Boris Johnson’s leadership has been tested and found wanting.
While other senior ministerial advisors in the UK have resigned after breaking the UK Government’s covid-19 advice, Johnson’s Svengali, Dominic Cummings, is waving two fingers at Britons who have stoically locked down for weeks.
It has emerged that on Tuesday March 31 Cummings travelled almost the length of England to his family's farm in Durham.
Cummings flouted the intention of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 just five days after they came into force.
“No person may leave the place where they are living without reasonable excuse,”
says the law categorically.
Worse, he was potentially carrying the virus with him.
While he was gallivanting around the countryside, a spokesperson for Johnson told the media Cummings was at home and self-isolating after developing covid symptoms.
Scottish medical chief Catherine Calderwood resigned when it was revealed she had visited her second home.
Police Scotland Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said in a verdict which obviously also applies to Cummings: “Individuals must not make personal exemptions bespoke to their own circumstances."
The UK’s covid advisor Neil Ferguson resigned because he had received a visitor at his home.
And here, NSW Arts Minister Don Harwin and Queensland shadow minister Trevor Watts, lost their jobs after transgressing.
Johnson has resisted calls to sack Cummings. But how could he do otherwise when he himself broke the law when he went to his second home as he recovered from the virus?
Unlike here, the British lockdown laws are lackadaisical.
The current maximum penalty in NSW is $11,000, or imprisonment for 6 months, or both and a further $5500 penalty may apply for each day the offence continues. The NSW Police may also issue on-the-spot fines of $1000 for an offence.
West Australians have been whacked with 90 infringements, or about $90,000 worth of fines.
Queensland’s border remains closed to prevent people such as Cummings bringing the virus into the state.
But in the UK there is no power to mount roadblocks or to stop vehicles according to guidelines issued by the National Police Chiefs’ Council,
And anyone issued with a penalty notice for breaking the law faces a penalty of only 65 quid.
Worse again, Cummings can argue that he had a “reasonable excuse” for his drive and if he chose to fight a penalty notice it’s highly unlikely he would be convicted.
The law states that anyone “without a reasonable excuse” for travelling commits an offence.
But “reasonable excuse” is not defined. And Cummings says he had a reasonable excuse and has not broken the law.
All of which makes a joke of the current front page of the UK Government covid site which says categorically: Do not leave home if you or anyone in your household has symptoms.
While other senior ministerial advisors in the UK have resigned after breaking the UK Government’s covid-19 advice, Johnson’s Svengali, Dominic Cummings, is waving two fingers at Britons who have stoically locked down for weeks.
It has emerged that on Tuesday March 31 Cummings travelled almost the length of England to his family's farm in Durham.
Cummings flouted the intention of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 just five days after they came into force.
“No person may leave the place where they are living without reasonable excuse,”
says the law categorically.
Worse, he was potentially carrying the virus with him.
While he was gallivanting around the countryside, a spokesperson for Johnson told the media Cummings was at home and self-isolating after developing covid symptoms.
Scottish medical chief Catherine Calderwood resigned when it was revealed she had visited her second home.
Police Scotland Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said in a verdict which obviously also applies to Cummings: “Individuals must not make personal exemptions bespoke to their own circumstances."
The UK’s covid advisor Neil Ferguson resigned because he had received a visitor at his home.
And here, NSW Arts Minister Don Harwin and Queensland shadow minister Trevor Watts, lost their jobs after transgressing.
Johnson has resisted calls to sack Cummings. But how could he do otherwise when he himself broke the law when he went to his second home as he recovered from the virus?
Unlike here, the British lockdown laws are lackadaisical.
The current maximum penalty in NSW is $11,000, or imprisonment for 6 months, or both and a further $5500 penalty may apply for each day the offence continues. The NSW Police may also issue on-the-spot fines of $1000 for an offence.
West Australians have been whacked with 90 infringements, or about $90,000 worth of fines.
Queensland’s border remains closed to prevent people such as Cummings bringing the virus into the state.
But in the UK there is no power to mount roadblocks or to stop vehicles according to guidelines issued by the National Police Chiefs’ Council,
And anyone issued with a penalty notice for breaking the law faces a penalty of only 65 quid.
Worse again, Cummings can argue that he had a “reasonable excuse” for his drive and if he chose to fight a penalty notice it’s highly unlikely he would be convicted.
The law states that anyone “without a reasonable excuse” for travelling commits an offence.
But “reasonable excuse” is not defined. And Cummings says he had a reasonable excuse and has not broken the law.
All of which makes a joke of the current front page of the UK Government covid site which says categorically: Do not leave home if you or anyone in your household has symptoms.
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