Downing Street has been forced to defend Boris Johnson’s conduct after former top adviser Dominic Cummings questioned the PM’s “competence and integrity”.
Dominic Cummings made a series of explosive allegations about the PM’s behaviour in a blog post.
The former aide denied leaking text messages relating to the Dyson affair, and alleged the PM had tried to quash an inquiry into Covid leaks from No 10.
No 10 said ministers had always obeyed codes of conduct and electoral law.
Cummings was forced out of his Downing Street role at the end of last year, following an internal power struggle which was said to be at the behest of Carrie Symonds.
One government minister described Cummings as “disgruntled and discredited”.
On Friday, in his first blog post since leaving his role, Cummings denied leaking text messages sent between Johnson and businessman James Dyson.
The text exchange was in March last year, after the government asked companies to help build thousands of ventilators needed for the pandemic response.
In it, the prime minister agreed to “fix” concerns the businessman had about tax bills for his Singapore-based staff if they moved to the UK to do this.
Asked whether he blamed his former adviser for the leak, Johnson said: “I don’t think people give a monkey’s, to be frank, about who is briefing what to who.”
Cummings also denied leaking details of the second Covid lockdown in England.
He then alleged Johnson had considered trying to block an inquiry into the leak in case it involved a friend of his fiancee Carrie Symonds – a claim rejected by Number 10.
And he claimed the prime minister once had a “possibly illegal” plan for donors to pay for renovations of the Downing Street flat.
Many have claimed that this is both a political and class divide with Cummings and hist team representing everyday pro-Brexit Tory voters whilst Symonds represents the Metropolitan elite.
Unity News Network (UNN) Staff Writer | To find out more details about our staff, please head to the About Us section on our website.
