Dominic Cummings to face questions at Covid inquiry
The former chief adviser to Boris Johnson will give evidence alongside former No 10 comms chief Lee Cain as the inquiry continues.
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Your support makes all the difference.Dominic Cummings, the former chief adviser to Boris Johnson who fell foul of lockdown rules, will face questions at the Covid-19 Inquiry.
A key figure in Downing Street throughout the Governmentās early response to the pandemic, Mr Cummings will give evidence on Tuesday as the investigation continues.
Mr Cummings was Mr Johnsonās top political aide in Downing Street from July 2019, having previously led Vote Leave in the Brexit referendum and worked on the Conservativesā 2019 election campaign.
He was asked to leave government by then-prime minister Mr Johnson in November 2020, months after it emerged he had taken a lockdown-breaking trip to County Durham with his family.
Mr Cummings made the journey by car from London at the end of March 2020, when the Government had instructed people to stay at home, and returned in April after driving to Barnard Castle, County Durham, amid concern that catching Covid had affected his eyesight.
Lee Cain, the former Number 10 director of communications who left government a day before Mr Cummings, will also appear at the inquiry alongside his close ally.
The two men will give evidence a day after Martin Reynolds, the civil servant dubbed āParty Martyā due to his role in the partygate scandal.
Speaking on Monday, Mr Reynolds apologised and said that Government protocols were āinadequateā and āgrossly deficientā in the early days of the pandemic.
He said there was an āunusual dynamicā in No 10 during that period, and he turned on the ādisappearing message functionā on a WhatsApp group titled āPM Updatesā in April 2021 because of concerns about potential leaks.
Mr Johnson meanwhile came in for criticism from the UKās top civil servant, Simon Case, who vented that he ācannot leadā and was making government āimpossibleā in WhatsApp messages given to the inquiry.
Appearing on Tuesdayās morning media round, roads minister Richard Holden said ātittle tattleā is ānot the important issueā.
āIf there (were) conversations between people and they were recorded throughout history as they are on WhatsApp then would it be similarly embarrassing? You know, would (Sir Winston) Churchill and (Neville) Chamberlain have faced a similarā¦ what their colleagues said about them on X or Y day? Iām absolutely positive they would have done. I think thatās tittle tattle. I donāt think thatās the important issue here,ā he told Times Radio.
Extracts from the notebook of Sir Patrick Vallance meanwhile showed the chief scientific adviser considered the ex-PM to be weak and indecisive.
He also believed senior officials in Number 10 had tried to āstrong armā him and Professor Sir Chris Whitty into appearing at a press conference around the time it was disclosed Mr Cummings had gone to Barnard Castle.
Some of those bereaved in the pandemic will be standing outside the inquiry on Tuesday ahead of Mr Cummingsā appearance, holding pictures of loved ones who died.