Minister quits over Cummings’ lockdown actions

Junior minister Douglas Ross has resigned after Dominic Cummings’ defence of his trip to County Durham during the coronavirus lockdown.

The Scotland Office minister said the senior aide’s view of the government guidance was “not shared by the vast majority of people”.

No 10 said the prime minister regretted Mr Ross’ decision to stand down.

It comes as more than 35 Tory MPs have called on Mr Cummings to resign.

Mr Cummings’ decision in March to drive 260 miles from his London home to his parents’ farm with his child and ill wife – which he explained on Monday was for childcare purposes – dominated the government’s daily coronavirus press briefing.

Asked whether ministers would review penalty fines imposed on families who travel for childcare, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “I will have to talk to my Treasury colleagues before I can answer [that] in full and we will look at it.”

But the BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg, citing a government source, said Mr Hancock did “not announce a review” but rather would pass the concern on to his colleagues.

During the No 10 briefing, Mr Hancock said he understood the “anger that some people feel” over Mr Cummings’ actions, but added: “My view is that what he did was within the guidelines.”

In a statement announcing his resignation, Mr Ross, who remains Conservative MP for Moray, said: “While the intentions may have been well meaning, the reaction to this news shows that Mr Cummings’ interpretation of the government advice was not shared by the vast majority of people who have done as the government asked.”

“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.”

A No 10 spokesman said: “The prime minister would like to thank Douglas Ross for his service to government and regrets his decision to stand down as parliamentary under secretary of state for Scotland.”

Labour’s shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said Mr Ross had done the “decent thing”, while the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said he respected Mr Ross and called for Mr Cummings to be removed “without further delay”.

At a news conference in the garden of 10 Downing Street on Monday afternoon, Mr Cummings said he did not regret his actions and believed he acted reasonably and legally.

On the subject of why he then drove his family to the town of Barnard Castle – 15 days after he had displayed symptoms – Mr Cummings said he was testing his eyesight to see if he could make the trip back down to London. He explained that he had experienced some eyesight problems during his illness.

The drip drip of Conservative MPs calling on Dominic Cummings to go has continued on Tuesday.

Now surpassing 35, it is getting close to around 10% of the parliamentary party.

However, what’s notable is that there are those who, even if they’re not calling on Mr Cummings to go, have felt it necessary to write long open letters explaining their thinking to constituents.

Public anger, it seems, has not been put to bed by Monday’s extraordinary rose garden press conference.

The prime minister’s chief aide does, of course, have his backers; people who believe he did what was right in difficult circumstances.

And one government minister suggested to me that the story has been “whipped up” by those who simply do not like Mr Cummings, either politically or as a person.

But this saga is now into its fourth day, in a week when the prime minister wishes to communicate crucial messages about his plans for easing the lockdown.

It is – another minister conceded – a “problem” and “distraction”.

And on Tuesday, as yesterday, the question remains, how much political capital is Boris Johnson ready to expend on keeping his chief aide?

Boris Johnson’s spokesman reiterated Downing Street’s support for Mr Cummings on Tuesday, saying the adviser had “answered questions extensively”.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove told the BBC Mr Cummings’ account of his actions was “exhaustive, detailed and verifiable”.

Among those calling on Mr Cummings to resign is Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw, who told the BBC the row is “distracting attention” from efforts to combat the coronavirus.

Former Conservative Attorney General Jeremy Wright said combating the coronavirus was “more important than the position of any individual in Downing Street” and therefore it would be “better for Mr Cummings to leave his position”.

“Mr Cummings’ actions and his justification of them will, in my judgment, make it less likely that others will continue to interpret those exceptional circumstances clauses restrictively,” he wrote on his website.

William Wragg, Conservative MP for Hazel Grove, said it was “humiliating and degrading” to see ministers defending Mr Cummings, while veteran Tory MP Sir Roger Gale said the adviser had “sent out a very damaging and dangerous message”.

Six opposition leaders have said in a letter to the prime minister that removing Mr Cummings from his post is the only way to restore trust in public health advice.

The leaders of the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, SDLP, Green Party and Alliance Party said it is “now a matter of record” that Mr Cummings “broke multiple lockdown rules”.

“This is an issue that transcends politics. It has united people of every party and political persuasion, who believe strongly that it is now your responsibility as prime minister to return clarity and trust in public health messaging,” the letter read.

“We are clear that this can now only be achieved by removing Dominic Cummings from his post without further delay.”

Meanwhile, the retired chemistry teacher who recognised Mr Cummings in County Durham on 12 April told BBC Radio Newcastle he has some regrets about his involvement.

Robin Lees said he had had a “difficult few days” after his account of the encounter was initially rejected by Downing Street, but that he felt “vindicated” by the subsequent admission.

Latest government figures show the number of people to die with coronavirus in the UK rose by 134 to 37,048 on Tuesday.

There have been no Covid-19 related deaths reported in Northern Ireland over the past 24 hours for the first time since 18 March.

In other developments:

• During the daily briefing, Mr Hancock said there will be “local lockdowns” for “local flare-ups” of coronavirus in the future
• He announced that the government has signed contracts to manufacture two billion items of PPE in the UK
• Senior bishops have reported receiving death threats after criticising Mr Cummings’ actions
• A drug treatment that appears to shorten recovery time for people with coronavirus is being made available on the NHS
• The Scottish government’s new “test and protect” strategy will go live on Thursday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed
• The pandemic has given the government an “extraordinary opportunity” to offer rough sleepers long-term help to get off the streets, the head of its homeless coronavirus taskforce has said