DOMINIC Cummings today admitted he and Boris Johnson “failed” Britain and accused the world ignored alarm bells ringing and acted too late on Covid.
The scorned ex-aide has been firing off a stream of attacks for weeks and is finally unleashing his full-throated verdict of the Government.
He said he should have been “hitting the panic button” far earlier than he was, and said he raised the threat of Covid with the PM in early January.
In a scathing assessment to MPs on a joint science and health committee this morning, Mr Cummings said that No10 was not on a war footing fast enough and “lots of key people were skiing in the middle of February”.
He blasted: “At the time in no way shape or form did the government act like it was the most important thing in January (2020). It didn’t act like that in January let alone February.”
And ministers didn’t realise the huge holes in their planning until it was too late, he claimed.
The trademark scruffy PM’s former right-hand man swept into Parliament with an open-neck shirt, jeans and a black baseball cap this morning.
The PM’s former aide, who left Government last year after falling out with Boris and other members of the top team, started his boxoffice grilling by saying sorry to the public for failing them.
He apologised to families for not doing enough to save lives, adding: “When the public needed us most, the government failed.”
- Ahead of the hearing, bombshell WhatsApp texts were reported to demolish his main attack lines
- Mr Cummings will reportedly accuse the PM of claiming Covid is only killing 80-year-olds
- Transport Secretary Grant Shapps stood by his defence of Mr Cummings trip to Barnard Castle last year
- Matt Hancock ran away from reporters asking about Mr Cummings.
- Mr Cummings this morning published his own evidence hours before he was set to face MPs
He tweeted a photo purportedly showing a whiteboard in the PM’s study showing the “first sketch of Plan B”.
Messages that emerged last night reportedly show the ex-No10 aide ordered Cabinet Ministers to deny herd immunity was ever Government policy.
Mr Cummings has furiously accused Downing Street of “appalling ethics” for “lying” that herd immunity was never the Government’s Covid strategy.
And he is widely expected to brandish documents backing up his claims at today’s hotly-anticipated Commons Committee showdown.
But Boris Johnson’s allies believe newly-surfaced WhatsApps, reported by the Politico website, will blow a hole in Mr Cummings’ explosive accusation.
They show the all-powerful maverick adviser then demanded ministers deny herd immunity was the No10 approach.
A source told Politico: “A year ago he was ordering ministers to deny herd immunity was government policy, now he’s calling them liars for sticking to the lines he gave them.”
