More than 60 Conservative MPs have continued to defy Boris Johnson’s calls to “move on” from the Dominic Cummings crisis as a senior minister broke ranks to accuse the aide of inconsistencies in his account of his behaviour during lockdown. The intervention of Penny Mordaunt deepened the turmoil within government following revelations by the Guardian and Daily Mirror that Cummings had travelled 260 miles to his family estate in Durham with his wife suffering coronavirus symptoms. The former chancellor Sajid Javid also said the journey was not “necessary or justified” as the number of backbenchers calling for Cummings to resign or be sacked grew to 44, with a total of 61 Tory MPs weighing in to criticise him. Two of those condemning Cummings are government whips. Mordaunt, a former defence secretary who now holds the ministerial post of paymaster general, said there were “inconsistencies” in Cummings’ account and apologised for how recent days have “undermined key public health messages”. In an email sent to constituents, Mordaunt said Cummings’ continued position was a “matter for the prime minister” but she could “fully understand how angry people are” and believed there was no doubt he “took risks”.
Fury among Conservative MPs has grown by the day, after an investigation that also revealed how Cummings took his family on a 60-mile round trip to a beauty spot in Barnard Castle, which he says was to test whether his eyesight was good enough for him to drive back to London. At an appearance before the liaison committee of senior MPs, Johnson declined to answer most questions about Cummings, saying repeatedly it was time to “move on”. But his pleas fell flat as Javid, who stood down as chancellor after clashing with Cummings, joined the list of those criticising the No 10 aide. In a letter to a constituent reported by the Bromsgrove Standard, Javid 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.”
Other Tories who were unconvinced either by Johnson’s appearance before the liaison committee or Cummings’ attempts to explain himself on Monday included the former minister George Freeman. Freeman, a former Downing Street policy chief for Theresa May, said he thought Cummings “had to go” after he received about 1,000 emails from constituents “expressing outrage at the PM’s chief of staff breaking the lockdown and not apologising” . He added: “It’s clear that public anger at the betrayal of their trust and compliance now risks a collapse of respect for [government] public health advice.” One backbencher, Giles Watling, tweeted: “I’ve been listening to the PM in the liaison committee. I applaud him for sticking by his man, but I’m afraid Mr Cummings should stand down. His continued presence at the heart of government at this time is an unwanted distraction.” Two government whips, responsible for discipline in the party, also made critical comments about Cummings to their constituents. Mike Freer, who is comptroller of the household, said he “certainly would not have taken the actions Mr Cummings did”, while Maria Caulfield, an assistant government whip and nurse who returned to care for Covid-19 patients, told one of her constituents that Cummings had done “untold damage to the spirit of the law”.
Mordaunt is the second and most senior government minister to have criticised Cummings, after Douglas Ross resigned as Scotland minister on Tuesday. “Other families have been faced with the same situation as Mr Cummings and chosen to stay put,” she wrote to constituents in a letter seen by the Guardian. “Despite Mr Cummings’ statement [on Monday], I am personally still not clear of the facts. There are some inconsistencies in his account of events and the reasons behind it. I am not clear about when he would have been symptomatic and on what dates he should have been in isolation. Or whether it was appropriate he drove home at the time he did.
“There is no doubt he took risks – refuelling at a petrol station is a risk to oneself and to others, which presumably he did. I understand there may have been other issues which would have made other options to care for his child in London impossible. “What is clear is that the scenes of the last few days will have undermined key public health messages. I deeply regret this and am very sorry for it.” The former defence secretary said people were “reasonable and sympathetic” about the difficult choices facing families and highlighted that the public may not know all the reasons why other courses of action were not open to him. But she added: “In all of this though is also our obligations to others too. It is because of that shared responsibility and the public making those sacrifices that we have reduced the infection rate. The rules and those obligations apply to all of us. We cannot thank people enough for all they have done. “Perhaps my deepest regret in all of this is that it must be a distraction to efforts to combat coronavirus and the many other issues the government is still having to deal with. So much else has happened in the last few days, including a serious incursion by China into India.”
Mordaunt does not call for Cummings to resign in her letter, and it is understood she is not demanding that he goes. Her letter was sent in her capacity as a constituency MP, rather than as a government minister. But her comments are the most critical to come from a senior member of Johnson’s team. Late on Wednesday the former home secretary Amber Rudd joined the dozens of Conservatives calling on Cummings to go. The former MP told ITV’s Peston: “He should quit because he’s making things worse. People have been great during the lockdown. In a really difficult period, they have complied. And now they’re confused and that makes them angry and I think that will have consequences. “So when he thinks, as any of us working in government must, ‘am I adding here, am I helping?’ he can only conclude that his presence is making things worse at a time when we’re already in a crisis.” Johnson and most of his cabinet ministers have stood behind Cummings, saying his actions were legal and reasonable, and something that any father would do out of concern for their child’s welfare. Danny Kruger, a former No 10 aide and new Conservative MP, raised the stakes in Cummings’ defence by telling colleagues in a note that demands for his resignation were tantamount to a vote of no confidence in the prime minister. At the liaison committee, Johnson said he had seen evidence proving some of the allegations made against Cummings are false, but he refused to publish that evidence or hand it over to the cabinet secretary. His chief adviser has strenuously denied claims he returned to Durham on 19 April, in what would have been another potential breach of the guidelines on travelling.
But Johnson refused calls by the chair of the public accounts committee, Meg Hillier, to release that evidence to the cabinet secretary, Mark Sedwill, or for it to be published. Johnson 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, as I think the public would want, working flat out to deal with coronavirus.” Johnson has also sought to blame the media for misreporting of Cummings’ actions, despite No 10 having weeks to respond to allegations against him. One senior cabinet source told the Guardian that they disagreed with the prime minister’s attacks on the media for pursuing the Cummings story, saying the press should not be blamed for doing its job.
Attempting to defuse public anger, Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, said on Tuesday that anyone could do the same as Cummings in similar circumstances, even though his actions have provoked uproar, with polls suggesting that the majority of people believe he should resign. “If there are no other options, if you don’t have ready access to childcare, then you can do as Dominic Cummings chose to do,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. However, Jenrick said it was not possible for any fines already issued to people for driving to seek childcare to be reviewed, contrary to suggestions from Matt Hancock, the health secretary, on Tuesday. “There isn’t going to be a formal review. It’s for the police to decide whether to impose fines under the law,” Jenrick said.