Five Derbyshire Tory MPs give their views on the Dominic Cummings affair

Mr Cummings, who is Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chief adviser, said he had no regrets over driving 260 miles from London to Durham during lockdown.

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He claimed he made the move to Durham over childcare worries and fears for his family’s safety.

Mr Cummings also said that a 30-mile drive to Barnard Castle, undertaken on his wife’s birthday, was to test his eyesight and see whether he was fit to drive down to London and return to work.

Mr Johnson has given Mr Cummings his full backing – but more than 35 Conservative MPs have called for the political strategist to resign or be fired.

We contacted the seven Tory MPs who represent constituencies served by JPIMedia titles – Nigel Mills (Amber Valley); Mark Fletcher (Bolsover); Sarah Dines (Derbyshire Dales); Maggie Throup (Erewash); Robert Largan (High Peak); Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire) and Lee Rowley (North East Derbyshire) – and asked them if they wanted the opportunity to give their thoughts.

Mr Rowley, Mr Largan and Mr Fletcher responded to us directly.

Ms Dines and Ms Latham have also posted statements online.

Lee Rowley’s statement

Thank you to everyone who has been in touch to let me know their views on Dominic Cummings; I’m grateful for everyone who has written to me and spelt out their views so plainly, whatever those views happen to be.

From reading every one of those emails (although not, yet, having been able to get back to everyone), it’s obvious that people are very concerned about what has happened. Residents have highlighted their real frustration and, in some cases, anger. Many have told me about sacrifices they have made and difficulties experienced over the last two months to help tackle coronavirus. I understand all of that and, on a personal level, I have had many of those same difficulties and challenges. Like so many others, I didn’t see most of my family for two months. Many people I know have caught the virus and I couldn’t help or support them, other than down the phone, when they needed comfort. Very sadly, an extended family member of mine passed away of coronavirus a few weeks ago. It’s been grim – and so many people have had much worse experiences than I have.

So, when people asked my view on the Dominic Cummings situation, I wanted to wait to give you a proper, considered view. And, after considering it over the weekend, I’m going to go through my thinking in detail.

Firstly, for those wanting a short and sharp answer: I’m afraid I cannot give you one. I didn’t have the evangelical certainty of some early on Saturday that he had unquestionably done the wrong thing. I refuse to draw an immediate and snap conclusion, based on inadequate information, rumour and innuendo. And, even now, twenty-four hours after the press conference yesterday, I remain of the view this is a finely balanced issue and one that deserves more thought than some press and commentators have offered.

Yesterday, Dominic Cummings told us his side of the story. That was absolutely necessary and the right thing to do. A series of charges (many unfair) had been levelled at him and we needed to hear his explanation. I’m glad that he made his statement and, as he said himself, it would have been better if he had done it sooner.

Secondly is the question of whether what he did was reasonable. From what I can see, there is a pretty balanced judgement to be made here. He wanted to protect his child in the event that he and his wife became incapacitated. I don’t fault him on that. Should he have done all of the things he told us about yesterday? In hindsight, maybe not. Other people may take different views but I saw someone yesterday whose ultimate answer – that he tried to do the best for his family – was pretty straightforward even if the underlying detail was tortuous and involved.

Over the past day, I’ve tried to ask myself a single question: what I would have done? The honest answer to that remains, still, that I don’t know. I can see why some people would have made the trip and I can also understand why others wouldn’t. That isn’t fence-sitting; it’s a recognition that everyone’s real lives are complex and it’s often impossible to put ourselves in the shoes of people making difficult judgments . We’ve all tried our hardest to fit into these restrictive and difficult guidelines for the sake of everyone but, ultimately, sixty five million lives will never go neatly and continuously into such constraints.

Taking Cummings out of the equation for a moment, where I’m much clearer is that the guidelines did include the ability for people to take other decisions in extenuating circumstances. Most of my job over the last two months has been to try to help people whose lives don’t fit neatly into the guidelines. I have spent hours on long phone calls, often with other MPs of all parties, going through a myriad of scenarios that the regulations could never hope to cover; returning from university when you weren’t supposed to travel, helping relocate to another part of the country for important, very serious personal circumstances, family members in real need a long way away, coming back into the country, not coming back into the country, visiting a second home for animal welfare issues and so on and so on. The list has been long and varied. It could easily have included a resident with the same question as Cummings. And, each time, I’ve tried to help work through the guidance, identify the options and help people decide how to approach it. Sometimes people have had to do things using one of the exemptions. Other times they haven’t.

