Sajid Javid's payback time: Former Chancellor who resigned after he was ordered to sack all his own special advisers joins Tory critics of Dominic Cummings despite Boris Johnson's 'let's move on' plea
- Former chancellor Sajid Javid has criticised Dominic Cummings' Durham trip
- Mr Javid, writing to constituents, branded the trip neither 'necessary or justified'
- Boris Johnson is desperately trying to move on from the Dominic Cummings row
- The PM has been hammered by MPs from across parties in committee hearing
- Dozens of Tory MPs have demanded the adviser is sacked for lockdown breach
Former Chancellor Sajid Javid has joined the Tory outcry over Dominic Cummings after Boris Johnson ruled out an inquiry into the scandal and pleaded with the country to 'move on'.
In a letter to constituents, Mr Javid said that he did not believe Mr Cummings' 260-mile trip from London to Durham was 'necessary or justified'.
Though stopping short on calling for the aide's resignation, Mr Javid did call on him to apologise for the controversial journey.
It comes after the Prime Minister flatly dismissed calls for an official inquiry into Mr Cummings as he was grilled by senior MPs, saying the outcry was just a 'political ding dong'
The PM said he 'totally understood public indignation' about the situation, but insisted some of the allegations about his chief aide were 'not correct' and urged people to 'move on'.
However, members of his own party have led anger at the row, with Mr Javid joined by paymaster general Penny Mordaunt, who said that there are 'inconsistencies' in Mr Cummings' account of his trip.
Mr Javid quit as chancellor earlier this year following an escalation in tensions with Mr Cummings, who had fired one of his aides without telling him.
After resigning, Mr Javid said Mr Johnson had told him that to stay in government he must accept the replacement of all his five-strong team with advisers hand-picked by Downing Street.
At that point he said he had no choice but to resign: 'I don't believe any self-respecting minister would accept those conditions.'
Former Chancellor Sajid Javid has called on Dominic Cummings to apologise for breaching lockdown regulations
Now, the former Chancellor has resurfaced to hit-out at Mr Cummings amid the row over his alleged lockdown breach.
Mr Javid wrote in his letter: 'Mr Cummings has argued he acted within the letter of the law.
'As a father myself, I also appreciate the fear and uncertainty one can feel when the safety of your child is potentially at stake.
'That being said I do not believe Mr Cummings' journey to County Durham to isolate on his family's estate was necessary or justified. I remain unconvinced his visit to Barnard Castle could be considered reasonable.
'I was also deeply concerned by his decision to return to Downing Street directly after coming into contact with a family member who was ill, potentially with coronavirus.'
More than 40 Conservative MPs have called on Mr Cummings to quit his role amid the lockdown breach controversy.
However, the Prime Minister has so far resisted all requests to punish his aide.
Pushed on whether the Cabinet Secretary should carry out a formal investigation, Mr Johnson said there had been plenty of 'autobiography' from Mr Cummings and it would not be a 'good use of official time' as everyone was working 'flat out' on the coronavirus response.
In one particularly bruising exchange at the Liaison Committee this afternoon, Labour's home affairs committee chair Yvette Cooper jibed: 'Forty-thousand people are dead. We need you to get this right now.'
The clashes came with the row over Mr Cummings' 260-mile trip to Durham during lockdown still threatening to tear the Tories to pieces.
The party's poll lead has been slashed by nine points in a week - thought to be the biggest drop in a decade. And despite the desperate plea for the focus to shift on to other subjects, nearly two-third say the story remains important.
Conservative MP Danny Kruger complained that 'one wing' of the party was 'going bonkers' and comparing the alleged lockdown breach to 'the invasion of Suez'.
A private conference call with government whips and the new intake of Conservative MPs today appears to have smoothed over matters somewhat, with no more outright calls for the adviser to quit.
But tonight even one of the whips came out with criticism of Mr Cummings.
Mike Freer, MP for Finchley and Golders Green in North London, told the Evening Standard it was 'entirely reasonable for people to vehemently disagree with his (Mr Cummings) view of events'.
He added: 'I do not believe it is the conclusion many of my constituents, or myself, would have reached.'
Three more Tories, George Freeman, Giles Watling and Pauline Latham, have called on Dominic Cummings to resign.
Former transport minister Mr Freeman tweeted: 'After 48hrs & c1000 emails from constituents expressing outage at the PM's Chief of Staff breaking the lockdown & not apologising, it's clear that public anger at the betrayal of their trust & compliance now risks a collapse of respect for HMG public health advice. DC has to go.'
