pay a price...

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/the-cummings-doctrine-normal-rules-do-not-apply-coronavirus-lockdown-durham

The government has spent almost 24 hours tweaking its line on the Cummings story. Tonight, its story has been completely blown away.

Still, at least now we know the epigraph for the second wave of this pandemic:
"Aren& #39;t the bluebells lovely?"

Many congratulations to my Guardian colleague @matthew_weaver, who has worked with the Mirror to break this story. Any Durham residents who& #39;ve seen a stranger eyeing up their bluebells, drop him a line.