naomi - // As a parent I'd have done what he did - that's all. //
And as an anonymous unknown unconnected parent, your incorrect actions would have gone unnoticed.
But Mr Cummings is neither unknown or unconnected - and the luxury of behaviour granted to anonymous parents is closed off to him by virtue of the simple fact that, as one of the architects of the rules, it is beholden upon him to uphold them.
You could argue that Mr Cummings has the same rights and responsibilities as everyone else - he does - no-one else should have broken the rules and risked infection in the way that he did.
But as I and others have pointed out - it is not that he broke the rules per se, it is, having been found to have done so, he has acted with colossal arrogance and crass disregard for people who have obeyed the rules, by not only denying his fault, but offering a fatuous and frankly bizarre explanation for a day trip on his wife's birthday.
That treats the public as fools, and the level of arrogance and condescension is what has landed him where he is today - towing his boss and the government behind him.