I’ve never been a politician who throws stones and I try to be relatively temperate in my judgement. People are generally trying to do the right thing and, where politicians (or advisers) are concerned, they are mostly in it for the right reasons. In my three years in politics, I haven’t really seen “one rule for one and one for another”. I’ve seen people mostly do the right thing and sometimes not. That’s human nature.

So, if you want me to condemn someone on the basis of a finely balanced judgement that he has made then, given the information I have, I’m not going to do it. I’m going to accept that he was trying to do the best he could in difficult circumstances. He knows, because he told us yesterday, that some people will agree and some people won’t. And I’m going to continue to believe that most people do the right thing most of the time – not because they were told to by Government or because a letter came through the door (as important as they were). They did the right thing because it’s what people do.

The British people are a fair-minded lot. And I can totally understand why they are frustrated at the moment. Yet, being fair also means being willing to give people the benefit of the doubt at times, even if the judgement call could have gone either way. That’s not me towing the party line or trotting out what the whips have told me. I’ve gone against my party on enough issues that I hope my constituents know that I try to think things through. And on this one, I’m sorry but I can’t, based on what I know at the moment, join the frenzy to condemn. And neither am I going to condemn the Irish Prime Minister, the scientist on SAGE, the Scottish Medical Officer, Labour MPs or anyone else that made a value judgement or, in some cases, what looks like a debatable decision. People are human. My starting point is they are all trying to do their best and they do the right thing the vast majority of the time.

And, frankly, like I said on Facebook Live on Sunday, I don’t want us to go down a road as a country where we are deciding what was acceptable or not in every crevice of people’s personal lives. Sometimes there are judgements to be made which are balanced. That’s not me excusing Cummings. It’s me saying I don’t think we really want to be in a political world where we are litigating how many times someone stopped for petrol or the toilet habits of a four-year old. We can do better than that.

Now, I know that for some people this won’t be enough. And to those, I say, in advance, I’m sorry. Yet, I’m not sure some of those with the racing certainties of recent days are actually looking to discuss. They made their mind up at the start or, in the case of a few, long before the story even came out.

For many others, they may remain sceptical after days of stories. Some of you just aren’t convinced and, even if you were, you still find it concerning. And I get that. We’re in a difficult time and our frustrations are high at the moment. I hope, in time, we can look back and say that, even if you still think he made the wrong decision, that you can see how someone might have come to that conclusion.

So, based on what I know, I’m not going to condemn Dominic for wrestling with the guidance and trying to work out what to do his best in difficult circumstances. So many of my constituents have gone through the same agonising questions. When they came to ask me for advice, I tried to help rather than condemn or criticise. It was the right thing to do then and it’s the right thing to do now. Lives are complicated. Decisions are difficult. Judgements are balanced. I think most people will get that, if not now, in time. And, as a politician, I want to tell it as I see it, even if sometimes some people don’t agree with me. It might have been easier to write a one-liner here that he should resign. But, genuinely, based on what I currently know, I don’t think he should. And you elected me to think through these things. You might not agree with my judgement on this one. But I hope you can see that I’ve at least thought about it and accept that, on balance, it’s a legitimate conclusion to draw.

Robert Largan’s statement

We can’t have a position where it is one rule for the public and another for politicians.

If all the reports about Dominic Cummings are true, then I believe his position is untenable and he should resign.

I don’t have all the facts and I don’t want to rush to judgement based on incomplete information, especially when many allegations are being disputed. But we need proper answers and we need them quickly.

In the meantime, I have made the Government aware of the strength of feeling of local people.

Mark Fletcher’s statement

The past few weeks and months have placed a great strain on our nation. The threat of coronavirus spreading. The unprecedented steps we have had to take to socially distance. The devastating loss of so many loved ones. The creation of dozens of government schemes to support workers, businesses, individuals and businesses through a global pandemic.

I am very proud to support a Government that has worked tirelessly to deal with a threat the like of which our country has not seen in my lifetime. But I am even prouder of all of the people across this country who have made sacrifices to help fight this virus. We have all worked together in the national interest, often at a great personal cost.

Over the past few days a great deal of interest has been placed on the movements of Dominic Cummings and his family during the lockdown. The original story was that Mr Cummings had been spoken to by the police regarding his actions, a story that we now know is not true. The police issued a corrective statement shortly before Mr Cummings’s press conference on that matter. A number of additional details in the original reports have proved to be false.

That being said, Mr Cummings did travel with his family to Durham to isolate. The guidelines did provide scope for exceptions when it came to childcare, I know this because many constituents have asked about it in recent months. However, had a constituent asked me about doing the same thing, I would have felt uncomfortable in recommending it as a course of action. In addition, Mr Cummings did drive to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight. I do not believe this was advisable.

