Dominic Cummings has truly united Britain. Against him.

Dominic Cummings, a man whose name was long-whispered in political circles and by news junkies with the same fear and reverence as Lord Voldemort, is now the subject of conversation for people who never normally speak about politics following his breaking of the lockdown rules in the UK.

It’s tempting to chalk this up the much-ballyhooed trait of the British obsession with fair play. Whatever the reason, people who perhaps didn’t know their MP’s name until now are e-mailing their representatives in droves to vent their fury at a clear case of a powerful and influential person breaking the rules that he helped draft.

And if the opinion polls are to be believed then the government at large, and the prime minister and Mr. Cummings in particular, are suffering from a backlash unseen since David Cameron’s Omnishambles budget in 2012.

I can’t decide if I should be outraged or amused by this whole thing (so why choose?) but one of the unintended ironies of it is that the man who has made his political career out of exploiting and exacerbating division, only to have it labelled as the reading of a supposed homogenous “people”, has finally united the country in fury. The problem is they aren’t furious at migrants or the EU or Remainers; they are furious at him.

The details of how and when and how many times Cummings violated the lockdown have been amply clear by his long press conference in the rose garden, an act befitting the co-prime minister. But his reluctance to apologise, and the Cabinet’s craven backing of him, have only infuriated the public further, cementing the impression that the rule givers have discretion to interpret them as they see fit, while they rest of us face opprobrium or fines if we deviate even slightly.

Had Cummings come out with an explanation of the motivation of his action with a genuine apology, and had Boris Johnson said his chief adviser was clearly wrong, had been reprimanded and reminded of his duties as a senior figure in government, maybe the anger would have faded. Instead the Trumpian stance of saying he did nothing wrong, and the only people at fault are the vile media types who are telling the truth, he has helped shift the public mood from anger to outrage.

And that will not fade any time soon.