Do as I say, not as I do

Once, when I was waiting at a station for a train, I witnessed some quite ridiculous behaviour. A young man, dressed in a suit and giving every impression of importance, rushed up to the platform attendant with a simple, yet urgent demand: “What platform do I need to be on?”
The platform attendant was sympathetic, but declined to answer the question until he had asked a simple one in return: “Which train are you looking for?”
The suited gentleman looked as if he had been asked to sniff the sole of someone’s shoe. “I don’t know, do I? How many bloody trains are there?”
The platform attendant pointed out that there were lots of bloody trains because it was, in fact, a bloody station, and asked if the gentleman had any particular destination in mind.
The suited gentleman took a deep breath, turned a funny shade of crimson, and then asked to see a manager. I wasn’t sure why. I wondered if he thought they kept extra trains in the back for the ‘important’ customers.
As the platform attendant toddled off, face like a storm cloud on a sunny day, most likely thinking about the smoking break he might suddenly be due, the suited gentleman turned to me and, seeing a fellow conspirator, shrugged his shoulders at the uselessness of station employees and declared ‘Bloody hell. I mean, does he know how much I earn? I must be on three times his salary.”
I presume he intended to impress upon me how much more important he was. I was not entirely moved. Out of the two of them, I knew which I was most likely to need help from in the near future.

And so we come to Dominic Cummings. He has, as they say, been a very naughty boy. Some have leapt to defend him. For instance, Boris, who I’m sure has no ulterior motive. Let’s take a look at his arguments one by one.

Boris pointed out that what Mr Cummings did was perfectly legal. Boris is a clever man for subtly shifting the question from one that’s been asked to one that he wants to answer. In this case, the question isn’t whether Dominic Cummings broke the law, the question is whether his behaviour was morally right. If being morally right is absolutely equivalent with being legal, we should abolish all laws right now. They are clearly the reason otherwise good men fall into disrepute.

So let’s ignore the question of whether ‘Stay at Home’ actually meant ‘Stay at Home While its Convenient to do so.’ Let’s talk about whether the decision to drive 270 miles north in order to access convenient child care was right? Boris has suggested that Dominic Cummings behaved responsibly. Well, if we limit his responsibility to his wife and child then Boris has a point. If this was any member of the public I would suggest they had behaved recklessly but understandably.
Unfortunately, he is not a member of the public. He is a senior adviser to the government who we have every reason to believe was responsible for setting up the lockdown guidelines in the first place. His responsibility, therefore, is not just to do what’s right for his wife and child, but do what’s right for the entire nation. And if what he thought was right was to travel hundreds of miles to be closer to family members who could help out with child care, why did he not share that right with the many Britons who could have benefited from it.

Which brings us to Boris’ final defence of Mr Cummings – that he acted with integrity. I have no idea if Mr Cummings was conscious of flouting the guidelines when he decided to travel to Durham. Possibly, he acted as any husband and parent would, to protect his family. If that’s the case then I can’t condemn him. But I also can’t trust him. Not as a senior advisor to the government. You see, there are two options. One, he acted without thinking, forgot about what was good for the country, and did what was best for himself. This is not integrity. This is the absolute opposite of what we expect from our leaders.
The second alternative is worse. It’s possible he thought about the guidelines, thought about the many people in similar situations who were having to just knuckle down and deal with it, because those are the guidelines so that’s what you do and went, ‘actually no. For everybody else dealing with it that’s fine, but for me it’s different. I’m important. I’m an advisor to the government. Other people have had to struggle to balance their job with childcare, by I’m a Tory advisor. It’s important that I give my full attention to the crisis on hand and don’t get distracted by little things like my offspring.”
In other words, the rules are different for me.
Any time any one claims to be the exception, to be special, to be better, I think back to that train station. So many people out there have had to balance childcare with their jobs. Farmers, hospital cleaners, delivery drivers, nurses, doctors.
So, Mr. Cummings, I’m not entirely moved.
All of those people, all of those key workers, spent months suffering under the conditions that your government imposed.
And out of them and you, I know who I’m most likely to need help from in the near future.