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Monday 25 May 2020 10:18
Follow the latest updates as the Dominic Cummings scandal unfolds
Boris Johnson is facing a possible revolt from his own party over his defence of Dominic Cummings as “f***ing livid” Tories call for an inquiry into the chief political aide’s movements during lockdown.
The prime minister has been widely accused of undermining his authority and the government’s own coronavirus rules with his defence of the advisor during Sunday’s daily briefing, when he said: “I think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent, and I do not mark him down for that.”
As one ICU doctor said the scandal “spits in the face of NHS staff”, Sir Keir Starmer labelled it “an insult to the sacrifices made by British people”, while the Daily Mail asked “what planet are they on” and Daily Telegraph ran a highly critical editorial. It followed a Trumpian attack from No 10 on the veracity of the initial reports.
Good Morning Britain: “If you look at the research it shows the reason why people observed lockdown was not for themselves, it wasn’t because they were personally at risk, they did it for the community, they did it because of a sense of ‘we’re all in this together’.
“If you give the impression there’s one rule for them and one rule for us, you fatally undermine that sense of ‘we’re all in this together’ and you undermine adherence to the forms of behaviour which have got us through this crisis.”
He added: “The real issue here is that because of these actions, because of undermining trust in the government, because of undermining adherence to the rules that we all need to follow, people are going to die. More people are going to die.”
David Warburton said his own father died alone as a result of the coronavirus lockdown, and that the Dominic Cummings scandal gives an impression of “double standards”.
“People have made sacrifices, this is a difficult time, this is a time of national crisis.
“Instinct hasn’t really been part of it. We’ve been tasked with following regulations laid down by the government.”
He added: “Ideally, if he broke the rules then he obviously should be subject to the same kind of consequences as anybody else who broke the rules.
“To me, enough is really enough, I think he’s damaging the government and the country that he’s supposed to be serving.”
After Boris Johnson defended Dominic Cummings at the daily briefing the official Civil Service Twitter account seemed to join the chorus calling for stronger action.
While it was deleted shortly after, it has been immortalised by BBC newsreader Clive Myrie.
Moya Lothian-McLean has more on the story here for the
indy100:
“Policing the lockdown has probably been one of the toughest assignments ever given to the British police and they have risen to the challenge,” Mr Barton told BBC Breakfast.
“But what the prime minister did yesterday has now made it exponentially tougher for all those people on the front line, those PCSOs and cops on the front line, enforcing the lockdown.
“We are in the middle of a national emergency and people who make the rules cannot break the rules, otherwise we are going to have chaos.”
Kate Devlin has the following report:
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Scotland’s first minister said: “I fear, and I say this with a heavy heart, Boris Johnson is putting his political interest ahead of the public interest.
“And when trust in a public health message and public health advice is as important as it is right now the consequences of that could be serious. I hope that the prime minister will reflect further today and perhaps come to a different conclusion than the one he made yesterday.”
A poll run by Good Morning Britain, which has received nearly 40,000 votes, suggests 79.5 per cent of the public think the PM should have sacked Dominic Cummings.
Good Morning Britain that she feels Boris Johnson has “insulted every one of” the heartbreaking sacrifices made by the public throughout the pandemic.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think it makes it much harder for the police going forward – this will be quoted back at them time and time again when they try to enforce the new rules.
“But I think more importantly it makes something of a mockery of the police action going back when the message was very, very clear: stay at home.
“The police had to deliver a very harsh, very difficult message and now it appears people could act differently, so I think it does undermine the policing going back and their confidence and going forward it will be more difficult but they will cope, they always do.”
Adam Forrest has the full report below:
And here’s the full report from Tom Embury-Dennis.
He told BBC Breakfast: “(The PM) has been absolutely categorically assured that both Dominic Cummings and his family both followed the guidance and also followed the rules…
“The guidance is incredibly extensive and at the heart of that guidance is always the issue of safeguarding children and making sure that children are always absolutely protected.
“My understanding is from what the prime minister said yesterday… is that at every stage Dominic Cummings followed and his family followed the guidance and at no stage did Dominic Cummings or his family break the law.”
Mr Williamson said Mr Cummings should not resign “because he has made it clear that he’s broken no rules and he’s broken no laws”, sidestepping a question on whether Mr Cummings would have done the wrong thing if he had been a member of the public.
It comes after transport minister Grant Shapps made headlines with his repeated use of the phrase “as I understand it” as he was sent out to bat for Mr Cummings on Sunday morning television.
While the aide faced heavy questioning from the press as he left his home – which was also subject to a widely criticised broadcast of the government’s health advice – he was met by angry neighbours upon his return.
Here’s our political sketch writer Tom Peck‘s take on last night’s press briefing.
“As long as you’re following instincts you can officially now do no wrong,” he writes. “”Well, not now. You could never do any wrong. In fact, if you chose not to follow your instincts at any point in the last 10 miserable weeks, well, you’ve only got yourself to blame.
Prof Stephen Reicher said the prime minister’s four-square backing of his top aide proved the government “doesn’t want to listen to advice”, in a series of angry tweets following Sunday night’s Downing Street briefing.
Prof Reicher is on the Independent Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B) that feeds analysis and advice to the scientists on the government’s emergency panel.
Robert West, professor of health psychology at University College London, said: “I am sorry to have to say that as another member of SPI-B I have to agree.”
The tweet was shared by around 25,000 users and liked by almost 40,000 before being deleted nine minutes later, but not before plenty of users had managed to screenshot the image.
Shortly after a government spokesman confirmed that the message had not been permitted, and that an investigation had been launched, Rowling – fearing the responsible person would be fired – tweeted: “When you find out who it was, let us know. I want to give them a year’s salary.”
The retired chemistry teacher who allegedly spotted Cummings at Barnard Castle is reported to have filed a complaint with the police.
It comes after Sky News reported that they had confirmed the license plate searched by Mr Lees after the sighting matched a car Mr Cummings has previously used.
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