When will this shit end?

[Ryan1984]

48 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

whether he actually always planned this or events have forced him into it...who knows...

I’m sure this has been the case for a while. I read about it pre-pandemic and remember thinking there must be an ulterior motive to ‘Get Brexit Done’.

Hancock was on Newsnight talking about the vaccine etc. Didn’t really say anything we don’t know.

[efcfanwirral]

Not hugely encouraged that he needed to be "bounced" into a lockdown considering the numbers we were seeing then, never mind now 

[sirjonnyp]

13 minutes ago, Ryan1984 said:

I’m sure this has been the case for a while. I read about it pre-pandemic and remember thinking there must be an ulterior motive to ‘Get Brexit Done’.

It definitely was the case, it was reported when we first went in to No 10 that he was going in to oversee / advise on Brexit over the next few months then he would be off. He delayed an operation he had been due initially, but then as the Brexit deal got way from the Johnson government and the election arrived he decided to stick around at some point. 

https://www.itv.com/news/2019-08-09/the-truth-about-dominic-cummings-writes-robert-peston

https://twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1159928559479271424?s=20

Why he stuck around and dug himself in is of course a matter of gossip, rumour and daily briefings against him. Johnson has clearly wanted him by his side for the entirety of his premiership so far, otherwise he wouldn't have so fiercely defended him over the BC trip.

Whether you agree with his politics or not (and I think we here are all in the latter camp), from a political point of view he is a fascinating example of how to get things done. Tory MPs hate him (and indeed he largely does not care for them or their party) because he is an outsider that is changing the way things are done and the way that they are involved. Bad for democracy? Maybe. How much influence backbenchers can actually assert with such a large majority is questionable. Brexit isn't done by any stretch of the imagination, so I wouldn't expect him to go until there is some sort of major step there. A lot of his changes have been to the way that No 10 and departmental SpAds operate, which are hugely unpopular in Whitehall but in a different time may have improved the functioning of government. The drive for more fact-based policy and scientifically competent civil servants sounds good in theory, but so far in practice it hasn't delivered. 

[zahidf]

5 hours ago, steviewevie said:

whether he actually always planned this or events have forced him into it...who knows...

No way was it planned. Otherwise what was the actual point of the Government spending so much political capital and losing so much public health messaging defending Dom again ?!?!?

[Zoo Music Girl]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54925322

A No 10 insider told me Mr Cummings 'jumped because otherwise he would be pushed soon', suggesting that, in the last few days, the prime minister saw that the former Vote Leave team was just 'in it for themselves'."

If Boris has only just realised this, he is a bigger chump than I thought.

I'm struggling to imagine how he governs without Cummings. Hasn't everything come from him so far?

[Ozanne]

25 minutes ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54925322

A No 10 insider told me Mr Cummings 'jumped because otherwise he would be pushed soon', suggesting that, in the last few days, the prime minister saw that the former Vote Leave team was just 'in it for themselves'."

If Boris has only just realised this, he is a bigger chump than I thought.

I'm struggling to imagine how he governs without Cummings. Hasn't everything come from him so far?

How many more ‘resets’ are we going to have until the voters realise that the problem are the Tories? They’ve been in power for a decade and they are acting like they can just move a few people on and it’s like a different party is in power. The sooner they all go the better. 

[eFestivals]

9 hours ago, Cherry Tree said:

You are just trying to wind up Neil, as someone from Scotland it is great to see them not mess it up at the end, although I am old enough to remember when we used to qualify relatively frequently.

Costa Rica.  

(not winding me up at all  )

[eFestivals]

7 hours ago, sirjonnyp said:

from a political point of view he is a fascinating example of how to get things done.

smashing things up isn't really getting anything done.  

[Ryan1984]

 

[zahidf]

My take: Biden laid down the law about brexit, dom was all like 'screw him they can't tell us what to do', carrie and a couple of others pointed out to Boz that Biden very much CAN tell us what to do....

[zahidf]

Peter Sutcliffe dies of Covid 19.

 

Ah well!

[steviewevie]

Not sure who to believe with all this Cummings leaving Downing st thing. They're all known to bullshit. Didn't Cummings quickly update his blog so it looked like he predicted the pandemic a few years ago? I think it was more likely he was pushed, too many sick of his chaos and divisiveness...and maybe he isn't as big a super brain as he thinks he is.

[Chapple12345]

1 minute ago, zahidf said:

Peter Sutcliffe dies of Covid 19.

 

Ah well!

2020 has really finished on a high 

[jparx]

Hmm normally this Cummings news would be cause for celebration, but you just feel something sinister is at play. Boris, surely, is going to be totally incompetent without the vote leave support? He’s basically been a puppet for the past year. 

[Matt42]

Definitely feels like pinky without the brain doesn’t it?

[steviewevie]

5 minutes ago, jparx said:

Hmm normally this Cummings news would be cause for celebration, but you just feel something sinister is at play. Boris, surely, is going to be totally incompetent without the vote leave support? He’s basically been a puppet for the past year. 

He'll just get some other advisers...maybe some that are a bit more moderate and actually trust the civil service, MPs and the courts.

Saying that, his new comms person is James Slack who used to work for the Mail and came up with this...

[eFestivals]

10 minutes ago, jparx said:

Hmm normally this Cummings news would be cause for celebration, but you just feel something sinister is at play. Boris, surely, is going to be totally incompetent without the vote leave support? He’s basically been a puppet for the past year. 

brexit is over in the new year, and the people who supported Spaffer to get brexit done will no longer feel they need to support him.

Also, whatever brexit he does is going to piss off some of the people who supported brexit.

Get some popcorn in.  

[Ozanne]

I don’t think it will change a huge amount. Johnson is still a very poor leader and someone that is unable to make the right decisions when needed. He’s massively ill-equipped for the job of PM and he won’t see out 2021 still in the role. None of this changes that he just awful. 

[Zoo Music Girl]

19 minutes ago, jparx said:

Hmm normally this Cummings news would be cause for celebration, but you just feel something sinister is at play. Boris, surely, is going to be totally incompetent without the vote leave support? He’s basically been a puppet for the past year. 

 

15 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Definitely feels like pinky without the brain doesn’t it?

Yeah this is my worry. I hate Cummings and am delighted to see the back of him (although where will he go next?), but surely even more incompetency awaits.

[JoeyT]

England v Scotland at the Euros then. Where have I seen that before?

 

[stuartbert two hats]

20 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

He'll just get some other advisers...maybe some that are a bit more moderate and actually trust the civil service, MPs and the courts.

Saying that, his new comms person is James Slack who used to work for the Mail and came up with this...

Yeah, plenty more c**ts in the sea.

Edited November 13, 2020 by stuartbert two hats

[Punksnotdead]

54 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

Costa Rica.  

(not winding me up at all  )

Iceland 😄

Two can play at that game! 🙂

[eFestivals]

5 minutes ago, Punksnotdead said:

Iceland 😄

Two can play at that game! 🙂

you can find loads of embarrassments for England.

Mostly because England have been to more tournaments.  

[onthebeach]

3 hours ago, zahidf said:

3 hours ago, zahidf said:

No way was it planned. Otherwise what was the actual point of the Government spending so much political capital and losing so much public health messaging defending Dom again ?!?!?

 

Possibly mentioned it in his obscure blog ‘just in case’ - doesn’t happen, no-one notices/remembers. Leaves - it was part of his ‘master plan’ and he can claim to always be in charge of events/his destiny

 

[Ozanne]

I also don’t think that Cummings is the genius he thinks he is. Look at everything since the election for proof.