Has your MP demanded Dominic Cummings is sacked?
At least 30 Conservative MPs have called for the prime minister’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings to resign or be sacked.
The list of rebel Tories has continued to grow as many express frustration and dismay after Boris Johnson’s top aide said he had “no regrets” over his controversial trip to Durham during the lockdown.
In a press conference on Sunday, Cummings defended a 260-mile trip from London to the North East of England he made with his family, saying he believed he behaved “reasonably”.
By Tuesday night, 30 Conservative MPs had called for Cummings’ removal, with a further nine voicing displeasure over his actions.
Senior ministers have expressed public support for the defiant adviser, but media reports say a number of Cabinet members have privately called for him to be ousted from No 10.
Here is the list of Tory MPs who have called for Cummings to resign or be sacked:
Steve Baker - MP for Wycombe in Buckinghamshire
Baker, who sits on the executive of the influential Conservative 1922 Committee, was one of the first Tory MPs who said Cummings should go on Sunday.
He said: “He is not always right, he is certainly not indispensable to Boris. No one is. I just think this is the end of the road.
“He has at the very least not abided by the slogans that he has enforced on the rest of the country, and that is why he should go."
Douglas Ross – MP for Moray
On Tuesday, Douglas Ross, the parliamentary undersecretary of state for Scotland, quit the government, saying he could not “in good faith” defend Mr Cummings’ actions.
In an interview with the BBC, Ross said there were still unanswered questions regarding Cummings’ visit to Durham.
Peter Bone – MP for Wellingborough
Bone told Sky: “I'm certain he has to go. We can't really have a rule that applies to everyone except the government elite.”
Simon Hoare – MP for North Dorset
Hoare said the matter had not died away following Cummings’ press conference and that the adviser’s “performance posed more questions than it answered”.
Damian Collins – MP for Folkestone and Hythe
Collins said the government “would be better without” Cummings.
Sir Roger Gale – MP for North Thanet in Kent
Veteran MP Sir Roger said the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee should make it clear to the PM his adviser should go.
“The time I think has come for Mr Cummings to resign or for the PM to dispense of his services,” Sir Roger said, adding that 1922 Committee members were “elected to tell the PM what he needs to hear, not what he wants to hear”.
Craig Whittaker – MP for Calder Valley
Whittaker told Newsnight that Cummings’ position was “untenable”, adding: “I respect he is taking a decision but what I can’t get my head around is why he can’t take responsibility for that decision.”
William Wragg – MP for Hazel Grove
William Wragg, chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee in the Commons, said it was “humiliating and degrading” to see ministers put out agreed lines in defence of Cummings.
Tim Loughton – MP for East Worthing and Shoreham
Jason McCartney – MP for Colne Valley in West Yorkshire
Julian Sturdy – MP for York Outer
Andrew Jones – MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough in North Yorkshire
Sir Robert Syms – MP for Poole
Sir Robert tweeted: “Whatever the merits of a government adviser, they should never be the story or it detracts from the central message which is to get us out of this crisis. The adviser should go.”
Caroline Nokes – MP for Romsey and Southampton North
Nokes, chair of the Commons Women and Equalities Committee, said she had informed party whips there could not be “wriggle room” for some people when it came to lockdown rules.
Mark Pawsey – MP for Rugby
Pawsey said Cummings had “acted very much against the spirit of the lockdown rules” and should be sacked
Mark Harper – MP for Forest of Dean
Former chief whip Harper said Cummings should have offered his resignation to the prime minister.
He said he would “expect an adviser who had damaged the credibility of the government’s central message so badly and had become the story to consider their position”.
Paul Maynard – MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys
Martin Vickers – MP for Cleethorpes
Peter Aldous – MP for Waveney
David Warburton – MP for Somerton and Frome
John Stevenson - MP for Carlisle
Philip Davies – MP for Shipley
Davies said: “Dominic Cummings should now repay that loyalty to the prime minister by resigning his position for the good of the prime minister, the government and the country.”
Mark Garnier – MP for Wyre Forest
Garnier told constituents in a message: “For him to stay would be to reject the valiant efforts of millions of us all who have done what we can to squash this infection.
“His resignation is now the only way forward.”
Stephen Hammond – MP for Wimbledon
Hammond told constituents in an email: “I have always tried to do the best thing for Wimbledon and whilst I think it would be served by Mr Cummings leaving his role, I accept that is the prime minister's decision who he employs as a special adviser.”
Jeremy Wright – MP for Kenilworth and Southam
Sir Robert Neill – MP for Bromley and Chislehurst
Chair of the House of Commons justice committee Sir Robert Neill said: “Although an adviser, not a minister or elected representative, Mr Cummings is, by virtue of his job, prominently in the public eye. We cannot have a suggestion of one rule for some and a different one for others.”
Jackie Doyle-Price – MP for Thurrock
Harriett Baldwin – MP for West Worcestershire
Baldwin said: "The government relies on moral authority to receive the consent of the people to such draconian reductions in their freedoms. Therefore, for the sake of future adherence to public health guidelines, I believe he should resign."
Laurence Robertson – MP for Tewkesbury
Laurence Robertson said he was unable to visit his dying father due to lockdown restrictions and many of his constituents were put in a similar situation.
He added: "I have, therefore, spent yesterday and today urging the prime minister and all those closely connected to him, to recognise the strength of feeling which exists on this issue and to dismiss Mr Cummings without further delay.”
James Gray – MP for North Wiltshire
James Gray said in a letter to a constituent: “To restore faith in the rules and to allow us to move on and prepare for the next stage in lifting the lockdown, Mr Cummings should consider his position and resign."
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