Johnson to UK: ‘Move on’ from aide row

Bloomberg

Boris Johnson appealed to the UK to “move on” from the controversy over claims that his top adviser broke lockdown rules, as the prime minister tried to fight off a growing revolt from within his own party.
Johnson said he was “sorry” for the “pain” and “anguish” the public had suffered since March, when he ordered sweeping restrictions on individual freedoms during the coronavirus pandemic.
But he refused to go into details of the furor involving his chief strategist Dominic Cummings, who has faced mounting public anger over his decision to travel 260 miles to seek childcare support from family at a time when the country was in lockdown. Johnson dismissed calls for a government investigation into his aide’s actions.
The row has dominated British politics and public discussions for the past five days and has already cost the government a political price, with Johnson’s poll ratings tumbling. If the prime minister cannot close down the argument over Cummings’ actions soon, many Tories fear Johnson risks causing permanent damage to the reputation of his government.
“I am sorry for the pain, as I’ve said, the anguish and the heartbreak of so many people in this country,” the premier said under questioning from a parliamentary committee. “What we need to do now as politicians, as leaders, if we possibly can, is to set aside this row — because I’m afraid a lot of the allegations turned out to be totally false — and to move on.”
The Cummings controversy heaps more pressure onto Johnson’s administration, which has spent the past two months battling to get control over the virus and the public narrative over how it handled the crisis. The UK has the highest death toll in Europe with more than 37,000 Covid-19 patients having lost their lives.
After two months of lockdown, the premier is now seeking to ease the restrictions in the days and weeks ahead and get the economy firing again, though that also contains perils as companies face collapse when government support is withdrawn.
Earlier Johnson was given a direct warning of the scale of the revolt among his own Conservative party’s members of Parliament after he decided not to fire Cummings.
Cummings has denied the central charge of hypocrisy arguing that there’s an exemption for people who need to take steps to care for their children.