Dominic Cummings: How the internet reacted to the government adviser statement | indy100 | indy100

Dominic Cummings gave a statement to the public following the uproar that he broke lockdown rules twice while and his wife had coronavirus symptoms.

The key adviser to Boris Johnson explained why he had made a 260 mile trip from London to Durham to seek help and childcare from his parents.

Cummings recounted why he had taken this journey which many have interpreted as unnecessary when so many have followed the government's advice and refrained from visiting loved one, even those who had been infected with Covid-19.

Cummings was initially supposed to give the statement in the Downing Street rose garden at 3 pm then it was moved to 4 pm but Cummings didn't appear until gone 4:30. As you can imagine people were in uproar that he had basically kept the nation waiting on a Bank Holiday afternoon.

If Dominic Cummings turned up this late to the job centre he’d be sanctioned
— Lisa Nandy (@Lisa Nandy) 1590420578

Press conference running late, but in Cummings defence, it’s a long drive from Durham.
— Gary Lineker 💙 (@Gary Lineker 💙) 1590419930

Dominic Cummings is late for his statement because there’s traffic on the A1.
— Jack Whitehall (@Jack Whitehall) 1590419661

Cummings is late? The summoning pentagram required fresh child's blood! Christ, this government can't even traffic with Hell correctly.
— Mike Stuchbery 💀🍷 (@Mike Stuchbery 💀🍷) 1590419757

Being this late is just yet more confirmation of how much Cummings holds us all in contempt.
— John O’Farrell (@John O’Farrell) 1590420208

Dominic Cummings on the phone. Says he’s “running late to the press conference trying to sort childcare”.
— Prince Charles (parody) (@Prince Charles (parody)) 1590420499

Once Cummings was in place to talk he soon found himself being drowned out by a noise in the background, which was almost definitely from a protestor outside of Downing Street.

wtf is that noise???? who’s blowing the bagpipes?
— nick grimshaw (@nick grimshaw) 1590420913

if that fucking noise is protesters, they're fucking idiots
— Hannah Jane Parkinson (@Hannah Jane Parkinson) 1590420929

#DominicCummngs that noise you could hear.... https://t.co/h8oOfpPTgI
— On the feast of Steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..... (@On the feast of Steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.....) 1590421326

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Cause of horn noise identified #DominicCummings #CumGate https://t.co/fEyIWunsw0
— Vicky Swain (@Vicky Swain) 1590420991

if you’re wondering what that noise is Mark Francois had a lamb bhuna for lunch
— dave ❄️ 🥕 🧻 (@dave ❄️ 🥕 🧻) 1590421079

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Honestly, what a horrendously disrespectful noise. Thank goodness there's someone with a vuvuzela drowning out Dominic Cummings.
— William G. Saraband 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇵🇹🏳️‍🌈 (@William G. Saraband 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇵🇹🏳️‍🌈) 1590421214

Cummings then gave a very long statement and explanation which was hardly the most interesting thing that anyone had ever heard and included a quite frankly amazing reason for testing his eyesight.

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At least he has charisma.
— Guy Lodge (@Guy Lodge) 1590420982

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This is pretty complicated and as far as I understand it requires quite a few leaps of logic.
— Lewis Goodall (@Lewis Goodall) 1590421119

The first part of this Cummings thing is basically him describing how he was considering breaking the rules, and th… https://t.co/50ZxLnXNYF
— Steve Analyst (@Steve Analyst) 1590421138

Cummings is giving lots of anecdotal detail but no political account of why Johnson was not in charge of his crucia… https://t.co/zT2gTw3Zkg
— Paul Mason (@Paul Mason) 1590421311

The world’s first filibustered press conference
— Mike Williams ✊ (@Mike Williams ✊) 1590421230

Look, it's very simple *reads intensely from manual*
— BURNS (@BURNS) 1590421289

There is literally nobody in the country who could make a 260-mile car journey with a four year old without stopping on the way. NOBODY.
— Seb Patrick (@Seb Patrick) 1590421263

