Yesterday ITV political journalist Robert Peston wrote the latest in a series of articles which have been baffling in their unstinting praise of Boris Johnson and the Strategic Genius of Dominic Cummings. From someone widely respected for his previously impartial reporting, the recent swerve has been remarkable. However yesterday's piece went further than of late and descended into literal hero-worship. Superhero worship, in fact.
The article was peppered with surprising assertions, beginning with the idea that a request by parliament for full disclosure of communications relevant to the PMs decision to prorogue parliament for five weeks was "a naked attempt to politically assassinate Dominic Cummings". This assassination only works of course if Cummings actually did ask/order Johnson to lie about why he shuttered parliament. Otherwise it proves his innocence and makes Dominic Grieve look like a vindictive man and a fool.
From that high point it went downhill rapidly, with three "questionable" assumptions parliament is deemed to have made according to Robert.
First was the assumption that despite a Humble Address requesting the relevant communications, government wouldn't simply tell parliament to piss off & refuse, as they did previously with legal advice from Attorney General Geoffrey Cox (and as a result became the first UK government in history to be found in Contempt of Parliament).
The fact that GOVERNMENT COULD COMMIT CONTEMPT OF PARLIAMENT AGAIN wasn't the 100-point headline in Mr Peston's piece speaks volumes in itself, yet he manages to make it worse by following with: "They would rather trigger (yet another) constitutional crisis (yawn)".
Read that again. The bits in brackets are part of the Peston piece (or given the wording, possibly by Cummings himself). Committing Contempt of Parliament is worthy of no more than a yawn. Classic Dom.
The second "questionable assumption" is that Cummings would have been so dumb as to commit his motives to paper or the electronic equivalent. Of course, he wouldn't, this is a man of unmatched genius (just ask him).
Why would a man famous for his 10,000-word self-regarding blog posts, who has publicly telegraphed every move he's made to thwart parliament, and who briefs Political journos in a way that anyone with Roger's Profanisaurus can instantly determine the "unnamed government source" write down his dastardly genius plan?
Except that the recent case in the Scottish court about the prorogation showed that some communications were written down, at least by the Prime Minster - even though "Girly Swot David Cameron" was initially redacted (presumably under the Official Secrets Act).
Oh, and prominent QC in the case Jolyon Maugham said on Twitter, "They are rumoured to be communicating using WhatsApp... I have a list of names of those said to be involved".
Oh, and that the specificity with which the Humble Address listed the methods of communication and the names of those requested to provide them suggests quite strongly that Dominic Grieve knew precisely what to ask for and has probably has already seen (or maybe even obtained) the damning proof, but wants it in the public domain.
The final assumption in the article is that Boris Johnson could be embarrassed by all of this to the point of sacking Cummings, suggesting that Johnson is incapable of embarrassment. A man who sacked 21 of his own MPs including many highly respected Tory grandees and Winston Churchill's grandson, because they embarrassingly voted against him after he threatened to if they did. Destroying your majority overnight to save face is fine, but getting rid of a widely despised SpAd who isn't a member of the party would be too much? I think the "questionable assumption" is that Prime Minister Johnson wouldn't throw anything including Dilyn the No10 puppy under the Boris Bus to deflect any blame from himself.
As a parting shot our commentator beautifully completes the fanfic by comparing Cummings to comic-book/film superhero Deadpool - who to be honest isn't the most wholesome character they could have chosen, and has more facial expressions than Cummings, even with the mask on.
The closing paragraphs, however, give away the game. If this piece wasn't actually written by Cummings it certainly had his fingerprints all over the final draft. It suggests that without Cummings, Johnson would be a "blank sheet of paper", that Johnson and Cummings "live or die together" and that "[if] Cummings were to fall, Johnson probably would too".
The message from Dominic Cummings via Robert Peston is clear - If Johnson brings down Cummings he'll take down the PM and probably the party, with him.
Deadpool was the wrong character for the comparison in the article, he's more like Heath Ledger's Joker. Some people just want to watch the world burn.
The article was peppered with surprising assertions, beginning with the idea that a request by parliament for full disclosure of communications relevant to the PMs decision to prorogue parliament for five weeks was "a naked attempt to politically assassinate Dominic Cummings". This assassination only works of course if Cummings actually did ask/order Johnson to lie about why he shuttered parliament. Otherwise it proves his innocence and makes Dominic Grieve look like a vindictive man and a fool.
From that high point it went downhill rapidly, with three "questionable" assumptions parliament is deemed to have made according to Robert.
First was the assumption that despite a Humble Address requesting the relevant communications, government wouldn't simply tell parliament to piss off & refuse, as they did previously with legal advice from Attorney General Geoffrey Cox (and as a result became the first UK government in history to be found in Contempt of Parliament).
The fact that GOVERNMENT COULD COMMIT CONTEMPT OF PARLIAMENT AGAIN wasn't the 100-point headline in Mr Peston's piece speaks volumes in itself, yet he manages to make it worse by following with: "They would rather trigger (yet another) constitutional crisis (yawn)".
Read that again. The bits in brackets are part of the Peston piece (or given the wording, possibly by Cummings himself). Committing Contempt of Parliament is worthy of no more than a yawn. Classic Dom.
The second "questionable assumption" is that Cummings would have been so dumb as to commit his motives to paper or the electronic equivalent. Of course, he wouldn't, this is a man of unmatched genius (just ask him).
Why would a man famous for his 10,000-word self-regarding blog posts, who has publicly telegraphed every move he's made to thwart parliament, and who briefs Political journos in a way that anyone with Roger's Profanisaurus can instantly determine the "unnamed government source" write down his dastardly genius plan?
Except that the recent case in the Scottish court about the prorogation showed that some communications were written down, at least by the Prime Minster - even though "Girly Swot David Cameron" was initially redacted (presumably under the Official Secrets Act).
Oh, and prominent QC in the case Jolyon Maugham said on Twitter, "They are rumoured to be communicating using WhatsApp... I have a list of names of those said to be involved".
Oh, and that the specificity with which the Humble Address listed the methods of communication and the names of those requested to provide them suggests quite strongly that Dominic Grieve knew precisely what to ask for and has probably has already seen (or maybe even obtained) the damning proof, but wants it in the public domain.
The final assumption in the article is that Boris Johnson could be embarrassed by all of this to the point of sacking Cummings, suggesting that Johnson is incapable of embarrassment. A man who sacked 21 of his own MPs including many highly respected Tory grandees and Winston Churchill's grandson, because they embarrassingly voted against him after he threatened to if they did. Destroying your majority overnight to save face is fine, but getting rid of a widely despised SpAd who isn't a member of the party would be too much? I think the "questionable assumption" is that Prime Minister Johnson wouldn't throw anything including Dilyn the No10 puppy under the Boris Bus to deflect any blame from himself.
As a parting shot our commentator beautifully completes the fanfic by comparing Cummings to comic-book/film superhero Deadpool - who to be honest isn't the most wholesome character they could have chosen, and has more facial expressions than Cummings, even with the mask on.
The closing paragraphs, however, give away the game. If this piece wasn't actually written by Cummings it certainly had his fingerprints all over the final draft. It suggests that without Cummings, Johnson would be a "blank sheet of paper", that Johnson and Cummings "live or die together" and that "[if] Cummings were to fall, Johnson probably would too".
The message from Dominic Cummings via Robert Peston is clear - If Johnson brings down Cummings he'll take down the PM and probably the party, with him.
Deadpool was the wrong character for the comparison in the article, he's more like Heath Ledger's Joker. Some people just want to watch the world burn.
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