Boris Johnson accused of a ‘cover up’ over Dominic Cummings’ trip to Durham
Number 10 special advisor Dominic Cummings arrives in Downing Street. (Photo by Tolga AKMEN / AFP) - Credit: AFP via Getty Images
Ian Blackford, SNP Westminster leader, says the prime minister has 'serious questions' to answer regarding what he knew about Dominic Cummings' lockdown trip to Country Durham.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the MP said: 'I think what should have happened by now is that Dominic Cummings should have gone.
'What I find interesting...is that (according to some reports) members of Downing Street knew about this so, first and foremost, Boris Johnson has serious questions to answer over what now appears to be a cover-up.
The prime minister must explain exactly when he knew about the breaking of the rules, whether he sanctioned it, why Cummings wasn't sacked immediately and why it appears that he tried to cover it up, not telling the public until the newspaper(s) broke the story eight weeks later last night.'
He branded the alleged actions the 'height of irresponsibility for someone to think this is a reasonable course of action', and added: 'Here we have the highest official in government, the closest confidant of the prime minister prepared to break the rules that the rest of us are being asked to obey.
You may also want to watch:
'You cannot have a situation where there appears to be one rule for the powerful and the millions of the rest of the public are being told we must follow government advice. Demonstrably, this is an individual who has broken the advice he has been, in many cases, the architect of delivering.'
Blackford said Cummings' alleged actions were 'more serious breaches' than rule breaking carried out by UK government adviser Professor Neil Ferguson and former Scotland chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood, both of whom resigned for their breaches.
Blackford was one of a number of politicians yesterday evening to call for Cummings to resign or be fired.
Most Read
- 1 A lesson from the last of Mainwaring's men
- 2 Scathing report accuses Boris Johnson of 'only caring for England'
- 3 Nick Clegg says EU 'let itself and millions of Europeans' down over Covid vaccine programme
- 4 The stench of scandal seeping out from Britain
- 5 European Council president faces call to resign over 'Sofagate' incident
- 6 How the vaccines have shifted opinions over Brexit
- 7 No 10 rewrote race disparity report, expert claims
- 8 Exports to EU increase in February after record fall
- 9 Sturgeon attacks Westminster decision to refer Holyrood Bills to Supreme Court
- 10 Former chief scientist accuses Boris Johnson of privatising NHS 'by stealth'
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.
