UK PM refuses to throw senior adviser “to the dogs” who allegedly broke lockdown rules
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has backed his most senior adviser and refused to throw him “to the dogs” after he was accused of breaking COVID-19 lockdown rules multiple times.
Coronavirus
Don't miss out on the headlines from Coronavirus. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- PM ‘didn’t support’ Victoria-China deal after US issues warning
- The industries receiving support after the JobKeeper cut-off
Boris Johnson has refused to throw his most senior adviser “to the dogs” after he was accused of breaking lockdown rules three times.
Dominic Cummings, the architect of the British Prime Minister’s landslide election victory and the Vote Leave campaign in 2016, was facing calls to be sacked.
It comes as a damning report found that the UK was likely to suffer the worst coronavirus death toll in Europe because it introduced lockdown too late.
Mr Johnson has thrown his “full support” behind Mr Cummings, who has been accused of driving 420km to his parents home in Durham when he had symptoms of coronavirus.
The trip was against government “stay at home” rules advising people not to travel.
Durham Constabulary confirmed it had visited a home where Mr Cummings was staying in March after reports he had broken lockdown rules.
Mr Cummings, who proudly topped British GQ’s World’s Worst Dressed Men list, was also accused of being seen by a retired teacher 50km from home two weeks later.
He also allegedly spoke to another person about the bluebells he’d seen during a walk on April 19, after he had returned to London and went back to Durham again.
Mr Cummings has denied those claims, first reported in the Sunday Mirror.
There has been widespread criticism of Mr Cummings over his brash style and iron grip on Whitehall.
Some say he had too much influence over Mr Johnson, who at the weekend defended him saying he was caring for his family by taking his wife and son to Durham for extra family support.
A conga line of UK ministers jumped on Twitter to defend Mr Cummings, including Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Health Secretary Matt Hancock, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and powerbroker Michael Gove.
A YouGov poll published in The Sunday Times found that 68 per cent of voters believed Mr Cummings had broken lockdown rules and 52 per cent said he should resign.
An unrepentant Mr Cummings berated photographers and journalists outside his home at the weekend, telling them to separate because of “social distancing” rules.
“You’re supposed to be more than two metres apart,” he said, as he went to put a child’s bike in his car.
“I behaved reasonably and legally. Who cares about good looks, it’s a question of doing the right thing, it’s not about what you guys think.”
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who is married to a doctor, said she was angry at Mr Cummings because “people have missed funerals of loved ones because of lockdown”.
“One of the architects of the rules keeping those people housebound drove across the UK,” she said.
Piers Morgan, a host of a popular morning TV program in Britain who has 7 million followers on Twitter, said: “So @BorisJohnson knew his chief adviser was breaking lockdown from the start, and still backs him now. The lockdown is therefore over.”
MORE NEWS
Lost your job? Get matched with a new one
Secretive Aussie genius selling your photos to the world
The jobs Australia will need in the future
The furore over Mr Cummings’ travel has overshadowed a report that found tens of thousands of lives could have been saved if lockdown was called earlier in the UK.
The report from Imperial College London and Oxford University showed the government was warned of 250,000 deaths from coronavirus on March 3, when there were 14,000 infections in the UK.
By March 14, there were 200,000 infections, but the government only advised people to avoid travel on March 16.
A full lockdown was only announced on March 23, when there were 1.5 million infections.
The UK has recorded 36,757 deaths, more than Spain, Italy and France, who went into lockdown earlier.
Originally published as UK PM refuses to throw senior adviser “to the dogs” who allegedly broke lockdown rules
State’s big move on cutting-edge vaccines
One Aussie state has revealed its next move on a major vaccine development project – which promises to change the way it responds to future health challenges.
$1.1m plan to overhaul Long Covid, chronic fatigue care
Guidelines to treat the 750,000-plus Australians who have Long Covid and chronic fatigue syndrome are more than two decades old. See the plan to fix them.