Dominic Cummings was tearing this country apart. Now he has united us in anger

You have to give Dominic Cummings credit for one thing. After years of wrenching the country apart with his deliberately divisive campaign tactics, Boris Johnson’s chief adviser has suddenly succeeded in uniting us again.

Rarely have I ever seen such a unanimous outpouring of fury from people of all walks of life and all political persuasions.

From the grandparents who haven’t seen their grandkids for weeks. From the families who live apart, able to see each other only via video call. From the couples who had been planning their weddings for months, only to be forced to postpone them. From the new dads separated from mother and baby for the first days of their child’s life. From the family members unable to be at their loved one’s side at the end, and unable to mourn together afterwards. Even from a handful of brave Tory MPs.

Millions of people across the UK have made heart-breaking sacrifices to comply with the lockdown and help keep others safe from coronavirus. They are rightly outraged.

They’re outraged that Cummings broke the very lockdown his government is asking us to obey. But even more than that, they’re outraged that he still hasn’t resigned or even apologised – and that Boris Johnson hasn’t demanded an apology, hasn’t asked for his resignation or terminated his contract.

In the last few days, I’ve had dozens of constituents write to me to express their anger and call for Cummings to go – and I know from my colleagues that I am not alone. In all the emails, tweets and other messages I’ve received, one phrase comes up perhaps more than any other: “It can’t be one rule for them and another rule for the rest of us.”

Of course they’re right. But what this whole sorry saga demonstrates – yet again – is that Johnson and the top Tories he surrounds himself with do believe that it’s one rule for them and another for the rest of us.

What we’ve seen from them over the last few days is a sense of arrogant, elitist entitlement, that they are above the rules. That they don’t need to worry about the consequences of their actions. It’s a belief that is contrary to the fundamental British sense of fair play, but one that runs through certain parts of the Conservative Party like writing through a stick of rock.

It’s the same belief that made Johnson think it was fine to break furniture and smash windows as a member of the Bullingdon Club at Oxford. The same belief that made Cummings think he could use a private email account to avoid Freedom of Information law when he was Michael Gove’s adviser at the Department for Education.

It’s the same belief that made them both think they could plaster a blatant lie on the side of a bus during the 2016 referendum campaign and get away with it. The same belief that made them think they could silence their critics, shut down democracy and ram through a disastrous no-deal Brexit by unlawfully proroguing parliament.

Now, as then, Johnson, Cummings and their Tory cabal think they can simply avoid responsibility for their actions – not just for Cummings breaking the lockdown, but for the way their confused, dishonest response has undermined the authority of the public health guidance that is so vital for keeping people safe during this pandemic.

At the start of this national crisis, political parties rallied round to back all the evidence-based policies of the government, to give the country a united message. Regrettably, the prime minister has broken that unity with his alarming lack of leadership, confusing messages and poor judgement. Just when we needed the government to focus on the crucial tasks of increasing Britain’s testing capacity, getting protective equipment to frontline workers and preventing the tragic deaths in our care homes.

Instead Johnson is focused on fighting to save his adviser.

The visceral public reaction and genuine anger we have seen over the last few days shows what the British people think. The prime minister and his cabal might try to tough it out, but Johnson and Cummings can’t just get away with this unfairness. No matter what they believe, they are not above the rest of us. In the UK, we must all live by the same rules. And that’s why Dominic Cummings has to go.

Ed Davey is acting leader of the Liberal Democrats and the MP Kingston and Surbiton