Dominic Cummings asked about our story on him breaking lockdown rules driving 260 miles to Durham.

"That whole episode was definitely a major disaster for the Government and for the Covid policy".
Cummings says he left London over security threats. Says he made a "terrible mistake" by not explaining that to public.

"What I said was true, but I left out a crucial part of it all. The whole thing was a complete disaster. It undermined public confidence in the whole thing".
Jeremy Hunt says - rightly - that it was terrible that Cummings' family faced security threats.

But asks: "If you were moving your family out for security reasons, why did you move them back?"

DC says he felt Govt needed him - and would've left wife/ child in Durham if he cld
He admits that he later moved his wife and child out of London *again* but insists this was in discussion with police. He adds: "Hopefully this is a case study in how not to handle something like this."
Strongly refute suggestion that media asking the PM's most senior adviser - one of the architects of the Covid lockdown rules - why he broke those very same rules is in some way a 'witch-hunt'. That's exactly what our job is all about.
Cummings stands by claims he drove to Barnard Castle on his wife's bday to test his eyesight. 👀

"If I was going to make up a story I would've come up with a helluva better one than that."

He adds: "It didn't seem crazy at the time. I can only apologise for the whole debacle."

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More from @PippaCrerar

26 May
Dominic Cummings starts with mea culpa. “The truth is senior ministers, officials & advisers like me fell short of standards the public has a right to expect. When the public needed us most, we failed. I’d like to say to all the families how sorry I am for the mistakes we made”.
Cummings says there were conversations in No 10 about pandemic in first weeks of January.

He had a "general chat" with PM on Covid in middle of Jan and texted Matt Hancock to check on plans on Jan 25. But he says those preparations turned out to be "hollow".
Cummings says No 10 was not on a "war-footing" on the pandemic in February.

"A lot of key people were literally skiing in February... the PM went on holiday for two weeks".

He says "sense of urgency" only apparent in the last week of that month.
Read 10 tweets
24 May
A year since we revealed Dominic Cummings' lockdown-busting trip to County Durham at the height of the first wave, he prepares to deliver explosive testimony to MPs on how the Government handled the pandemic.
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…
It marks the culmination of the collapse of one of the most influential political relationship of modern times which - as @ShippersUnbound says - "began to disintegrate in the week that Cummings had to account for his car journey north." thetimes.co.uk/article/danger…
Cummings has already said he is prepared to hand over a key document on Covid decision-making in government - and will no doubt have plenty of texts, WhatsApp messages and even recordings to back up his account of what went wrong.
Read 4 tweets
10 May
Keir Starmer is addressing Labour party staff - telling them they put their "heart and soul" into campaign and he is "proud" of them.

But he admits there's no hiding the "bitter disappointment" of results - partic Hartlepool. "I share that".
Starmer tells staff he is "incredibly proud and delighted" of Mark Drakeford's Welsh result & "really pleased" with Anas Sarwar's campaign in Scotland.

"The victories for metro mayors, in councils we won and in Wales shows the difference we can make in power".
Starmer: We're still too internally focused - not good enough yet at focusing on voters. We've been losing elections for 11 yrs. We'll be spelling out what a post-pandemic, post-austerity Britain outside EU looks like. Labour is going to be about going forward to something better
Read 6 tweets
9 May
Labour sources confirm that chief whip Nick Brown has been sacked #LabourReshuffle
Labour sources confirm Rachel Reeves is new shadow chancellor #LabourReshuffle
Labour sources confirm Angela Rayner will be shadow CDL - and will be focusing on the future of work/ quality jobs for every part of country.
Read 8 tweets
23 Mar
Boris Johnson promises a "fitting and permanent memorial" to all those who lost their lives in the pandemic.
Boris Johnson says there are "distinct signs of a third wave" on the European continent.

Then rattles through "tough" borders measures in place here - which of course only came in on February 15.
PM asked what he wishes he'd done differently.

"In retrospect, there are probably many things that we wish we had done differently at the time."

But reverts to asymptomatic transmission line - nothing about delays in decision making which, of course, are on him.
Read 6 tweets
17 Mar
Look who’s back...
Committee chair @GregClarkMP reveals that Dominic Cummings has agreed to give evidence on the Covid pandemic to the joint health/science committee inquiry... but not today.
Cummings reveals conditions he set out to Boris Johnson to join him in No 10 the w/e before he became PM:
1. get Brexit done/ no 2nd ref
2. double science budget
3. create Arpa-style body
4. change how "disaster" of Whitehall works
Johnson told him: "Deal"
Underlines his power
Read 13 tweets

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