Dominic Cummings’ jaunt around County Durham was a foolish but in the end fairly minor offence, albeit a staggeringly irresponsible one for a person in his position and of his supposed intellect.

It showed him to be arrogant and to possess an exaggerated sense of his own self-importance. So no news there.

However, the determination of the Prime Minister to refuse to sack him and the lapdog-like support of his cabinet, despite the enormous damage he has inflicted on their credibility in the management of the ongoing pandemic, is particularly revealing in that they clearly feel incapable of governing the country effectively without him.

On the other hand, I suppose their refusal to contemplate government without him does do them some credit, in that it shows they do at least recognise the third-rate nature of their own political capabilities.

Jerry Ross
Llangarron