Coronavirus: UK PM's top aide Dominic Cummings defies calls to resign
By AFP and Reuters
Published: Mon 25 May 2020, 10:44 PM
Last updated: Tue 26 May 2020, 4:15 AM
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's top aide Dominic Cummings defied calls to resign on Monday over allegations that he broke coronavirus rules and undermined the government's response to the health crisis.
Cummings told reporters that he acted "reasonably and legally" when he drove across the country with his wife while she was suffering from the virus, despite official advice to stay at home.
"I have not offered to resign. No, I did not consider it," a visibly nervous Cummings said in his first press conference on the job.
"In this very complex situation, I tried to exercise my judgement the best I could. I believe that in all circumstances I behaved reasonably and legally."
Cummings did not apologise for his behaviour but did express regret for not asking Johnson -- himself already hospitalised for Covid-19 -- for permission to travel during the most restrictive phase of the lockdown.
"Arguably, this was a mistake and I understand that some will say that I should have spoken to the PM before deciding what to do," Cummings said.
The stakes are high for Cummings, Johnson and the nation. The furore has overshadowed and muddled the government's public health messaging as the country gradually starts to ease the lockdown.
With a death toll of around 43,000, Britain is the worst-hit country in Europe and the government had already been under pressure over its handling of the pandemic.
EYE TEST?In an extraordinary scene in the rose garden at 10 Downing Street, the official prime ministerial residence and office, Cummings, 48, sat at a desk on the grass for an hour, subjecting himself to detailed questions.
The choice of venue underscored Cummings' power at the heart of government and his importance to Johnson, whom he helped to secure Britain's exit from the European Union in a 2016 referendum, and later helped to win power.
He said he undertook the trip soon after learning that Johnson had tested positive for the new coronavirus. Cummings' wife was already ill and he feared if he too fell ill neither parent would be strong enough to care for their son.
He said he decided they should go and stay in an isolated cottage on his father's farm so that his 17-year-old niece could look after his son if necessary. Cummings did fall ill while they were there, as did his son who briefly went to hospital.
Asked whether he tried to find a childcare option in London before leaving, he said he did not think it would have been reasonable to ask friends to expose themselves to the virus.
Cummings answered questions about whether he had stopped for petrol or for his son to go to the toilet during the long drive.
Whether or not Cummings' sometimes convoluted explanations win over critics may take time to become clear.
Quizzed about a drive he took with his wife and son from the family farm to a local beauty spot, Barnard Castle, he said his eyesight had been affected by his illness and they wanted to check he would be able to undertake the journey back to London.
- Flouting rules -
The scandal raging around his decision to drive to leave his baby son at his parents' house while he and his wife were sick threatens to undermine Johnson in the heat of a health emergency that has claimed nearly 37,000 lives.
It is also arguably the biggest political scandal of Johnson's one-year rule.
Cummings was already a lightning rod for many Britons over his role in orchestrating the 2016 Brexit campaign that eventually saw Britain pull out of the European Union after nearly 50 years on January 31.
But he is also a trusted adviser who first helped Johnson become prime minister and then choreographed Britain's delayed exit from the European bloc.
Politicians of all stripes have been joined by scientific advisers and even some members of the clergy in condemning Cummings for flouting the rules.
"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'," scientific adviser Stephen Reicher told
ITV.
- 'Not a great sign' -
Johnson told the nation on Sunday that Cummings was following his paternal instincts by dropping off his baby son at his grandparents' house while he and his wife were sick.
But the ConservativeHome website published a rolling list of members of Johnson's Conservative party who have publicly called for Cummings to be dismissed.
It had 20 names on Monday -- still too few to challenge Johnson's 80-seat majority in parliament but growing by the day.
The
Politico website noted that the list's publication "in itself is not a great sign for the prime minister".
Even newspapers that traditionally back Tory governments sounded a hostile note.
The
Daily Mail website said the UK lockdown "was dead in the water" because Cummings was flouting its rules.
- 'Moral question' -
Cummings is an enigmatic figure with an unconventional dress style and direct approach that has endeared him to a segment of Britons who have developed a particular distaste for the ruling elite.
His role in masterminding the Brexit campaign was made into a TV film that further fed the legend of his political prowess.
But the sight of Cummings being heckled by his neighbours outside his home on Sunday and fighting through a crowd of reporters on his way to his car on Monday morning -- "out of the way," he shouted several times -- could drain Johnson's credibility at a pivotal point.
Britain is just starting to emerge from its coronavirus lockdown and the government wants everyone to keep observing social distancing rules in the coming months.
Leeds bishop Nick Baines accused Johnson of treating Britons "as mugs".
"The moral question is not for Cummings -- it is for the PM and ministers/MPs who find this behaviour acceptable," the bishop tweeted.
Johnson was due to meet reporters on Monday after chairing a virtual cabinet meeting focused on a gradual lockdown easing
Politico said the "judgement inside Downing Street is that all of the above is just noise".