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“We drove for half an hour to see if I could drive safely” 🤣🤣
— Gary Lineker 💙 (@Gary Lineker 💙) 1590421357

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“To test my eyesight and driving after becoming ill, my car accidentally drove itself to Durham Castle so we could… https://t.co/HTx6YNoyFG
— Lew 🤌🏻 (@Lew 🤌🏻) 1590421599

I actually feel pretty ashamed for having sat and watched this.
— (((Dan Hodges))) (@(((Dan Hodges)))) 1590421605

“It was 15 days after symptoms... armbar!... I have explained all the above to the Prime Minister... armbar!” https://t.co/iJbp2ZtJrw
— Neil Brennan (@Neil Brennan) 1590421622

Just a load of people testing their eyesight u love to see it https://t.co/u2MOigY7bn
— Megan Townsend (@Megan Townsend) 1590422159

watch out guys dominic cummings is testing his eyesight again https://t.co/niMNWUZjld
— Parker (@Parker) 1590422885

We only went to Barnard Castle because in Russia people say it's a good way to test your eyesight. https://t.co/ctsLzFeXzE
— Will Jennings (@Will Jennings) 1590423583

“Just a straightforward eye test drive to Barnard Castle.” https://t.co/cHf3spH5IL
— Benedict Spence (@Benedict Spence) 1590423361

This is a total car crash. He really should have got an eye test before hand
— Alex Rushmer (@Alex Rushmer) 1590424353

Then came questions from the press which were also a jamboree of fun and political insight.

Boy did he ever just stitch up Laura! "I have an ordered list of people I'd like to answer questions from, and Laura you are first".
— Steve Analyst (@Steve Analyst) 1590421682

No apology, no resignation. He honestly thinks he's better than us. This stinks
— Sirin Kale (@Sirin Kale) 1590421684

I hope the first question is: WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?
— Chris Addison💙 (@Chris Addison💙) 1590421621

Is he attempting to limit the length of questioning because of the daily govt press conference due at 5pm?
— Jay Rayner (@Jay Rayner) 1590420275

Channelling Edith Piaf now. Very bold.
— James Oh Brien (@James Oh Brien) 1590421678

This is important, but actually quite boring. It’s like watching Greece win Euro 2004.
— Elis James (@Elis James) 1590421291

Oh it’s the media that has made everyone angry, not his actions. 🤦‍♂️
— amar singh (@amar singh) 1590421770

Kuenssberg's "do you wish to offer an apology to people who didn't have the resources to do what you did" is utterl… https://t.co/NQU7U4esWv
— ཊལབསརངཧ (@ཊལབསརངཧ) 1590421931

"Firstly, thank you for coming to my TED talk..." https://t.co/vh6DUgiI31
— Vithushan Ehantharajah (@Vithushan Ehantharajah) 1590421936

First Kuenssberg, then Peston— the *two* people he confides in (and shares his leaks on Twitter) are allowed to go… https://t.co/iCT2mAxr3e
— Dr Mike Galsworthy (@Dr Mike Galsworthy) 1590422042

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Of course there were Simpsons memes. There are always Simpsons memes.

This literally sounds like a Abe Simpson story. 'Gimme five bees for a quarter you'd say'
— Greg Evans (@Greg Evans) 1590421419

How Dominic Cummings thinks he's coming across vs. how he's actually coming across https://t.co/l11DZnBHif https://t.co/CIzGL3tdYu
— The Puro Pourri Podcast (@The Puro Pourri Podcast) 1590422080

Boris offering his support to Dominic https://t.co/aHtVVVdRc4
— Ireland Simpsons Fans (@Ireland Simpsons Fans) 1590422027

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Mercifully it was then all over. This from comedian Josh Berry probably sums it all up.

CCHQ PR advisor congratulating Dominic Cummings on his public statement. https://t.co/L7y08dy2gm
— Josh ‘On Tour Link in Bio’ Berry (@Josh ‘On Tour Link in Bio’ Berry) 1590424648

I think it's safe to say that we learned many things and possibly nothing at all.