Dominic Cummings has received little sympathy online after revealing he was forced to undergo emergency eye surgery.
The political strategist, who served as chief adviser to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was rushed to Moorfields Eye Hospital on Wednesday following a routine eye check-up.
He made the revelation on social media platform X on Wednesday night, explaining why he had taken a pause in tweeting about the ongoing Covid Inquiry proceedings.
"After routine appointment this am was shoved in a cab to an emergency eye operation," he wrote.
"Thanks so much to *brilliant Moorfields staff who looked after me with such kindness today."
Users of X, formerly Twitter, were quick to draw the line between Mr Cummings' eye surgery, and his 'Barnard Castle eye test' scandal of 2020.
Mr Cummings appeared to lean into the situation, responding: "When the bandage is off, I'll need to test it out... Suggestions welcome..."
Was going to blog on Sedwill evidence but after routine appointment this am was shoved in a cab to an emergency eye operation, thanks so much to *brilliant Moorfields staff who looked after me with such kindness today*. And no this is not the result of my excellent drink with… pic.twitter.com/gjiJoBVrgF
— Dominic Cummings (@Dominic2306) November 8, 2023
During the coronavirus lockdown, while serving as Boris Johnson’s former senior aide, Mr Cummings himself in the focus of a media storm after driving his family on a 52-mile round trip from Durham to Barnard Castle.
He later claimed he made the journey to test his eyesight before undertaking the 300-mile drive back to London.
"Finally got an eye test!" one X user responded to his tweet on Wednesday.
"You didn’t think to drive yourself?" another asked, regarding his decision to travel to the hospital by taxi."The punchline writes itself," wrote another user.
"Should have gone to Barnard Castle," wrote Andy Cribb, while Chris Strange quipped: "Congratulations Dominic, you've just made the next edition of Private Eye."
Other users expressed their sympathies and wished him a speedy recovery.
Defending his 'eye testing' drive in 2020, which was made on his wife's birthday, Mr Cummings explained: “We agreed that we should go for a short drive to see if I could drive safely, we drove for roughly half-an-hour and ended up on the outskirts of Barnard Castle town," he said at the time.
“We did not visit the castle, we did not walk around the town.”
As the incident sparked fury among those strictly following Covid guidelines, Mr Cummings faced mounting calls to resign.Defending the tale at the time, he said: “If I was going to make up a story I would have come up with a hell of a lot better one than that one, right? It’s such a weird story.”
