HANCOCK’S HALF HOUR
■ HEALTH SEC SUGGESTS A U-TURN OVER LOCKDOWN PENALTIES ■ HE’S SLAPPED DOWN BY THE TREASURY JUST MINUTES LATER ■ MPs REVOLT AND MINISTER QUITS AS TORY ANGER GROWS OVER CUMMINGS
THE attempt to save embattled adviser Dominic Cummings descended into farce as Matt Hancock promised a review of fines for parents breaking lockdown – only to be immediately slapped down by No.10.
The health secretary agreed to talk to his ‘colleagues at the Treasury’ after being put on the spot by vicar Martin Poole, who asked a question at last night’s Downing Street briefing.
‘I think, especially coming from a man of the cloth, it is perfectly reasonable,’ he told the Brighton clergyman. ‘We understand the need for making sure children get adequate childcare.’
But the apparently off-the-cuff remarks at the half-hour Q&A seemed to catch Downing Street unawares.
Within minutes, Treasury sources said that Mr Hancock would only be ‘passing on a request’ from a member of the public, and there were no plans to cancel the fines.
The confusion came after Scotland Office minister Douglas Ross quit over the actions of Boris Johnson’s chief adviser Mr Cummings, who drove 260 miles from London to Co. Durham at the height of the lockdown.
More than 30 Tory MPs have said the aide should face the axe.
The prime minister’s approval rating has collapsed to minus one per cent from 19 per cent four days ago as he continues to stand by his man, a new poll by SavantaComRes shows. And
the proportion who think Mr Cummings should resign has increased from 52 to 59 per cent since Saturday, according to a YouGov survey.
Mr Cummings, who drove to Durham with his wife and child at the height of the lockdown on March 27, has said he ignored the ‘stay at home’ message as he wanted to be near family.
His wife had come down with the virus and he wanted to be sure that if he also fell ill – as later transpired – their four-year-old son would be looked after.
The adviser, who went on a day trip to scenic Barnard Castle during his stay at a cottage on his father’s farm, says he did nothing wrong as exceptions are allowed for young children.
But YouGov found that 71 per cent of people think he did break the rules.
And Mr Ross wrote in his resignation letter to Mr Johnson yesterday: ‘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. ‘I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior adviser to the government was right.’
Figures that include suspected cases showed yesterday that the virus death toll is likely to be at least 47,000.
But the toll of confirmed deaths rose by only another 134 yesterday to 37,048 – continuing a downward trend as the crisis slowly eases.
More than 13,000 fines have been issued for breaking the lockdown that helped to curb infection.
But Mr Hancock insisted last night that Mr Cummings had acted ‘within the guidelines’. The health secretary had said he was ‘speechless’ when Prof Neil Ferguson resigned over a lockdown infringement earlier this month – saying it was a matter for the police.
But he said of Mr Cummings: ‘If you have adults that are unable to look after small children that is an exceptional circumstance. People aren’t doing this for me, they’re doing it for their loved ones. It’s their civic duty.’
Mr Cummings has said the trip to Barnard Castle on his wife’s birthday was to check his eyesight would be OK for him to drive back to London, as it had been affected by the virus.
And minister Michael Gove was mocked widely on social media after he suggested the adviser was ‘wise’ to have taken the trip, claiming that he too had tested his eyesight by driving in the past.
Mr Gove – who worked with Mr Cummings on the Vote Leave campaign – was dispatched to defend him in a series of early morning interviews.
Asked if he would have tested his eyes with a 60-mile drive, he said: ‘I have, on occasions in the past driven with my wife in order to make sure, what’s the right way of putting it?’
Giggling, he told LBC host Nick Ferrari he had failed his driving test six times, adding: ‘I’m not the best person in the world to ask detailed questions about driving.’
Mr Cummings’ unprecedented press conference in the garden of 10 Downing Street on Monday to explain why he drove to Co. Durham inflamed critics.
And 760,000 people have signed a petition demanding his resignation.
‘If all of us thought primarily can “I find a loophole”, then we simply couldn’t have got through this crisis together,’ said government scientific adviser Prof Stephen Reicher.
Ex-Greater Manchester Police chief constable Sir Peter Fahy said Mr Cummings may have broken the law. ‘It certainly appears to be against the Highway Code. It’s not the way to test your eyesight, and potentially put other people in danger,’ he said. Some Tory MPs – pressured into backing Mr Cummings – refused to, with William Wragg saying it was ‘degrading to see ministers put out agreed lines in defence of an adviser’. ‘We cannot throw away valuable public goodwill any longer,’ he added.