Comment: We missed this report when it was published a little over a month ago, 6 weeks into the UK's barmy 'lockdown'. We did notice that Cummings was reported at the time to have been a participant on the quasi-secretive 'SAGE' committee of 'independent scientific advisors', along with the likes of now-disgraced Imperial College scientist Neil Ferguson. But we didn't know just how instrumental 'the man who orchestrated Brexit' was on this committee.
The following MSM report of course examines his role from the POV that Cummings 'didn't do enough', which is of course farcical in the context of the most draconian anti-freedom measures ever undertaken by any state outside of wartime...
The government has confirmed that Dominic Cummings was an observer at some meetings of its Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), the secretive body which gives specialized advice to ministers on responding to the pandemic.
According to two people involved, Cummings played far more than a bystander's role at a crucial SAGE meeting on March 18, as the panel discussed social distancing options to tackle the Covid-19 outbreak.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because the meetings are private, the people said Cummings asked why a lockdown was not being imposed sooner, swayed the discussion toward faster action, and made clear he thought pubs and restaurants should be closed within two days. They then were.
Comment: Secret meetings. Secret decisions. Secret agendas.
No rules. No votes. No constitutional law.
Liberal democracy is dead. Long live liberal democracy.
The prime minister's office denied that political advisers influenced the experts on the SAGE committee and said it was appropriate for aides to sit in on meetings and to ask questions. The two people who took part in the meeting said Cummings's actions went further than simply asking for information.
The suggestion that Cummings influenced the group's lockdown decisions is likely to cast doubt on the government's assurances that it has simply followed scientific advice throughout the crisis. As the death toll continues to rise, that could put Johnson in a more difficult position as he seeks to deflect criticism of the government's response.
Powerful Aide
Cummings has been a hugely controversial figure at the heart of the government ever since he was appointed to be Johnson's chief adviser last July.
The pair worked closely on the pro-Brexit campaign, which Cummings masterminded, and then set about continuing their political revolution in government -- ripping up establishment rules and purging the Conservative Party of Johnson's critics after he became prime minister last year.
His role in shaping the U.K.'s much-criticized Covid-19 strategy has been less clear. Johnson's office vigorously denied claims made in a British newspaper that Cummings originally wanted a policy of so-called herd immunity, even if it meant some older people would die. On March 30, it emerged that Cummings -- like his boss Johnson -- was in isolation with coronavirus symptoms.
The Guardian revealed on Friday that Cummings had attended meetings of the scientific advisory panel, known as SAGE, and the Observer newspaper on Sunday said he'd been an active participant in discussions.
But the disclosure that he was so vocal in the debate over lockdown raises questions about his influence on the group's ultimate recommendations.
Herd Instinct
It is "quite possible" that interventions from the prime minister's most senior aide swayed discussions, said former U.K. chief scientific adviser David King. "There is a herd instinct in all of us - we call it groupthink," King, who served during Tony Blair's premiership from 2000 to 2007, said in an interview. "It is possible that a group is influenced by a particularly influential person."
At the March 18 meeting, Cummings asked probing questions such as why the government should wait until the following week to impose a lockdown rather than doing so earlier, according to one of the people. He also said the public should not be allowed to leave work on March 20 and go to the pub afterward. The government ultimately told pubs and clubs to close on that day, before imposing a fuller lockdown that shuttered most shops on March 23.
One attendee at the meeting described feeling uncomfortable that the panel with Cummings's input was taking more of a decision-making approach than simply drawing up options and giving advice to ministers. The attendee added, however, that it was also a relief that Cummings had pushed for a lockdown because there were concerns that politicians had not fully understood how serious the coronavirus emergency had become.
Read the rest here.
Comment: A 'relief', right. Tell that to the millions of Britons who suffered at the hands of this utter stupidity.
It's interesting to reconsider Cummings' flagrant breaking of the lockdown in light of the fact that it may not even have happened but for him. And this is the man millions of Britons thank for 'delivering Brexit'!
If it's true that it was the PM and Cummings, NOT the scientific advisors and health officials, who pushed for lockdown, then what are we to make of the fact that both Cummings and Johnson 'came down with Covid-19'? And Prince Charles!? Was this all staged as part of Cummings-directed make-believe?
The same thing was seen in Denmark, where its Health Dept exposed the Danish PM by publicly stating that it did NOT recommend the lockdown that the PM had claimed was recommended to her by the Health Dept.
The question therefore remains: WHO ORDERED GOVTS TO DO THIS???