I DO REALLY think its time now to give Dominic Cummings a nice long break, so he should either resign or be sacked by the PM.

There has been a great deal of discussion and I think the majority of the British public have made up their minds.

He broke his own rules three times and on the last occasion went driving to test his eyesight.

The locals at Barnard Castle have a most appropriate saying; come, come, that’s Barney Castle... an expression often uttered when a person is heard making a bad excuse in a still worse cause (from an English Proverbs  and proverbial Phrases,  a Historical Dictionary, 1929). It seems the locals had Mr Cummings sussed back in 1846.

Most of this fuss could have been avoided if he had sent a short email to Boris with a copy to his deputy on his second visit to Downing Street on March 27.

It could have read something along the following lines... “Dear Boris, Afraid I have a family problem and am taking them to Durham.

“Sorry to hit you with this at a difficult time but I hope you will understand.

“I enclose my letter of resignation as it would, of course, be quite impossible for me to continue as your adviser, having clearly broken the rules we set out in our recent leaflet to the British public. 

“It has been a pleasure to work with you etc,etc.”

He would then have acted responsibly and with integrity and we could have all moved on.

Sadly he did not do this but chose to defend his actions and said he had a good excuse.

I appreciate that he considers himself exceptional but the rules set out in the leaflet and letter we were all sent from the PM were pretty clear.

I am sure lawyers could argue about “reasonable excuses” but isn’t this really clutching at straws as the guidance was clear “stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives”.

Everything now seems to have descended into farce with members of the cabinet cycling round London testing their eyesight.

If the PM cannot really understand what more than 100 of his MPs are trying to tell him or if he really cannot go on without his adviser, he needs to reconsider his position.

If the PM cannot sack Mr Cummings it will be clear to most people that the majority of the Conservative party believe in party before country and there really is one rule for the Government and one rule for the rest of us. This in no way to run a democracy.

I would write more but my eyes are blurring and I must go for a drive.

Roger Beasley

Lewes