Johnson Aide Dominic Cummings Refuses to Resign Over Claims of Lockdown Breach
Dominic Cummings said it was up to Johnson to decide if he should stay on.
(Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing another day of pressure to discipline his most senior adviser, who has refused to apologize amid allegations that he broke the government’s virus lockdown rules.
Dominic Cummings said he had not considered resigning and it was up to Johnson to decide if he should lose his job amid a public outcry over his actions during the peak of the coronavirus outbreak.
Opposition politicians are due to hold talks on Tuesday on the next steps they will take to hold Johnson accountable for the actions of his aide, as members of the ruling Conservative party weigh up whether Cummings has done enough to soothe voters’ anger.
“There’ll be many people who will think that his actions were wrong or mistaken, but looking at it in the round, I think his actions were reasonable,” said Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, defending his colleague on BBC TV Tuesday. “People will make their own mind up as they listened to Dominic’s account.”
A spokesperson for the Labour Party said the public wanted “at least an apology” from the aide but hadn’t got one. “It’s one rule for Boris Johnson’s closest adviser, another for everybody else,” the spokesperson said.
The main charge against Cummings is that he ignored the government’s own rules when he drove more than 250 miles to his parents’ property in northeast England to get childcare support for his four-year-old son.
“I don’t regret what I did,” Cummings, 48, declared during an hour-long press conference to defend himself in the garden of Johnson’s residence on Monday. “I believe I made the right judgment though I understand that others may disagree with that.”
At the time Johnson’s government was telling the public to “stay at home,” while anyone with virus symptoms -- which Cummings then developed -- should self-isolate. Opposition politicians and even Conservative ministers had voiced dismay in public and private over the adviser’s actions, with some senior government officials saying he must be fired.
Johnson was determined to save his most influential strategist and gave a staunch defense of Cummings on Sunday night. The prime minister’s efforts failed to put an end to the controversy and on Monday Cummings went public with his own account of his decisions in late March and April, just as the virus outbreak was reaching its peak in the U.K.
Flowers and Shrubs
Sitting in the No. 10 garden earlier in the day with his sleeves rolled up, the softly spoken aide held an hour-long press conference against a backdrop of flowers and shrubs. Cummings’ central justification for his decision to leave the capital was that he was worried about how his son would be cared for if both he and his wife fell ill with Covid-19 at the same time.
His relations in Durham would be best placed to help if the couple were immobilized together, he said. During the press conference, Cummings said:
- He believed it was likely he had Covid-19 when he decided to drive to Durham on March 27 to stay at a private cottage on his parents’ estate, where he fell ill
- He did not take medical advice before driving to Durham, or tell Johnson of his plan to leave London, though he did inform the premier of his trip a few days afterward
- He left the Durham property by car to collect his wife and son, who was unwell, from hospital
- His illness had left him with “weird” eyesight and it was unclear if he was fit to drive back to work in London
- In agreement with his wife, he decided to take a “test drive” to Barnard Castle, half an hour away, on April 12 to assess his vision and fitness for the longer trip back to the capital
- Cummings declined to apologize and said he had not offered to resign or even considered quitting
- He understood public anger but insisted it was largely based on false media reports of a second trip to Durham
- He accepted he had made mistakes in handling the coronavirus outbreak since January.
Durham police said Monday they are formally investigating whether Cummings had broken lockdown rules after a retired teacher reported seeing him at Barnard Castle, a beauty spot.
Not Resigning
“I’ve not offered to resign,” Cummings said. “I have not considered it.”
On Sunday, Johnson said he accepted Cummings’ explanation for the trip. But the prime minister’s refusal to fire his controversial aide angered many of Johnson’s own party. At least 20 Tory MPs called on Cummings to resign or be sacked, while two ministers told Bloomberg News the premier had made a mistake in not firing his adviser.
The prime minister faced more questions at his daily briefing less than an hour after his adviser had finished. He said he understands the talk of a potential resignation and made a particularly resonant appeal for people to continue following the lockdown rules as the economy starts to open up again.
Johnson continued to back Cummings but said he regretted the pain that the episode had caused, and cautioned that nobody in his team had a cast iron job guarantee. “People will have to make up their own minds,” the premier said.
“It’s absolutely vital that people continue to observe the public health message,” Johnson said.
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