LETTER: One punishment for him and one for all the others?

I have never met Dominic Cummings, and if what I have read about him in the past is to believed, I cannot say I have any real wish to do so.

Apparently however, he loathes much of the media, civil service and politicians – so, not all bad then – but that must have made him plenty of spiteful enemies just itching to get him.

As far as I am aware he is not an elected official, he is not an adviser with regard to Covid-19, nor is he a civil servant, other than a temporary one due to his status as a political adviser to the prime minister.

Way back about the 27th March he, his wife and son drove to Durham because he and she felt unwell and if anything happened to the couple there was no one to look after the child.

He drove back to London on 13 April.

So the first question is – why is it, after some six weeks this has suddenly become a great national issue? Is it due to the fact that 30th June (the deadline for extending the EU Transition Period) is fast approaching and all the anti-democracy members of the media, civil service and politicians are desperate to stop the UK from being fully independent? Dominic Cummings was/is an ardent Leaver.

Now I may think that what he did was foolish, but I’m neither a lawyer so cannot say if it breached the ‘regulations’, nor am I responsible for a 4-year-old child so have no idea what I would have done in the same circumstances.

The second question is – if they had all stayed in London, Cummings and wife had become seriously ill and the child had been left to fend for itself, what would the headlines have been? Perhaps something along the lines of: ‘Sack Dominic Cummings for child neglect?’ or ‘Cummings should have taken his child to his parents!’

One law for him, another for the rest of us, some people yell. But, is that so? How many of those who were fined for breaching ‘regulations’ were doing the exact same thing he did – probably no one. Why is there no one demanding that all ‘regulation busters’ should be sacked from their jobs? Is it: One punishment for him, another for the rest of us?

Edward Higginbottom, Shrewsbury