Liaison Committee chair Bernard Jenkin (left) oversaw the fiery exchanges with the PM, including Yvette Cooper (right) demanding to know what the advice to parents was about travelling for childcare
Liaison Committee chair Bernard Jenkin (left) oversaw the fiery exchanges with the PM, including Yvette Cooper (right) demanding to know what the advice to parents was about travelling for childcare
Amid fierce questioning from MPs at the committee hearing this afternoon, Mr Johnson was asked whether the government's 'moral authority' had been compromised.
'This has really been going on for several days now - in the media at least,' he said.
'I, of course, am deeply sorry for all the hurt and pain and anxiety that people have been going through throughout this period - this country has been going through a frankly most difficult time.
'We are asking people to do quite exceptionally tough things, separating them from their families.'
Mr Johnson said he would not be adding to his previous comments on Mr Cummings and said the public wanted politicians to focus on 'uniting our message' and 'focusing on their needs'.
Northern Ireland committee chair Simon Hoare - one of around 40 Tory MPs baying for Mr Cummings' resignation - warned the PM the nation will be 'far less energetic' about obeying future restrictions as 'a direct result of the activities of your senior adviser'.
Mr Hoare asked what MPs should tell constituents who ask 'if other people don't abide by it why on earth should we' because 'we know what your views are, frankly Prime Minister, I don't think anybody understands why you hold those views'.
Mr Johnson replied: 'I don't think that's true about how the British people will respond to the next phases, to how to work the test and trace system, I don't think that's how they responded at all throughout the crisis.
'If, just suppose for a second that you were right, which I don't accept, all the more reason now for us to be consistent and clear in our message driving those key messages.'
Mr Johnson said he had seen evidence to prove that some of the allegations made against Mr Cummings were false.
But asked by Labour MP Meg Hillier whether the Cabinet Secretary should also see that evidence, the PM said: 'I think actually that it would not be doing my job if I were now to shuffle this problem into the hands of officials who, believe me, Meg, are - as I think the public would want - working flat out to deal with coronavirus...
'I totally understand public indignation, I totally understand that, but I do think that as I understand things, and I've said what I've said about the whole business, I think it would be much better if we could now move on and focus on the next steps.'
Under fire from Home Affairs Committee chair Yvette Cooper, Mr Johnson said people could travel to get childcare during lockdown if there were 'exceptional' circumstances.
But Mrs Cooper demanded on the advice: 'What is it? Because it is not clear to me.'
Mr Johnson shot back: 'The clear advice is to stay at home unless you absolutely have to go to work to do your job.
Boris Johnson reveals coronavirus tracing scheme will launch later today
The UK's coronavirus contact tracing programme will launch later day without its centrepiece NHS app as experts warned it will not be a 'silver bullet' which kills off the disease.
The NHS Test and Trace system for England will see anyone who develops symptoms urged to self-isolate for seven days and told to order a test online or by phone.
Anyone who then tests positive will be asked to provide phone numbers and email addresses to the NHS for people they have recently come into close contact with.
Those contacts will then be tracked down and told to self-isolate for 14 days - even if they do not have symptoms.
Boris Johnson announced the launch of the scheme during an appearance in front of the Liaison Committee on Wednesday afternoon as he admitted the UK's testing capability was underpowered at the start of the outbreak.
He said the 'brutal reality' was that the UK did not 'learn the lessons' of previous pandemics and therefore testing was not where it needed to be early on in the current crisis.
He said self-isolation resulting from the test and trace programme would be an imposition for a 'tiny minority' but that the benefits would be worth it.
The PM said: 'I would just say to everybody that it's worth it because that is the tool that other countries have used to unlock the prison.
'That captivity for a tiny minority for a short time will allow us gradually to release 66 million people from the current situation.'
The Government is pinning its hopes of ending the nationwide lockdown on the success of the scheme.
But it will go live tomorrow, earlier than the June 1 launch date which had been anticipated, without the NHSX coronavirus app which digitally records close contacts and will massively speed up the contact tracing process.
If you have exceptional problems with childcare then that may cause you to vary your arrangements.'
Mr Johnson went on to describe the row over Mr Cummings as a 'political ding dong', and said: 'A lot of the allegations that were made about that adviser were simply not correct.'
