Dominic Cummings has flouted one of the most basic principles of the way we are governed.
There can never be one rule for a powerful elite and another for the rest of us.
By travelling with his family from their London home to his parents’ farm in Durham during lockdown, the Prime Minister’s closest and most influential adviser has undermined that.
While millions of families made sacrifices in isolation, denying themselves contact with loved ones in desperate times, Cummings decided it was acceptable for him to ignore his Government’s own guidelines.
He claims it was reasonable, legal and in the best interests of his young son.
The public will be sympathetic but sceptical.
Whether or not it was technically within the limits of the law, as Cummings says in his defence, is not as important as the message that the revelation sends to the rest of us – who obeyed the rules for the benefit of all.
That he and Downing Street attempted to keep the trip a secret shows that he and Boris Johnson knew his behaviour was unacceptable.
His defence is shallow.
Dominic Cummings has cast a dark shadow over the way this Government works.
His influence, not least over the coronavirus, has been questionable.
Now he has been shown to have disdain not just for the conventions of public conduct, but for the rest of society.
His time in Downing Street has been short but his departure is long overdue.
Probe care homes
For weeks this newspaper has been exposing the failures and tragedies of our care homes. Now one is facing legal action.
Norman Milne and wife Shirley, both 81, died with Covid-19 eight days apart.
Son Steve is preparing to sue over their treatment before they were transferred to hospital.
There also needs to be a wider, independent inquiry to cover the Government’s own failures to tackle the care homes crisis.
To give justice to Norman, Shirley and thousands of others.
