Monday 25 May 2020

Johnson throws in his lot with Cummings, they will stand or fall together

Johnson made a huge miscalculation yesterday if he thought that doubling down on Cummings would put an end to the matter. Usually, special advisers throw themselves under buses to save prime ministers, yesterday we saw the opposite. It's the sheer arrogance that gets you isn't it?  That somehow we should be satisfied with some assurances that he had spoken to Cummings and everything is fine is an insult to us.

I think Alistair Campbell used to say if you're still the story after three days you have to go. Today is the third day and it seems almost without exception the national newspapers and news outlets carry negative headlines this morning. The firestorm of outrage is spreading.

The only outlets supporting the PM seems to be Guido Fawkes and Spiked. All very predictable.  The headlines this morning in the Mail and the Mirror look like this:



The Spectator, a Tory stronghold if ever there was one has had three articles this weekend attacking Johnson's handling of the affair and Tim Montgomerie, founder of Conservative Home and highly influential in Tory circles tweeted:
Even if Johnson and Cummings don't realise it now, plenty of others in Downing Street and the party will know this is not remotely sustainable.  The prime minister is essentially asking us to forget about demands for the facts but to trust him. That he has personally uncovered the facts and, trust him Cummings didn't breach the regulations and did everything correctly.  The problem is his own reputation for being cavalier with the truth, we do not trust him.

Johnson looked even more uncomfortable yesterday than Grant Shapps did the day before. Asked specific questions about when he knew Cummings was going to Durham of if Cummings had actually visited Barnard Castle he studiously didn't answer. When somebody uncovers facts but refuses to disclose them you tend to become even more suspicious.

Cummings' own neighbours are openly heckling him as this video clip shows:

The newspapers know they are on to a popular cause and close to a big scalp, someone who is arrogant and a bit of a hate figure for many of them. They are not going to let go.

Complaints have been made to the police in Durham about the owner of a vehicle with the registration of one known to have been used by Cummings seen parked in Barnard Castle on April 12. They are bound to investigate. The story will not go away anytime soon.

Tory MPs have been inundated with letters and emails from furious constituents and at least ten have called for Cummings to resign or be fired.

Johnson made a big mistake yesterday. If or when the truth emerges and it transpires Cummings did breach the rules that he helped to set, the prime minister is going to look a complete idiot, or should I say more of an idiot than he normally does.

He has a record of backing failure for far too long. The garden bridge in London, bendy buses, the cable car across the Thames, Brexit and now Cummings.  Most people can see when things are going desperately wrong but Johnson just ploughs on regardless until it's too late. He has got away with it in the past because they were trivial things in the great scheme of it all but Brexit and Cummings are not trivial and it will all come crashing down very soon.

Yesterday he made his position clear. Him and Cummings are one entity, they will stand or fall together.
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