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick was clearly frustrated this morning as he was forced to defend the adviser during a tetchy interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Mr Jenrick said people were entitled to 'do as Dominic Cummings chose to do' if they could not find childcare.
'If there are no other options, if you don't have ready access to childcare, you can do as Dominic Cummings chose to do,' he said.
'The guidelines say you must do your best, but they appreciate that family life poses particular challenges and in order to protect you children you are allowed to exercise degree of personal judgement.'
Mr Jenrick also confirmed that a review into whether fines could be cancelled for thousands of people who travelled distances during lockdown - floated by Health Secretary Matt Hancock last night - was not happening.
Dozens of Mr Johnson's own MPs have now joined opposition politicians to demand that Mr Cummings is sacked, but the premier has flatly dismissed the calls.
And Mr Kruger upped the ante by telling Newsnight that 'one wing of our party is going collectively bonkers by comparing a four year old's toilet break to the invasion of Suez'.
'Appreciate the inbox and press are horrific but the PM is signalling (as he did with the sacking of 21 MPs last year – which appalled the same people in the parly party) that he's serious.'
Mr Kruger said that Mr Johnson and Mr Cummings together were 'why we won the 2019 election'.
'An arguable minor infraction of lockdown rules is totally secondary to that,' he said.
'Also, No10 won't budge, so calling for (Mr Cummings) to go is basically declaring no confidence in PM.'
Senior ministers have publicly expressed public support for the defiant adviser but a number of Cabinet members are unhappy at the situation.
In other developments:
The YouGov poll is the latest to demonstrate the scale of public anger about the lockdown issue.
A poll from JL Partners for the Daily Mail revealed that 66 per cent of people think Cummings should leave his post amid the row, including 55 per cent of all Conservative voters.
A further 63 per cent believe Boris Johnson should sack his right hand man, including 53 per cent of Tory supporters.
Perhaps even more damning is the statistic that 80 per cent of people and almost three quarters of Conservative supporters agree that Cummings broke the rules he played a key role in drawing up.
In further bleak news for the Prime Minister, the research suggests that former Labour voters in the 'Red Wall' in the North and Midlands have reacted particularly badly to the row.
At 72 per cent, working class 'C1/C2' voters are more likely to think the government is behaving as though 'it is one rule for them and another rule for everyone else', while 69 per cent are more likely to say Cummings is not telling the truth than voters overall.
More research by YouGov last night found Some 71 per cent believe Mr Cummings broke the strict rules, including 56 per cent of Tory voters and 63 per cent of his fellow Brexiteers.
Almost six in 10 voters believe he should resign, including almost half (46 per cent) of Tories and 52 per cent of Leavers.
The Prime Minister's refusal to sack him has also had an impact on his own image.
Mr Johnson had a net approval rating of 19 per cent on Friday before the news of his chief aide's 260-mile journey to Durham.
But a poll by Savanta ComRes yesterday put Mr Johnson on -1 per cent after he and senior ministers leapt to Mr Cummings' defence - the lowest of the pandemic.
The Prime Minister now has an approval rating of below that of opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer, and the ratings of other senior ministers including Dominic Raab and Matt Hancock have similarly tumbled.
The row appears to have taken its toll on the Government as a whole, with a Friday approval rating of 20 per cent falling to -2 per cent.
The Liaison Committee includes William Wragg, who has said it was 'humiliating and degrading' to see ministers put out agreed lines in defence of Mr Cummings, and Caroline Nokes, who has informed her party whips there could not be 'wriggle room' for some people when it comes to lockdown rules.
Also among those questioning the PM will be Labour chairwoman of the Home Affairs Committee Yvette Cooper, and Tory chairman of the Health Committee Jeremy Hunt - who has said he believes Mr Cummings broke lockdown rules.
Mr Cummings said he had driven to Durham to isolate in a property on his father's farm because of concerns over care for his four-year-old son if both he and his wife were incapacitated by Covid-19.
But a growing number of Conservative MPs have voiced their frustration over Mr Cummings after he expressed 'no regrets' about his trip.
Scotland Office minister Douglas Ross quit the Government yesterday, saying he could not 'in good faith' defend Mr Cummings' actions.
Tory grandee Sir Roger Gale said the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee should make it clear to the PM his adviser should go.
'The time I think has come for Mr Cummings to resign or for the PM to dispense of his services,' the North Thanet MP said.
'There are people on the 1922 executive who are courageous, and that's their job.
'They are elected to tell the PM what he needs to hear, not what he wants to hear.'
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