Leading Tory councillors in call to move on from Dominic Cummings’ scandal

The Prime Minister’s senior advisor hit the headlines over the weekend when it was reported he had driven from London to family in Durham with his wife Mary Wakefield and son during lockdown.

Both he and his wife Mary Wakefield developed Covid-19 symptoms and said they wanted to ensure their four-year-old boy would be looked after should they fall ill.

But the revelations sparked outrage with many people across the country, including almost 40 Conservative MPs, calling for Mr Cummings to be sacked or resign.

Boris Johnson and senior cabinet members have all come out in support of him.

Walsall Council leader Mike Bird and Wolverhampton Conservative group boss Wendy Thompson said Mr Cummings had acted instinctively in the best interests of his family and criticised the way he had been “hounded”.

Dudley Council leader Patrick Harley said Mr Cummings had been “foolish” not to have sought permission from the Prime Minister before making the trip but said the decision to keep him was purely up to Mr Johnson.

But all three were in agreement that other issues, such as kick starting the economy post lockdown, were far more important.

Councillor Bird said: “If the boss of a company gets an employee who in theory has done something wrong, he would then interview that individual.

“In this case that has happened and Boris has accepted his explanation and as a result we should move on. There are more important things to worry about than Dominic Cummings.

“I could write a book on the amount of people who have ignored the advice from Government.

“At one stage, we had to have the police twice to funerals. You could also look at travellers. Have they heeded the advice? Absolutely not. We’ve had them on two or three occasions in Walsall and they are not taking any notice of it.

“I’ve seen a lot of people ignoring these lockdown rules. Some drivers have been treating the roads like a race track. Is that an essential journey to see how fast your car can go? Don’t think so!

“There has been so much abuse of the lockdown rules. Yes, we all know that every person who breaks those rules puts somebody else at risk and I understand that.

“In Dominic Cummings’ case, he made his explanation to his boss, his boss has accepted that. Whether that be good or bad – he’s given him the benefit of the doubt.”

He added: “The power of the press to hound somebody is something the Government should look at. He and many others have been vilified by the press.

“He did what any father would do to look after his child.

“I’m not defending his actions for breaking the rules but having said that, if I put myself in his position what would I have done? If it meant my child’s safety I might very well have done the same thing.

“Boris has made his decision. Many decisions have been made and two of the most appalling were allowing Cheltenham and the Liverpool football match.

“Money came before safety. Have any of those people who made those decisions been taken to task?”

Councillor Thompson said: “I’m a local councillor and I’m concerned about local issues.

“I haven’t made any public comment on it because I cannot influence anything nationally and I’m not interested in engaging with emotional people who are still livid over Brexit.

“I put myself in the place of the family. His little lad is autistic and I find the business of people being so heartless when it concerns a little boy who’s got a disability is very upsetting.

“We’ve all been very careful and I know there is an awful lot of people who have gone through a great deal of distress. I’ve no doubt about that whatsoever.

“But I will not join in with this disgraceful bullying. I’m horrified about the cold-hearted attitude towards a family. I see that foremost actually.

“We have a very ill mother, a father who is also ill and a little boy who couldn’t look after himself – how can a four year old look after himself and do his own meals and dress himself?

“And there are other issues. We need to get the economy back up. The whole thing needs to move on and we need to care about getting people back to work and everything getting back to normal with shops operating.”

But Councillor Harley said the furore would have died down sooner had Mr Cummings addressed the controversy sooner.

He said: “I think he was foolish for not seeking permission from the PM to do it and also for not going to the head of the civil services and saying ‘Look this is my position, I have a four year old child, would this be okay?’

“One of the regrettable things about this is he didn’t come out and explain himself from day one.

“I think if he had done what he did on Monday, a lot of this furore would have died down.

“They will be people who are never satisfied with the explanation he has given but had he done this earlier this would have been old news and we would have moved on to the next issue.

He added: “I think a lot of this is settling old scores, particularly from those in the Conservative Party who have been critical of him and from the left.

“He obviously doesn’t have a lot of time and patience for the press so they see it as a great opportunity to take him down.

“But it looks like he is going to remain in post and to be honest there are better things to be spending our time on than talking about him.”

Asked what he thought about the decision that Mr Cummings will stay in post, he replied: “That’s a decision for the Prime Minister and clearly he has taken the decision that he values his advice and expertise on certain matters.

“There is an old saying which I remember from the Blair/Campbell days that when the advisor becomes the story it’s time for the advisor to go and he is certainly the story at the moment but that’s a decision for the PM."