When Dominic Cummings the former advisor to the Prime Minister of the UK shortly after the imposition of the first Coronavirus lockdown took an emergency family related trip from London to Barnard Castle in County Durham, he faced a barrage of press criticism and an ultimately fruitless police enquiry into his actions. Although Mr Cummings has since, in 2021, clarified his actions as being partly related to a security threat against his family, the Barnard Castle Scandal as it became known had numerous political implications, including a drop in polling support for the ruling Conservative Party.

The incident was painted in the press, rightly or wrongly, as it being a case of one rule for Mr Cummings and quite another rule for the rest of the British public. Now to be clear although I’m somewhat of an admirer of some of Mr Cummings’s ideas about how and where Britain’s governments and its Civil Service has failed, not just over Covid but in other fields as well, I can’t deny that the Barnard Castle Scandal damaged Mr Cummings’s reputation and the reputation of the Government at the time.

If the Barnard Castle Scandal damaged the reputations of Mr Cummings and Boris Johnson’s government at a time when the government was locking down the entirety of the United Kingdom then surely Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford’s actions should face the same opprobrium along with his struggling and incompetent administration? A video has emerged of Drakeford partying without a mask at what looks like some political event that was obviously filmed relatively recently as some of those in the crowd surrounding Drakeford are obviously wearing masks. Someone has cut together this video showing Drakeford clearly ignoring the rules that he imposes on the rest of the residents of Wales with Drakeford making a solemn voiced announcement about how coronavirus restrictions will need to be made more onerous in order to curtail the spread of the virus.

If you watch the short video below you may be able to draw some parallels between Drakeford clearly ignoring the rules that he imposes on the rest of the Welsh nation and the Barnard Castle Scandal. To me this is Mark Drakeford’s Barnard Castle Moment and should be remembered when the next elections to the Welsh Assembly come around. Whilst admitting that controls have been necessary in order to curtail the spread of Coronavirus, Drakeford has behaved like a petty tyrant during the whole pandemic and I imagine that the sight of Drakeford partying whilst locking down the Welsh even further than they have been already, will anger many people.

With Mark Drakeford and the Welsh Labour Party it really is does seem to be a case where there are of one set of rules for the people and almost no rules for the rulers.

PS electronic Welsh language translation below

Pan aeth Dominic Cummings, cyn gynghorydd i Brif Weinidog y DU yn fuan ar ôl gosod y cloi Coronavirus cyntaf ar daith deuluol frys o Lundain i Gastell Barnard yn Sir Durham, wynebodd forglawdd beirniadaeth y wasg ac ymchwiliad heddlu di-ffrwyth yn y pen draw. i mewn i’w weithredoedd. Er bod Mr Cummings ers hynny, yn 2021, wedi egluro ei weithredoedd fel rhai a oedd yn rhannol gysylltiedig â bygythiad diogelwch yn erbyn ei deulu, roedd gan Sgandal Barnard Castle fel y daeth yn hysbys lawer o oblygiadau gwleidyddol, gan gynnwys gostyngiad yn y gefnogaeth bleidleisio i’r Ceidwadwyr sy’n rheoli. Cafodd y digwyddiad ei beintio yn y wasg, yn gywir neu’n anghywir, gan ei fod yn achos o un rheol i Mr Cummings a rheol eithaf arall i weddill y cyhoedd ym Mhrydain. Nawr i fod yn glir er fy mod i braidd yn edmygydd o rai o syniadau Mr Cummings ynglŷn â sut a ble mae llywodraethau Prydain a’i Wasanaeth Sifil wedi methu, nid yn unig dros Covid ond mewn meysydd eraill hefyd, ni allaf wadu bod y Barnard Gwnaeth Sgandal y Castell niweidio enw da Mr Cummings ac enw da’r Llywodraeth ar y pryd. Pe bai Sgandal Castell Barnard yn niweidio enw da Mr Cummings a llywodraeth Boris Johnson ar adeg pan oedd y llywodraeth yn cloi i lawr y Deyrnas Unedig gyfan yna siawns na ddylai gweithredoedd Prif Weinidog Cymru, Mark Drakeford, wynebu’r un opprobriwm ynghyd â’i weinyddiaeth anodd ac anghymwys ? Mae fideo wedi dod i’r amlwg o Drakeford yn partio heb fwgwd ar yr hyn sy’n edrych fel rhyw ddigwyddiad gwleidyddol a gafodd ei ffilmio’n gymharol ddiweddar gan fod rhai o’r rhai yn y dorf o amgylch Drakeford yn amlwg yn gwisgo masgiau. Mae rhywun wedi torri’r fideo hwn at ei gilydd gan ddangos Drakeford yn amlwg yn anwybyddu’r rheolau y mae’n eu gosod ar weddill trigolion Cymru gyda Drakeford yn gwneud cyhoeddiad difrifol a leisiwyd ynglŷn â sut y bydd angen gwneud cyfyngiadau coronafirws yn fwy beichus er mwyn cwtogi ar ledaeniad y firws . Os gwyliwch y fideo fer isod efallai y gallwch dynnu rhai tebygrwydd rhwng Drakeford gan anwybyddu’r rheolau y mae’n eu gosod ar weddill cenedl Cymru a Sgandal Barnard Castle. I mi, dyma Mark Drakeford’s Barnard Castle Moment a dylid ei gofio pan ddaw’r etholiadau nesaf i Gynulliad Cymru o gwmpas. Wrth gyfaddef bod angen rheolaethau er mwyn cwtogi ar ledaeniad Coronavirus, mae Drakeford wedi ymddwyn fel mân ormeswr yn ystod y pandemig cyfan a dychmygaf y bydd gweld Drakeford yn partio wrth gloi’r Cymry hyd yn oed ymhellach nag y buont eisoes. dicter llawer o bobl. Gyda Mark Drakeford a Phlaid Lafur Cymru mae’n achos o un set o reolau i’r bobl a bron ddim rheolau i’r llywodraethwyr.