All these false accusations against Dominic Cummings could have been checked easily by journalists before printing them. But such is the hatred and bigotry of sections of the press in Britain that the basic tenets of sound journalism are now just a recognised joke in what was once a profession but is now a series of ruthless political movements. The target of the south east based British media is a son of Durham and the stench of hypocrisy is overwhelming.
In the case of the British Prime Minister’s Special Adviser Dominic Cummings, who is accused of “arrogantly breaking Coronavirus law” the press lies have reached a new level: The left wing press have said over several weeks that Dominic Cummings:
“Had broken the Law” – LIE. Section 6 of the Coronavirus Act does not say travel from home is against the law if the purpose is reasonable. Like protecting family members, medical reasons, travel to work or to better self isolate. All these apply to the actions of Dominic Cummings. In particular the protection and care of the Cummings’ child is covered. On March 24, England’s deputy chief medical officer, Dr. Jenny Harris, made clear that: “Clearly if you have adults who are (or in this case could well have been, given the parents’ symptoms) unable to look after a small child. That is an exceptional circumstance.”
“Was investigated by the police” – LIE. The police had visited to advise on his security
“Went to stay with his parents” – LIE. He went with his sick wife and young child to stay isolated in a cottage on his father’s farm. Durham Police have since confirmed that there was nothing wrong in this. On his short trip to the town of Barnard Castle the police said it was not a serious matter but had they stopped him he would have been advised to return home. They are (despite the urging of the Labour trade unionist Durham Police Commissioner!) not pursuing any matter with Dominic Cummings.
“Had no reason to travel” – LIE. With both parents having suspected COVID19 symptoms their child needed relatives on hand to look after him if the parents became too ill. In fact the child became extremely ill (not COVID) and had to be taken to hospital.
“Left Durham returned to London and then travelled again to Durham” – LIE. DC was working, after his return, in London. This lie was given headline treatment by the BBC, The Guardian and The Observer – all extreme opponents of Cummings and PM Johnson’s policies.
“Opposed Lockdown” – LIE. He had long advocated it – and written over several years about the dangers of a probable pandemic
“Kept his trip to Durham secret” – LIE. A private matter is not a secret. He did not broadcast the fact. His own home was besieged by the press who hounded his family and even today fail to keep social distancing rules as they amass in front of his house.
CIVIL SERVICE ANTI BREXIT PLOT?
All these false accusations have led to a misinformed public and have therefore easily whipped up resentment against Cummings. The absence through illness of both the Prime Minister and his Special Adviser had led apparently to a conspiracy by civil servants to postpone (and therefore they hope abort) Brexit. Cummings’ return stopped it. The next target of attack will, I am informed, be the extremely effective David Frost the UK’s Chief Brexit negotiator. Apparently it is the “man with too many jobs” Sir Mark Sedwill (Cabinet Secretary, Head of the Civil Service and National Security Adviser) who is the threat to Frost – and Cummings and Johnson of course and therefore the democratic decision of the British people!
The enemies of British nationhood and democracy do not sleep. Their corporatist fascist plans for our permanent national destruction have been well laid. They know that Johnson and in particular Dominic Cummings are the drivers of our nation’s liberation. They will stop at nothing.
THE SOUTHERN ESTABLISHMENT BREAKS THE RULES
What sickens me about the attacks on Dominic Cummings is that nearly all the people I know in London have gone to their second homes in the country where they are often two or three generations “isolating” together.
One well known scriptwriter and Red nose fundraiser and his large family went to their home by the sea in Suffolk (three generations of them) where they have been swimming in the sea for many weeks. Stephen Kinnock went from South Wales to London and back for his father’s birthday. An MP Tahir Ali went to a Muslim funeral attended by 100 people. A Minister Robert Jenrick visited his parents in Shropshire. None have resigned. The Tory Minister who resigned in protest at Cummings, Douglas Ross, relocated after lockdown from London to Moray in Scotland and then back to London on 18th May. No apparent medical reason. Blair’s sidekick Alistair Campbell while attacking Cummings was photographed in close proximity (3 inches) to a member of the public in Hyde Park.
I am sure many other left wing luvvies, MPs and journalists have been fleeing the capital to live with elderly relatives – and not for any medical reasons or for the protection of a 4 year old child. But they draw the line at anyone having a family home in Co Durham – oh dear isn’t that full of dirty miners and coal pits? It’s “270 miles away” – surely no one could exist that far from London?
AND THE STENCH OF HYPOCRISY
The Leader of the Opposition, Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer said he would have sacked Cummings. But Starmer not only did not sack Stephen Kinnock MP when the latter travelled during Lockdown to his father’s house in South Wales (“for a birthday celebration”) but appointed him a Shadow Minister at the Foreign Office some days later.
So for Labour you can travel to celebrate a birthday but you can’t travel to isolate yourself and your sick family in a cottage in your native county on your father’s farm.
The British press – particularly the left wing press (Mirror, Guardian, BBC) – camped outside Cummings House with no evident social distancing but haranguing Cummings and intimidating his family. One Guardian journalist chalked an insult on the road and photographed it as a news item! One photograph published showed a man approaching Dominic Cummings sticking two fingers in the air – a physical demonstration of the sophisticated level of political reporting now common among the press in Britain!
The last refugee of a journalist scoundrel – fake your own news and report it!
NEVER TRUST TODAY’S POLITICISED, UNPROFESSIONAL BRITISH PRESS
Overseas readers might be surprised how low so much of the British press has sunk in its frantic, abusive truth twisting degradation of the journalist’s profession. We are not talking about the expression of an ideological position or taking political sides – we are talking about outright lies, half truths blown up into lies, abuse of political figures, open fabrication of fake news and promoting and photographing the abuse of political figures.
It was not always so. When I was writing political economy and policy papers during the 1980s I was always reported by and treated with respect by newspapers like The Guardian (the former Associate Editor Michael White was particularly fair) or The Observer, even though I was promoting Conservative and free market capitalist ideas. Even the BBC Today programme gave me a fair hearing!
Unthinkable today.