The immediate reaction to the story over the weekend left a deeply uncomfortable feeling. Without full possession of the facts, many people were willing to condemn Mr Cummings as guilty. Undoubtedly some of this is because of Mr Cummings’ history; his role in Vote Leave and working for the Prime Minister will, for some, be enough to wish him ill, as has been demonstrated in the tone of a number of the emails I have received. For others, there are the great – and many - sacrifices that they have undertaking during the past two months, and the feeling that Mr Cummings did not follow the same rules and undertake the same sacrifices.

That is an entirely understandable position. As has been the case with a number of constituents in recent weeks, finding the right path at a difficult time has not been easy. Mr Cummings laid out his reasoning and thought process in the press conference on Monday. I would not have made the same decisions nor advised them, but then again I am not a father and I do not have constant protests outside my house and fear for my – or my family’s - safety every day. I cannot imagine what that kind of pressure can do to people. The police have indicated they have now opened an investigation, and it is correct that due process is followed, and natural justice returns.

One of the most corrosive elements of modern politics – if not modern life - is the rush to judgement. I believe it is vitally important that we reflect on things and try to understand more and show compassion. The - often faux - outrage on social media and the instant demands for action without full knowledge of the facts is a deeply troubling one-way street. It isn’t that long ago that we as a nation saw the suicide of Caroline Flack as an opportunity to turn the corner in how we treat each other, particularly on social media. We seem to be in danger of forgetting those lessons again.

For many, what Mr Cummings did was unacceptable. People are perfectly entitled to that opinion, and for those who have emailed in to say so, I have made those representations to the Government. For others, what Mr Cummings did was rational behaviour for a father and was within the guidelines. It is perfectly possible to accept there are different views on the issue. What is not acceptable is to hear of fellow MPs receiving death threats over this issue. For offices to be vandalised. For staff of different MPs to have their homes attacked. For those of us who wept for Jo Cox in 2016, this incivility only shows that we still have a long way to go before we make our politics better.

Three final – and brief – points. We now know many of the original media reports were inaccurate (staying with his parents, multiple trips, police investigations). For some, that point is irrelevant. But the images of the media grouped together – with no regard to social distancing – outside Mr Cummings’ house will live long in the memory. We are, or should be, better than this. And for the record, I would say the same thing if it were a member or representative of another political party in the same position.

Secondly, this has been an unbelievably tough time for our nation. We face even tougher times, trying to get our economy and our society back on track over the coming months and years. The spirit of togetherness – and toughness – we have shown in recent months will be needed again. Whether Mr Cummings stays or goes (and I think everyone has made their own minds up about that already), the challenges will continue to be stark. We must not lose sight of the major challenge we all have; getting Britain’s economy fired up again whilst living with Covid-19.

And finally, thank you to everyone who has emailed in. I have read all of them, and I will respond soon to all of those who have provided a postal address. Some of them have been incredibly personal and only underline how tough the past few weeks have been. I do not know Mr Cummings, I have never met him. I imagine, with the benefit of hindsight, he probably would not have done what he did, but everyone makes mistakes.

Ms Dines’ statement

I have received some emails from constituents over the weekend about Boris’ advisor Dominic Cummings. I support the Prime Minister's continued confidence in Dominic Cummings.

Some have emailed me with a different view. They are of course free to do so and have been noted. I have also received a lot of emails supportive of Dom Cummings and those emails of support condemn his being hounding by a sensationalist and ill-informed press.

I am sad that certain elements of the media have behaved really badly. The scenes of the bullying behaviour outside Dominic Cummings’ home have been totally unacceptable.

The Government - including Dominic Cummings - has worked very hard to pull together to defeat Coronavirus. There is still a a lot more work to do. I am concentrating on helping my constituents with their problems as usual and managing what is happening locally with the help of our excellent district and county council.

Pauline Latham’s statement

The issue of Dominic Cummings’ recent trip to County Durham has dominated the news in the last few days.

Literally hundreds of constituents have contacted me on this issue. I wanted to reserve judgment until I heard Mr Cummings’ statement. Having now heard it, and considering the clearly expressed views of my constituents, who have made repeated sacrifices during lockdown, I have decided to make my view known to the Prime Minister that I believe Mr Cummings should resign.

Whilst I am sympathetic to the stress of the situation he was in, as a husband and a parent, I do not believe his actions were appropriate. I believe it is vitally important that the Government presents clear guidance about the lockdown and what we should all be doing to help defeat the virus. We should all follow that guidance no matter who we are. That is more important than the role of any one Government adviser and I cannot defend the indefensible.

For the avoidance of doubt, I do not support press or public harassment of Mr Cummings, his wife and child at their home.

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