Tory Revolt Grows As More MPs Call For Dominic Cummings To Go
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More Tories have joined calls for Dominic Cummings to leave the government despite Boris Johnson’s attempts to calm the row.
Some MPs appeared to have been waiting for the prime minister’s appearance before the Commons liaison committee on Wednesday before making their minds up on the controversy surrounding his top adviser.
But Johnson’s appeal for the country to “move on” left them unconvinced.
Ex-ministers George Freeman and Andrew Selous, as well as Pauline Latham and David Simmonds, have added to calls for the top aide to go.
The BBC reported that Henry Smith had also urged Cummings to quit.
It is now believed there are more than 40 Tory MPs united against the PM’s chief adviser.
After 48hrs & c1000 emails from constituents expressing outage at the PM’s Chief of Staff breaking the lockdown & not apologising, it’s clear that public anger at the betrayal of their trust & compliance now risks a collapse of respect for HMG public health advice. DC has to go. pic.twitter.com/QtHtFJIJAm
— George Freeman MP (@GeorgeFreemanMP) May 27, 2020
Johnson has also suffered the resignation of Scotland minister Douglas Ross over Cummings’ apparent breach of the coronavirus lockdown by driving 260 miles from London to Durham to self isolate with his family, and then later taking a further drive to Barnard Castle, where the family walked on his wife’s birthday.
Freeman said it has become clear from constituents’ letters that nothing has matched “the scale and depth of the anger” over this in his 10 years as an MP.
The Mid Norfolk MP said his “credibility and patience was stretched” by Cummings’ account of his trip to Barnard Castle on a bank holiday weekend “when the whole nation was being instructed to stay at home”.
“It’s clear to me that Mr Cummings’ actions have seriously undermined the authority of the government,...
