The Dominic Cummings file

[Badgers]

From what I have read he hasn't had his security pass removed though.

Probably has a few extras anyway.

 

[tommers]

So he didn't get kicked out for screwing up the whole coronavirus response, but he did for being nasty to Carrie?


Hahaha, fucking amazing.

 

[maomao]

When did it become acceptable for Prime Ministers' partners or spouses to be involved in running the country?

They'll be getting the violinist in next.

 

[teqniq]

And herin lies the problem:

 

[platinumsage]

When did it become acceptable for Prime Ministers' partners or spouses to be involved in running the country?

Since there were Prime Ministers. e.g. Catherine Gladstone had complete control of her husband's diary and used to censor his incoming correspondence, to the annoyance of cabinet ministers and the queen: Petticoat Power: The Political Influence of Mrs. Gladstone on JSTOR

 

[A380]

Since there were Prime Ministers. e.g. Catherine Gladstone had complete control of her husband's diary and used to censor his incoming correspondance, to the annoynace of cabinet ministers and the queen: Petticoat Power: The Political Influence of Mrs. Gladstone on JSTOR

I was just about to suggest Catherine Shorter

(Later Lady Walpole)

 

[ska invita]

And herin lies the problem:

the papers today are running it as fact, without even an "according to sources" , "an unnamed source says"

who knows

the shadow of brexit & biden looms large though
The Times has this

Among those who are expected to leave is Oliver Lewis, Lord Frost’s de-facto deputy as chief Brexit negotiator and a key ally of Mr Cummings. His position was described as untenable. Lord Frost himself is understood to have sought reassurances from the prime minister that he still backed his strategy before deciding to stay on. Others under threat include several Downing Street strategists and a number of advisers placed by Mr Cummings across Whitehall.
“There will be a huge clearout,” one government critic of Mr Johnson’s former adviser said. “A lot of people were there only because of their relationship with Dom” but had ended up in “relatively senior roles” and their jobs would “obviously be pointless”.

how can a chief Brexit negotiators position be untenable with so little time left before the deadline?

 

[brogdale]

how can a chief Brexit negotiators position be untenable with so little time left before the deadline?

Because of the successful Dem voter registration campaign in Pennsylvania.

 

[ska invita]

Heres a thought, perhaps: core old-school tie establishment forces within the Tories have carried out a coup against the relatively revolutionary reforming forces of Cummings and his accolades, in a direct parallel to the successive anti-Corbyn coups within Labour.

Cummings and Corbyn are mirror images of attempts to break the limits of two-party state orthodoxy from within the system, and both attempts have been successfully snubbed out by small c conservatives within them.

(...though Corbyn-ism has a popular base, so isn't done yet, whereas Cumming-ism doesn't)

??

 

[brogdale]

Heres a thought, perhaps: core old-school tie establishment forces within the Tories have carried out a coup against the relatively revolutionary reforming forces of Cummings and his accolades, in a direct parallel to the successive anti-Corbyn coups within Labour.

Cummings and Corbyn are mirror images of attempts to break the limits of two-party state orthodoxy from within the system, and both attempts have been successfully snubbed out by small c conservatives within them.

(...though Corbyn-ism has a popular base, so isn't done yet, whereas Cumming-ism doesn't)

??

Certainly looks like a (re) assertion of the Parliamentary party in both cases, but the crucial difference between advisors & leadership team is obvious. Johnson's cabinet remains a cohort of those prepared to swear allegiance to the one true vision.

 

[Spandex]

how can a chief Brexit negotiators position be untenable with so little time left before the deadline?

Because he's part of the Vote Leave boys club and it looks like they're getting the boot at the minute.

As I understand it Johnson owes a great deal of his success to the Vote Leave group: Cummings, Cain, Lewis et al. Their Trumpish disregard for the establishment, use of alternative facts, their success with Brexit - they were a big part of getting Johnson into No 10. Once in power Johnson rewarded them with positions of power around him.

Now he seems to have tired of them both personally and strategically. They've been acting like Johnson reports to them rather than the other way around, their blokey ways have pissed off women around Johnson - not just Simmonds, but new Press Secretary Allegra Stratton and others as well, most Tory MPs loath them, their PR-social media voodoo and ways with redefining reality have hit a brick wall against Covid and with Trump embarrassing himself as he exits office both their approach and ties with the Trump administration will not go down well with the incoming Biden government. A couple of things seem to have been the final straw: the leak about the new lockdown, which was initially blamed on Hancock is increasingly looking like it was them; and then trying to bounce Cain into the Chief of Staff role, which has prompted this clear out of the whole bunch of them.

Is that about right?

 

[Badgers]

This is the best I have seen so far...

 

[ska invita]

Because he's part of the Vote Leave boys club and it looks like they're getting the boot at the minute.

I get that but this is the end game - theres a deadline on the 19th November According to this if the details of a deal aren't announced on the 19th its No Deal preparation time. I appreciate deadlines have been moved again and again, but the notion its time for a reshuffle of the negotiations team seems ridiculous.

Anyhow, that Times bit is as vague as everything else out there

 

[brogdale]

I get that but this is the end game - theres a deadline on the 19th November According to this if the details of a deal aren't announced on the 19th its No Deal preparation time. I appreciate deadlines have been moved again and again, but the notion its time for a reshuffle of the negotiations team seems ridiculous.

