LONDON (AP) — A junior British government minister quit on Tuesday over Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s failure to fire his top aide for allegedly breaching coronavirus lockdown rules.
Johnson has stood by Dominic Cummings over his decision to drive 250 miles (400 kilometers) to his parents’ house at the end of March, despite a national order for people to remain at home. Cummings says he traveled so that extended family could care for his 4-year-old son if he and his wife, who both had suspected coronavirus infections, fell ill.
But many Britons say Cummings made a mockery of the sacrifices of people who followed the rules to stop the spread of the disease, even when it meant staying away from loved ones.
Scotland Minister Douglas Ross said in a resignation letter that “the vast majority of people” didn’t agree with Cummings.
“I have constituents who didn’t get to say goodbye to loved ones; families who could not mourn together; people who didn’t visit sick relatives because they followed the guidance of the government,” he wrote. “I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior adviser to the government was right.”
Senior police officers said Cummings’ interpretation of the rules made it harder to enforce the lockdown, and scientists said it could undermine messaging about the importance of social distancing.
“It threatens to undermine that sense of community if a figure as prominent as Dominic Cummings and if the prime minister himself starts undermining that ‘we’ message and starts talking about ‘I,’” said Stephen Reicher, a behavioral psychologist who helps advise the government.
Johnson has stood staunchly by his adviser, saying Cummings “followed the instincts of every father and every parent.”
On Tuesday, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove insisted that Cummings “didn’t break the law. He didn’t break the rules. He sought to protect his family.”
But Cummings’ road trip has drawn criticism from scientists, doctors, bishops and Britons across the country. Ominously for Johnson, it also troubles a growing number of Conservative lawmakers.
“We cannot throw away valuable public & political good will any longer,” tweeted Conservative lawmaker William Wragg. “It’s humiliating & degrading to their office to see ministers put out agreed lines in defence of an advisor. This is a time of national emergency and our focus must be unrelenting. We owe it to the nation.”
___
Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
I’m really sad I never got to day goodbye to BoJo, even from thousands of miles away. I would have shed the appropriate number of tears.
The logic blows my mind…
I may have coronavirus. Let me take a road trip so I can make sure I expose my extended family. They can take care of my potentially infected son if I get really sick.
Cummings was the the person behind telling everyone to “Get Brexit Done” and not to act like serfs to all those elites who think they know better than you. Oops. Turns out he is the biggest elitist there is.
The Trump and Boris Johnson administrations mantra, “Do as I say, not as I do.”
Leona Helmsley’s motto needs updating for the Trump and Johnson administrations and COVID-19: “Laws are for the little people.”