UK Politics: National shortage of incompetence pads

[Werthead]

Conservative Home has gone all-in on calling for Cummings' resignation, and even that they are starting to regret backing Johnson for party leader. Eerk. They're not as influential as they used to be, but still quite a well-known voice to come out against the government.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Holy shit!

Scroll down to see the unauthorised tweet from the civil service account

 

[polishgenius]

24 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Holy shit!

Scroll down to see the unauthorised tweet from the civil service account

 

As a couple of people pointed out, an investigation for this, but not for Cummings.

[mormont]

7 hours ago, Heartofice said:

I reckon you should go for it. Being known as the guy who got cut to shreds by Boris Johnson could be a way of introducing yourself to people in the future 

I agree with you that that would be a unique qualification - certainly no-one in politics can lay claim to having been cut to shreds by Johnson, he's a dreadful debater. But unfortunately, by the same token, it's been proven that asking astute and awkward questions like the one above is one way to guarantee that Johnson won't cut you to shreds. He lacks the ability. It'd be like warning someone about a particularly savage sheep.

Anyway, the irony here is surely that this government that (as I noted before) absolutely fetishises 'common sense' has decided to defend Cummings way past the point where anyone with any common sense would have given up and accepted the inevitable. This is not going to go away. It is wrecking the government's entire strategy (don't take my word for it - read the tweets of one of the government's behavioural science advisers). The 'concerned father' line has failed, and is only further annoying voters. It's a shitshow even by Johnsonian standards. It needs to end and it can only end one way.

[Maltaran]

What’s the betting it ends by Cummings falling on his sword to “end the distraction from the real issues” without anyone admitting he was wrong?

[polishgenius]

 

[Heartofice]

1 hour ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Holy shit!

Scroll down to see the unauthorised tweet from the civil service account

 

Probably says a lot about the sort of people who work in the civil service 

[polishgenius]

2 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

Probably says a lot about the sort of people who work in the civil service 

Yeah, the patience and trained neutrality for that to be the public extent of their discontent against the Tory arseholes is heroic.

[Heartofice]

3 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

Yeah, the patience and trained neutrality for that to be the public extent of their discontent against the Tory arseholes is heroic.

Cummings going in and pointing out their incompetence and lack of ability to get things done might have more to do with it. 

[Heartofice]

33 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

 

I wonder how many people down Cummings road voted Leave? Hmmm.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

2 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

I wonder how many people down Cummings road voted Leave? Hmmm.

Congratulations. We finally arrived what defies common sense, and stops the Tory party from cutting him loose.

Brexit 3 common sense 0.

[Gaston de Foix]

Or maybe both of these things are true.  The civil service has not exactly covered itself in glory in these last few years.  And Dominic Cummings might be a bomb-thrower whose value to Boris is hardly evident now that he has given Boris the general election victory Boris needs.  It's really evidence of insecurity on Boris' part that Dom is his security blanket. 

[mormont]

20 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

Cummings going in and pointing out their incompetence and lack of ability to get things done might have more to do with it. 

Hey, coming from a guy who can't competently arrange childcare without having to travel halfway across the country, I think they can cope. 

[Heartofice]

15 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Congratulations. We finally arrived what defies common sense, and stops the Tory party from cutting him loose.

Brexit 3 common sense 0.

Think you probably misunderstood my point.

 

13 minutes ago, Gaston de Foix said:

Or maybe both of these things are true.  The civil service has not exactly covered itself in glory in these last few years.  And Dominic Cummings might be a bomb-thrower whose value to Boris is hardly evident now that he has given Boris the general election victory Boris needs.  It's really evidence of insecurity on Boris' part that Dom is his security blanket. 

This has certainly highlighted just how much Boris values Cummings, he’s really put himself in a bad looking position for him. 
But at the same time Cummings had value outside of just winning elections and seems intent on shaking places like the civil service up, which might well be a good thing.

1 minute ago, mormont said:

Hey, coming from a guy who can't competently arrange childcare without having to travel halfway across the country, I think they can cope. 

Low quality bants as usual.

[Derfel Cadarn]

1 hour ago, Heartofice said:

Cummings going in and pointing out their incompetence and lack of ability to get things done might have more to do with it. 

He’s not there to fix it; he’s there to quietly outsource its functions to his cronies, the likes of Cambridge Analytica

[polishgenius]

 

While that's obviously a tragedy, I'm not sure 'thousands of people had to leave relatives to die alone and grieve by themselves but Dominic got to travel across the country even though said uncle died in London' is going to stir the sympathy they're hoping it will.

[Spockydog]

1 hour ago, Heartofice said:

Probably says a lot about the sort of people who work in the civil service 

Yes. In the most part I'm sure they are honest, decent people, who know what a shower of cunts looks like.

[BigFatCoward]

Put your shovel down and admit you misjudged this one. The public are fucking seething. Who is that smarmy cunt to behave that way and think he can get away with it?  His lies are so tranparently ridiculous. 

It's a fucking disgrace. 

[Maltaran]

Starmer always sounds like a disappointed dad when he’s criticising the government. I like it. Seems much more effective than an angry confrontational attitude at persuading the public.

[Werthead]

1 hour ago, Gaston de Foix said:

It's really evidence of insecurity on Boris' part that Dom is his security blanket. 

It's a bit more than that. It's widely understood that Mary Wakefield - the current Mrs. Cummings - is the second woman who was allegedly groped by Boris at the Spectator (along with Charlotte Edwards, who made the allegation), but Wakefield has denied the allegations in decidedly non-vociferous terms, and on each occasion she has done so, has also said that Charlotte is her friend and someone she respects enormously, which is a bit of an odd thing to say about someone ragging on your husband's boss and your own ex-boss. Definitely the feeling there that Boris needs to be nice to someone who has a loaded gun and might let it off at any moment (although it seems to be a hollow fear, since it would also prove Wakefield is a liar one way or another).

To add to the decidedly schoolyard feel of all of this, Harry Cole, the hack behind Starmer Fieldgate, is Carrie Symonds' ex and apparently still a good friend. Although Cole - normally Johnson's cheerleader-in-chief at the Mail - has also been quite critical of the handling of the Cummings story, noting that the cabinet were briefed on the initial story before it broke but not the second wave of visits, which they got ambushed with during additional interviews today. There's going to be a cabinet meeting tomorrow (unusual on a Bank Holiday) where it sounds like fireworks could erupt.