Anyhow, that Times bit is as vague as everything else out there

Biden told Johnson in that phone call the other day.

 

[Spandex]

I get that but this is the end game - theres a deadline on the 19th November According to this if the details of a deal aren't announced on the 19th its No Deal preparation time. I appreciate deadlines have been moved again and again, but the notion its time for a reshuffle of the negotiations team seems ridiculous.

If the Vote Leave people in the negotiating team are wedded to no deal, or at least no deal the EU will accept, and Biden's administration would be deeply unhappy with a no deal, and the deadline a few days away, now might be the perfect time for Johnson to have a reshuffle.

 

[ska invita]

If the Vote Leave people in the negotiating team are wedded to no deal, or at least no deal the EU will accept, and Biden's administration would be deeply unhappy with a no deal, and the deadline a few days away, now might be the perfect time for Johnson to have a reshuffle.

if this is really whats happening (cant be certain it is) then that's hilarious

I'd expect they had a Biden fall back position, not a Shit Fire Everyone position

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I'd expect they had a Biden fall back position, not a Shit Fire Everyone position

You are far too fucking generous.

 

[ska invita]

Biden's administration would be deeply unhappy with a no deal

BTW Im not sure its No Deal that Biden is against, its specifically this bullshit the Tories are trying with the Irish border (i.e. not implementing it and telling the EU if they want a border its their problem) - this is an issue whether its a deal or no deal (unless the deal includes a customs union, which it won't) .

You are far too fucking generous.

They need some new superforescasters then

 

[Yossarian]

Banged up is the least they should face.

I don't know how many died because Cummings flouted coronavirus restrictions and got away with it, making people think that strictly following the rules is for mugs, but it's probably in the thousands if not tens of thousands - if it was up to me, I'd throw him down a well and chuck Peter Sutcliffe's COVID-infected corpse down to keep him company.

 

[ska invita]

I don't know how many died because Cummings flouted coronavirus restrictions and got away with it, making people think that strictly following the rules is for mugs, but it's probably in the thousands if not tens of thousands - if it was up to me, I'd throw him down a well and chuck Peter Sutcliffe's COVID-infected corpse down to keep him company.

Yeah the only thing he really seems to have achieved is encouraged herd immunity from the start and then personally fucked up social cohesion over Covid rules.

 

[brogdale]

I don't know how many died because Cummings flouted coronavirus restrictions and got away with it, making people think that strictly following the rules is for mugs, but it's probably in the thousands if not tens of thousands - if it was up to me, I'd throw him down a well and chuck Peter Sutcliffe's COVID-infected corpse down to keep him company.

You just know that Cummings would have been foursquare behind all the anti-lockdown "cure more damaging than the disease" stuff whilst simultaneously arguing that the economic dislocation from the one true Brexit was a 'price worth paying'.

 

[two sheds]

BTW Im not sure its No Deal that Biden is against, its specifically this bullshit the Tories are trying with the Irish border (i.e. not implementing it and telling the EU if they want a border its their problem) - this is an issue whether its a deal or no deal (unless the deal includes a customs union, which it won't) .

Need some new superforescasters then

EU just needs to establish some refugee centres just south of the border Johnson'll soon set up guarded border posts then.

 

[agricola]

It may or may not be a coincidence, but David Rose in today's Mail has really put the boot in to the response to the pandemic generally and "Operation Moonshot" specifically. I won't link to it, but here is a summary:

The Daily Mail today unearths a recurring pattern where experts' advice is ignored, and vast sums are thrown at untried 'solutions' when apparently cheaper, better ones were at hand. Our investigation shows:

• Key figures in the Government's new laboratories – the Lighthouse Network – starved established NHS labs of resources, say health department sources.
• Many of accountant Deloitte's management consultants – brought in at huge expense to deliver the Government's new testing network rather than to use existing NHS labs – had no healthcare experience, and instead had backgrounds in fields such as printing banknotes.
• Deloitte's daily log reveals that when the Lighthouse labs started operating, they were given dispensation from meeting official standards.
• Ministers repeatedly rebuffed a world-class IT group which has developed a low-cost, patented test and trace app in favour of what has proved to be a failed option.
• Unknown testing firms have won deals worth hundreds of millions without competition or effective scrutiny.

 

[teqniq]

'Our investigation' Good Law Project, more like. Good that it's getting publicity though.

 

[hash tag]

Has anyone seen the cat since he left? That box is about the right kind of size. Probably too small for Johnson’s ninth child so assume they are safe.

Cummings clears up after Johnson....it be Carrie Symonds head in the box

 

[ska invita]

Sacked for calling Carrie Symonds ‘Princess Nut Nuts’ Another great day for UK politics

 

[T & P]

 

[Supine]

Based on no insider knowledge or expert opinion I think Dom going is a signal that the UK is about to make a deal. It'll piss off fishermen and many others but it'll happen.

 

[pseudonarcissus]

This is worth a read, it’s by that bloke that wanted to kip on your sofa

 

[Puddy_Tat]

This is worth a read, it’s by that bloke that wanted to kip on your sofa

did they used to call him a loafer?