As Boris Johnson’s disgraced side-kick, personal minder Dominic Cummings, tenaciously clings to his unelected privileged position as Chief Advisor to the PM, you have to wonder what is the primary objective driving his extraordinary fight to stay in post against all odds? He’s completely delusional if he considers his fanciful lawyer constructed statement explaining his violation of lockdown was acceptable, but he obviously has no shame or contrition with regard to his actions. Although we are told he is not a Tory Party member he must realize that he is now dragging Johnson and the entire Conservative Government down like a ship holed below the water line!
Because of his arrogant flouting of the very rules he helped put in place, and his utter contempt for ordinary people in this country, he has destroyed public confidence in the now thoroughly discredited Government messaging. He seems oblivious to the alarming fact that his personal selfish disobedience, lack of contrition and denial of accountability could now cost literally thousands of lives because public compliance has evaporated virtually overnight. The contortions he has forced the PM and his Tory Ministers to battle through under unusually robust journalistic scrutiny driven by intense community response from those of all political persuasions.
In the Daily GasLamp post entitled, “One Rule for the Rich… is to get rich quick” they uncover potential financial motivations that could be compromised if Cummings were ousted. They report that, “Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s most senior aide, is facing conflict of interest accusations over a publicly undisclosed consultancy job at a healthcare start-up endorsed by the government and in pole position to receive cash from a £250m NHS fund. Cummings advised Babylon Health, a controversial AI start-up, on its communications strategy and senior recruitment just months before its “GP at Hand” app was publicly backed by Matt Hancock, the health secretary…” They say, “Babylon confirmed Cummings was paid via his company, Dynamic Maps Ltd, which he set up in October 2017 as the sole director…”
According to GasLamp it seems that the Bureau of Investigation have, “Big Data and Privacy Concerns.” In the race to get systems set up rapidly they say, “Under a recent relaxation of data-sharing restrictions, private companies can now be granted access to NHS patient data for valid Covid-19 purposes. One company to note is Palantir. It has been accused of having its data-mining technology used for questionable purposes.” Why should the involvement of this particular US Company ring alarm bells? They add, “Palantir admitted that an employee had helped Cambridge Analytica build its data-harvesting app in 2013-14…” That is very worrying; in a previous post I mentioned, “the controversial data and security firm Palantir, owned by Trump backer Peter Thiel”
GasLamp state that, “Previously confidential NHS data could not be put under the control of anyone who was not a healthcare professional without a legal basis.” Major US Heathcare Corporations are hoping to move in on our NHS once crash-out Brexit leaves the UK vulnerable in a future trade deal. Access to NHS patient data will help them cherry-pick the most lucrative customers for maximizing profit under a system where pre-existing conditions are excluded from insurance coverage just as they are in the States. GasLamp quote, Natalie Banner, lead on the Understanding Patient Data programme at the medical research charity Wellcome who commented that, “…Crucially, technology companies that work with the NHS during this crisis will develop a better understanding of the UK’s health data infrastructure, which could give them an advantage in future discussions about providing services to the NHS.” That is our NHS not for sale, right?
GasLamp quote Rachel Coldicutt, former chief executive of the technology ethics think tank Doteveryone, who said that: “Public services, funded by public money, must be open to public scrutiny – especially in times of great upheaval when lots of decisions are being made very quickly.” They add, “According to Wired, some 40 tech companies were present at a meeting with No 10 advisor Dominic Cummings in Downing Street on 12 March. Among their ranks were said to be several who have got the Covid-related health contracts, as well as the AI start-up Babylon Health.” As already noted from the Byline Times piece “in his crusade to shake-up Whitehall and government, Cummings has managed to amass an investment fund of close to a billion pounds for his ARPA brainchild, based on the US DARPA model. His Vote Leave data scientists, Faculty AI, have accumulated seven Government contracts since Johnson came to power.”
Is Cummings driven by a passion over Brexit, his untrammelled position power, his ultimate control over the prime Minister, or just greed? Dominic Cummings appears to revel in being notoriously feared and despised by everyone from the general public to those he works alongside. Brexit could be derailed if electoral fraud invalidated the Covert 2019 Rigged Election and cast doubt over the Referendum too; is sweet revenge worth crashing the whole project by supplying evidence for an investigation? He would still have the ultimate satisfaction of demonstrating his evil genius, clever enough to outsmart everyone. If there are conflict of interest issues where Cummings stands to profit if the Government investment money flows in the direction of his pet projects, he will not want to compromise that by being removed from his position of control. We must continue to pressure the Government for prompt and permanent removal of Dominic Cummings as this might just bring down the Tory Government.