The Prime Minister is facing a revolt by scores of Tory backbenchers and opposition parties as they are all condemning Dominic Cummings actions.
Boris Johnson has continued to defend Cummings and has said he has not broken the law by driving 260-miles to Durham, whilst millions of people followed the advice of, “stay at home.”
A storm of protests are raging as at least 15 Tory backbenchers have called on Cummings to go over revelations he broke the government’s own lockdown rules.
Tory grandee Lord Heseltine said it was “very difficult to believe there isn’t a substance” over allegations about Cummings’ movements.
Lord Heseltine told the BBC,”I think these unanswered questions are now on the agenda.
“and I don’t think that this anxiety about the government’s position will end until we know the whole story.”
Elliot Colburn, Paul Holmes and Jonathan Gullis who are newly elected MPs, have said they’ve “conveyed the strength of local feeling to relevant colleagues,” after constituents contacted them.
Veteran Conservative Sir Roger Gale told the PA news agency, “I’m very disappointed, I think it was an opportunity to put this to bed and I fear that now the story is simply going to run and run.”
Paul Holmes MP said on Twitter, “Constituents who have contacted me regarding Dominic Cummings can rest assured I’ve conveyed the strength of local feeling to relevant colleagues very robustly in government.
“I’ll respond to all emails when I’m back in the office after the bank holiday.”
Conservative former minister Paul Maynard said, “It is a classic case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’ – and it is not as if he was unfamiliar with guidance he himself helped draw up.
“It seems to me to be utterly indefensible and his position wholly untenable.”
Senior Tory MP Simon Hoare, who has previously called for Cummings to go, later criticised Johnson’s press conference.
He told the Daily Mail, “The PM’s performance posed more questions than it answered.
“Any residual hope that this might die away in the next 24 hours is lost.”
Somerton and Frome MP David Warburton told BBC Breakfast on Monday morning, that his own father had died alone as a result of the coronavirus lockdown.
He said, “People have made sacrifices, this is a difficult time, this is a time of national crisis.
“In those sacrifices there really hasn’t been the choice to use instinct. Instinct hasn’t really been part of it. We’ve been tasked with following regulations laid down by the government.”
Leave a Comment