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Politics

23rd May 2020

Scandal engulfs UK politics as Boris Johnson’s top adviser breaks lockdown rules

Carl Kinsella

Dominic Cummings

Dominic Cummings is at the centre of attention once again.

Dominic Cummings, one of the chief architects of Brexit and a top adviser to Boris Johnson, may be in legal trouble after breaking containment measures to visit his parents.

According to a report in The Mirror, Cummings drove 260 miles to the home of his elderly parents in Durham, purportedly so they could look after his children while he and his wife were ill. Critics have noted that Cummings was obviously well enough to drive the length of the country, and noting that his sister and aides also live in London.

Both Cummings and his wife were sick with Covid-like symptoms when they made the four-and-a-half hour drive, against the advice of the government.

Many Tory cabinet ministers have sought to defend Cummings’ actions, with Michael Gove arguing that “It’s not a crime to care for one’s wife and children.”

Not everyone is convinced. Mike Barton, the former Chief Constanble of Durham, told the Guardian: “It’s obvious to anyone this breaks the rules. So it should be especially clear to the people who created them.”

Major media figures such as Piers Morgan have also made their anger known. Earlier today he tweeted: “They’re lying to us. Again. Ministers & experts. Literally rewriting the lockdown rules before our eyes just to save the Prime Minister’s chief adviser. How can anyone defend this Govt any more?”

Other critics have noted that many people have had to be separated from their children during cancer treatment, missed funerals, and made all manner of other sacrifices in the name of the lockdown rules that Cummings has flouted.

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