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Tory MPs have begun to round on Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings amid accusations he twice broke the
Coronavirus lockdown rules.
A string of Conservatives called for
Boris Johnson to sack the senior adviser on Sunday after reports Cummings travelled to Durham a second time, while the public were still being told to “stay at home”.
It comes after the Mirror and Guardian reported on Friday that Cummings drove from
London to a family property in the city, after he had contracted coronavirus in March.
Number 10 said the first trip was to guarantee childcare for Cummings’ four-year-old son but Cummings flatly denies he went to Durham a second time, despite witnesses saying they saw him in the town of Barnard Castle on April 19.
Asked by journalists about the issue as he left his north London home on Sunday whether he went to the north twice, Cummings said: “No, I did not.”
Number 10 appears has called the reports “completely untrue” - but Tory MPs have begun to break ranks and publicly call for Cummings’ resignation.
Craig Whittaker, Conservative MP for Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, said Cummings’ position is “untenable”.I totally agree that Dominic Cummings position is untenable. I'm sure he took the decision in the best interests of his family but like every decision we take we also have to take responsibility for those decisions. You cannot advise the nation one thing then do the opposite.— Craig Whittaker MP (@CWhittaker_MP) May 24, 2020Speaking on Nigel Farage’s show on LBC, Peter Bone, MP for Wellingborough and Rushden, said Cummings “has to go” because he broke the rules and has not apologised.
“When an adviser becomes the story, the adviser has to go,” he said. “Boris Johnson can carry on without Dominic Cummings if he goes but it will be hard if he stays.”
Former minister Caroline Nokes, chairwoman of the Commons
Women and equalities committee, said her inbox was “rammed with very angry constituents” and she had contact Tory whips to express her view. I made my views clear to my whip yesterday. There cannot be one rule for most of us and wriggle room for others. My inbox is rammed with very angry constituents and I do not blame them. They have made difficult sacrifices over the course of the last 9 weeks.— Caroline Nokes MP (@carolinenokes) May 24, 2020Tory MP Steve Baker, speaking on the Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, said, it was time for Dominic Cummings to go.
“If he doesn’t resign, we’ll just keep burning through Boris’s political capital at a rate we can ill afford in the midst of this crisis,” he said.
“It is very clear that Dominic travelled when everybody else understood Dominic’s slogans to mean ‘stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives’.
“And I think mums and dads who very much care about their children and who have been forgoing the childcare of their extended family will wonder why he has been allowed to do this.
“I really just don’t see, as we approach the Prime Minister (appearing) at the liaison committee on Wednesday, how this is going to go away unless Dominic goes.”
Roger Gale, the MP for North Thanet, said Cummings had “sent out completely the wrong message” and should go.While as a father and as a grandfather I fully appreciate Mr Cummings’ desire to protect his child. There cannot be one law for the Prime Minister’s staff and another for everyone else. He has sent out completely the wrong message and his position is no longer tenable.— Sir Roger Gale MP (@SirRogerGale) May 24, 2020Damian Collins, the Conservative MP for Folkestone and Hythe, said in a tweet said Cummings had “a track record of believing that the rules don’t apply to him” and that “the government would be better without him”. Dominic Cummings has a track record of believing that the rules don’t apply to him and treating the scrutiny that should come to anyone in a position of authority with contempt. The government would be better without him.— Damian Collins (@DamianCollins) May 24, 2020The
Labour Party, meanwhile, has said that Boris Johnson should lead Sunday’s coronavirus press conference.
Shadow policing minister Sarah Jones told Sky News the public deserve an explanation.
She said: “People are feeling, rightly, angry. People have put their lives on hold, have made huge sacrifices to obey the rules during this period and we have seen the heartbreak of people not being able to attend funerals of loved ones, not being able to see their family members as they go out and I think people are rightly feeling: is it one rule for us and one rule for the people at the top?
“The prime minister I think needs to come to the press conference today and answer questions about what happened and what he’s going to do about it.” Related... J.K. Rowling Perfectly Shuts Down Tory MP's Defence Of Dominic Cummings In Just One Tweet Coronavirus: Tory MP Says Dominic Cummings 'Must Go', And Four Other Stories You Need To Know 'Completely Untrue' Dominic Cummings Made Second Trip To Durham, Says Grant Shapps