If he told the PM he didn’t break law, I believe him
DOMINIC CUMMINGS told Boris Johnson the ‘absolute, categoric truth’ about his lockdown trip to Durham, the education secretary insisted yesterday.
Gavin Williamson said he trusted Mr Cummings’ assertion he ‘followed the guidance’ while the coronavirus pandemic was at its peak in the UK.
‘If he’s made it clear to the PM that he didn’t break the law, I absolutely believe that assurance,’ he told Sky News.
‘You wouldn’t expect someone to be not giving the absolute categoric truth to the prime minister.’
Mr Williamson was himself sacked as defence secretary by former PM Theresa May after she accused him of leaking a report from the National Security Council and then lying to her about it.
He was appearing on breakfast television after the PM announced a partial reopening of primary schools in England from June 1. The education secretary admitted schools face a ‘long journey’ to normality but insisted children at home are ‘really missing out’.
And when quizzed again on BBC Breakfast about the apparent lockdown breach by Mr Johnson’s primary aide, Mr Williamson replied: ‘The prime minister has been absolutely, categorically assured that both Dominic Cummings and his family followed the guidance and also followed the rules.
‘The guidance is incredibly extensive and at the heart of [it] is always the issue of safeguarding children.’ However, Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell accused Mr Williamson of cowardice for blindly defending Mr Cummings.
‘If he had a spine he would not do an interview like this without insisting he had the full answers to the legitimate questions he is being asked,’ Mr Campbell tweeted. ‘That he can’t answer them is because Boris Johnson knows that Cummings broke the lockdown rules.’