Henley MP holds judgement on Cummings furore

HENLEY MP John Howell is reserving judgement on claims that the Prime Minister's political strategist Dominic Cummings breached the coronavirus lockdown.

Mr Cummings, who lives in London, has been facing calls to resign after it emerged on Friday that he visited his parents in Durham in late March and early April, seemingly against Government rules in place at the time.

PM Boris Johnson's office has confirmed he did so despite showing symptoms of covid-19 but says he and his wife, who also appeared to have the disease, wanted to be near family in case they needed care for their son and they self-isolated in a nearby property.

Opponents say this went against official advice that people should not leave their homes to visit other family members and should instead seek help from neighbours or community support groups.

A number of Cabinet ministers have expressed support for Mr Cummings and say he did nothing wrong, including health secretary Matt Hancock and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who accused opponents of “trying to score political points”. They say there were exceptions to the rules, one of which was emergency childcare.

But since then, eyewitnesses claim to have seen Mr Cummings in the north-east a second time although No 10 denies this. A number of Conservative MPs are now calling for his dismissal.

Mr Howell said he had received a small number of complaints from constituents on email and Twitter but would await further information before jumping to conclusions.

He said: “I fully understand why this is an issue which causes concern but it also raises a number of questions, particularly from the stories which have appeared in the Guardian and Daily Mirror.

“I don't know the full details of his visit to a location near his child's grandparents and, quite frankly, I don't intend to play judge, jury and executioner as many on social media are asking of me.

“I do not know whether his wife needed special medical attention, for example, nor anything else about his domestic life. There is advice which allows moving children in certain circumstances.

“Mr Cummings is not a prominent member of the Conservative Party but an assistant to the Prime Minister. A formal investigation into this matter would be using a sledgehammer to crack a nut but I'm confident the full details will emerge soon.”