London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 24, 2025

Dominic Cummings: The seven most explosive claims

Dominic Cummings: The seven most explosive claims

Boris Johnson's former chief adviser Dominic Cummings has made a series of explosive claims about mistakes made by the government during the Covid pandemic.

During a seven-hour joint session of the Commons Heath, and Science and Technology committees, Mr Cummings made a number of allegations - here are the key points.

1. The government 'failed'


"Tens of thousands of people died, who didn't need to die," Mr Cummings said.

Earlier, he said sorry for ministers, officials and advisers "like me" for falling "disastrously short of the standards that the public has a right to expect".

"When the public needed us most the government failed," he added, apologising to "the families of those who died unnecessarily".

Mr Cummings said the government was not on a "war footing" when the virus emerged in January and February last year and "lots of key people were literally skiing".

2. PM 'not fit for office'


Mr Cummings made a series of allegations against his former boss Boris Johnson, including:

*  He dismissed the emerging coronavirus as "the new swine flu" and "just a scare story" - and pledged to be injected "live on TV with the virus so everyone realises it's nothing to be frightened of'"

*  He was a "thousand times too obsessed with the media" and appeared to be persuaded by the Daily Telegraph's view of events on any given day

*  He said he would rather see "bodies pile high" than order a third lockdown in the autumn of 2020, seeming to confirm a BBC report and contradict the prime minister's denials

Describing a decline in his relationship with Mr Johnson after the summer of 2020, he said "it was clear in July that our relations were very far from where they had been".

He added: "They took another terrible dive after the second lockdown in October because the prime minister knew that I blamed him for the whole situation - and I did - and by 31 October our relations were essentially already finished...

"The heart of the problem was, fundamentally, I regarded him as unfit for the job. And I was trying to create a structure around him to try and stop what I thought would have been bad decisions, and push things through against his wishes."

Asked later by Labour MP Sarah Owen whether Boris Johnson was a "fit and proper person to get us through this pandemic", Mr Cummings replied: "No."

Downing Street rejected many of the remarks and Mr Johnson insisted his government at "every stage tried to minimise loss of life".

3. Hancock 'should have been fired'


Mr Cummings appeared to reserve his harshest criticism for Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

Mr Hancock "should have been fired for at least 15 to 20 things", Mr Cummings said, as he alleged the health secretary:

*  Displayed "criminal, disgraceful behaviour" as he held back coronavirus tests and meddled in efforts to build a mass testing system in order to meet a "stupid" pledge of 100,000 tests per day in April 2020

*  Lied during meetings held in the Downing Street cabinet room, including about testing people before they were discharged from hospital into care homes during the first wave

*  Used the UK's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and chief medical adviser Chris Whitty as a "shield" for government failings at Downing Street news conferences

*  Mr Cummings and the UK's then most senior civil servant Sir Mark Sedwill recommended to the prime minister that Mr Hancock be sacked in April 2020

*  The prime minister did not sack Mr Hancock because some felt he would be a convenient fall guy during any future public inquiry

A spokesman for Mr Hancock later said: "We absolutely reject Mr Cummings' claims about the health secretary."

Mr Hancock added he had not seen Mr Cummings' evidence to MPs in full "and instead I've been dealing with getting the vaccination rollout going, especially to over-30s, and saving lives".

He said he would make a statement in the Commons on Thursday when he would "have more to say".

4. First lockdown delay


Mr Cummings said it was "obvious" in retrospect that the UK should have locked down in the first week of March at the latest - and it was a "huge failure" on his part not to alert the prime minister.

"I bitterly regret that I didn't hit the emergency panic button earlier then I did," he added.

Mr Cummings said that, on 14 March, Boris Johnson had been told that models showing the peak of infections was "weeks and weeks and weeks away" in June were "completely wrong".

Mr Cummings said that meeting came after the then deputy cabinet secretary, Helen MacNamara, relayed concerns that there was "no plan... we're in huge trouble".

He said the PM was warned: "The NHS is going to be smashed in weeks. Really we've got days to act."

Mr Johnson announced a national lockdown nine days later on the evening of 23 March.

5. Bombs, quarantine... and Dilyn


Mr Cummings painted a vivid picture of the chaotic atmosphere in Downing Street on one "crazy" day in March 2020 when the government was considering a national lockdown - at the same time as officials considered a bombing campaign in Iraq.

One morning, he claimed, the "national security people came in" and said "[US President Donald] Trump wants us to join a bombing campaign in the Middle East tonight" and this "totally derailed" meetings about quarantine and the coronavirus.

At the same time, he said, "the prime minister's girlfriend was going completely crackers" over a story in Times newspaper with the headline "Downing St dog to be reshuffled".

The article reported a Whitehall source as saying they were not sure Carrie Symonds' dog Dilyn would "make it through the next reshuffle" due to the mess he had created in her and Mr Johnson's No 11 flat.

Mr Cummings said: "So, we have this sort of completely insane situation in which part of the building was saying, 'are we going to bomb Iraq?', part of the building was arguing about whether or not we're going to do quarantine or not do quarantine, the prime minister has his girlfriend going crackers about something completely trivial."

6. 'Chicken pox parties'


Mr Cummings said that, as late as 12 March last year, the UK's top civil servant championed a plan of rapid herd immunity involving "chicken pox parties" for the virus.

Then cabinet secretary Sir Mark Sedwill is alleged to have suggested to Mr Johnson: "Prime minister, you should go on TV tomorrow and explain the herd immunity plan and that it is like the old chicken pox parties. We need people to get this disease because that's how we get herd immunity by September."

But Mr Cummings said he told him not to use the analogy, which was "not right", as - according to data expert Ben Warner - Covid was "spreading exponentially and killing hundreds of thousands of people".

7. PM 'ignored' second lockdown advice


Asked about more recent decisions over a second lockdown in the autumn of 2020, Mr Cummings alleged Mr Johnson rejected a recommendation last September for a shorter stay-at-home order in England.

"He was ignoring the advice," he added, saying the prime minister believed he had been pushed into imposing the first one and that the economic harm done by lockdown would be worse than Covid itself.

He added: "All credible serious people in my opinion were saying essentially the same thing so I was very, very clear with him about it.

"He wasn't taking any advice, he was just making his own decisions, he was going to ignore the advice. Cabinet wasn't involved or asked.

"I've been very critical of Matt Hancock but I think Hancock agreed with me actually in September about acting then."


"Tens of thousands of people died who didn't need to die", Dominic Cummings told MPs


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
×