It has emerged that Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief advisor, has been named as the prime suspect by an investigation into the so called ‘chatty rat’ leak row by the security services. Sources have stated that MI5 have examined records of WhatsApp messages sent from the Cabinet room in No10 following a meeting to discuss whether to bring in a new lockdown in the autumn of 2020.
Infamously, those plans were leaked to the press than night, which then forced Mr Johnson into bringing forward an announcement that a four-week lockdown would happen in November. UNN’s Oliver Down understands that six people were present at the meeting. These include Johnson, Cummings, the PM’s former comms chief Lee Cain as well as two officials and one other aide.
MI5’s investigation has established that one person had two sim cards linked to them, in that meeting and they believe that person was Mr Cummings. Mr Cummings has repeatedly denied being the ‘chatty rat’ and on Friday accused Henry Newman, who is a No10 adviser as well as a close friend of Carrie Symonds, of being the most likely culprit.
Mr Cummings has written on his blog: ‘Last year there was a meeting between the PM, Cabinet Secretary, the Director of Communications and me regarding the leak of the decision for a further lockdown on the Friday evening immediately after the meeting in the Cabinet Room that made the decision (known in the media as ‘the chatty rat story. The Cabinet Secretary told the PM that the leak was neither me nor the then Director of Communications (Lee Cain) and that ”all the evidence definitely leads to Henry Newman and others in that office, I’m just trying to get the communications data to prove it”.
Mr Cummings also said: ‘The PM was very upset about this. He said to me afterwards, ”If Newman is confirmed as the leaker, then I will have to fire him, and this will cause me very serious problems with Carrie as they’re best friends … [pause] perhaps we could get the Cabinet Secretary to stop the leak inquiry?” I told him that this was ”mad” and totally unethical, that he had ordered the inquiry himself and authorised the Cabinet Secretary to use more invasive methods than are usually applied to leak inquiries because of the seriousness of the leak. I told him that he could not possibly cancel an inquiry about a leak that affected millions of people, just because it might implicate his girlfriend’s friends.’
This story appears to be one that looks set to rumble on. UNN’s Oliver Down will bring UNN’s readers more developments as we get them.
Current Affairs Correspondent | My name is Oliver Down I am 22, and a staunch brexiteer. I am a Bristolian lad who studied politics in Leicester. I believe in free speech and accurate journalism and I won’t be afraid to give you “the other side” of the story!
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