After the Guardian and Daily Mirror revealed Dominic Cummings’s 260-mile journey from London to Durham as his wife and then he came down with coronavirus symptoms, frontline workers and bereaved relatives expressed their anger and frustration. The A&E doctor: “I became sick with Covid-19 in March. My wife was also sick. We have three kids and stayed home to look after them. Because that was the rule. Back at work I dressed in full PPE to look after the sick and dying. I didn’t do all of that so Dominic Cummings could flout the rules.” – Dr Farbod Babolhavaeji
The headteacher: “My mother died of Covid-19, alone in a care home in Sussex on 18 April 2020. I was unable to visit her during the last few weeks and days of her life because of the lockdown measures imposed by your government, advised by Dominic Cummings. It now appears that Cummings not only broke the lockdown rules himself, he did so flagrantly. His response today has been arrogance personified. “When I did, finally, make a 520-mile round trip from York to Sussex and back to see my mother, it was to bury her body. I completed the 520-mile round trip in a single day because I thought staying at my sister’s house in Sussex contravened the lockdown rules. I am sure you can appreciate why I am appalled at Cummings’s disregard for the lockdown rules he had a hand in making. Please make my story known to No 10; there are thousands of similar stories across the land.” – John Tomsett, head teacher of Huntingdon School, York in a letter to his Conservative MP.
The protester: “I’m not with any organisation or campaign, just a member of the public. I’ve been furloughed and I was just sat at home angry and frustrated. I think it’s disgusting. It’s one rule for him and the rest of us. It’s disgraceful how the government is protecting him. I’ve been at home with my wife for two months. But thinking of all the people who’ve made big sacrifices and not seen their loved ones.” – Ben, 31, marketing manager protesting outside Cummings’s north London home on Sunday. The palliative care doctor: “If Dominic Cummings isn’t gone by the end of today, @BorisJohnson is insulting every grieving relative I have had to call to explain why they can’t visit their dying loved one in hospital. Every distraught family member not at a funeral. Every frontline carer risking their life.” – Rachel Clarke The bereaved politician: “Dominic Cummings walks outside my house while I keep the rules and don’t go and see my dad in a care home in the town and he dies five days later. It’s a horror movie.” – Helen Goodman, former Labour MP for Bishop Auckland. The businesswoman: “So my partner and I both had coronavirus symptoms at the same time. We have two children. We all stayed in the flat for 10-14 days and relied on neighbours to leave food by the front door. Turns out we could have driven to Bristol and left the kids with my sister.” – Julia Bellis