Cummings and goings

By my reckoning, Dominic Cummings has said he would leave his post twice before, or that he lost his job once the last election was called.

But he came back.

Twice.

Now he’s said he’s going again, by New Year again, having caused so much damage in Whitehall, though many in the Conservative Party think he is still a walking brain, though there is little evidence of that in Brexit or controlling the pandemic.

Cummings knows how to campaign, of that there is no doubt. Give him an election or referendum to win, and he’s your man. Heck, he might even believe in what you are fighting for too. But mostly he wants chaos, breaking things down because they’re there, replacing the working framework of democracy with over paid consultants who just happen to be his friends.

As long suspected, the rats will abandon ship long before the effects of their running of Government become known. You can’t sweep 70,000 deaths under the carpet forever, news bulletins will show the dead and dying eventually.

And the reality of Brexit will come crashing down in early January. There will be shortages, there will be traffic jams, we will all get poorer, a little at a time.

And Cummings will be back, next time there is an election to be won, they will call him back, and he will spin and lie. Again.

Whether Cummings is gone or not, there is a yawning gap at the heart of Government where policy and planning should be. Cummings might be gone, but leaving Johnson in charge? He has less idea of planning than Cummings, and zero ability to master facts, figures and can’t accept criticism.

So, the Government, and country with it, will blunder on. There might be a deal, there might not. Its possible the Vote Leave crowd are being eased out as Johnson is going to accept compromise is needed to move on. The difference between a deal and no deal at this point is having one leg amputated or two. Whatever, the country and industry will be handicapped. I saw a Tweet from Loch Fyne Fisheries that one of their managers had done a flow chart of the hoops they goods would have to pass through for export. Once that is done, any profit was long wiped out. It is true for that company, it is also true for most others too.

We are imposing economic sanctions on ourselves to make ourselves poorer, reduced on the world stage, to satisfy people who don’t like to hear Polish being spoken on the bus.

The year might be ending on a less dark note, but next year will be grim here.