J-Lab Episode 20: Breaking the Dominic Cummings story, with the Daily Mirror's Pippa Crear

J-Lab

It was one of the biggest news stories of the year: an important insight into our country’s handling of the coronavirus and a slightly bizarre tale of politics and power in a pandemic. The flouting of lockdown rules had already cost a government scientist and Scotland's chief medical officer their jobs. So when the prime minister’s controversial chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, drove his family the 270 miles from London to Durham – when his wife had coronavirus symptoms and strict “stay at home” guidance were in place – well, that was a big deal. The story was broken by Daily Mirror political editor Pippa Crerar and Guardian reporter Matt Weaver. Both Newcastle University graduates, Pippa and Matt teamed up after realising they were both pursuing tips that Cummings had travelled to the north east. The journalists spent seven weeks working on the story and Cummings' actions and refusal to apologise dealt a blow to trust in the government, and it impacted on people's willingness to follow lockdown rules and guidelines, according to recent research. In this episode of the J-Lab podcast, Pippa Crerar discusses the story with Ian Wylie. You can read the Daily Mirror news story here: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/dominic-cummings-investigated-police-after-22072579