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Great damage has been done these last seven days. The government, the PM and the man who gives both their instructions have all degraded themselves. They have destroyed something that mattered more than any of them â something unspoken but precious. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/29/dominic-cummings-borish-johnson-tories-election-trust">https://www.theguardian.com/commentis...
Start with the man who wrought this ruin. Dominic Cummings has ruled chiefly by fear, making Downing Street his personal âcourtâ, according to one former minister. His power to intimidate derived from his status as the electorate whisperer, uniquely able to hear the vox populi.
A man who made his name denouncing hypocritical Westminster elitism and its contempt for ordinary people is now the face of it. The king of data can spend this weekend crunching the numbers of a Daily Mail poll that found him wholly out of step with [his] very public.
66% think he should quit, 63% think he should be sacked, 78% donât believe a word of his yarn about driving to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight.
Even if he stays, whether for just six months, as he reportedly intends, or longer, he is diminished.
Even if he stays, whether for just six months, as he reportedly intends, or longer, he is diminished.
Diminished morally, of course, not that the parliamentary Tory party will care about that, but also as a diviner of public sentiment. As of now, there is no one more out of touch with the great British public than him.
The taint of Cummingsâ behaviour spread to every cabinet minister who defended him, telling us that Domâs only crime was loving his family too much - so implicitly telling every Briton who obeyed the rules they loved their family too little. Each one of them is shrunk by this
The politician most wounded is Johnson. He insulted the very people who voted for him in December, whether one-time Labour voters or lifelong Tories. Anyone who followed the rules has reason to be livid.
No wonder one Tory MP, a former minister, said in despair this week: âThis is a cabinet of fools led by a hollow narcissist who is nothing without his svengali.â
Some of those who glimpsed Johnsonâs physical mortality in April sense theyâve seen his political mortality in May.
Some of those who glimpsed Johnsonâs physical mortality in April sense theyâve seen his political mortality in May.
But the real victims of Cummingsâ actions are the British people. What Cummings did wrecked public trust, turning us cynical about instructions from those in charge. Public trust is not merely a political commodity: in a pandemic, it is an essential public health resource.
Now an essential public health message has to be qualified and caveated to accommodate Cummingsâ behaviour. Isolate â unless your âinstinctsâ say otherwise. Isolate â unless childcare gets a bit tricky. It doesnât quite carry the same force, does it?
Beyond the political fallout and the effect on public health messaging, this is where much of the current anger comes from: Together, we had created something precious in the midst of all this death and sorrow â and those in charge have made a mockery of it.
