Minister quits UK government over aide's lockdown breach

Photo: The Canadian Press

Dominic Cummings

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 kilometres) to his parents’ house at the end of March, despite a national order for people to remain at home. Cummings says he travelled 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 behavioural 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.”