Tory civil war over Dominic Cummings rages as poll ratings dive

The Tory civil war over Dominic Cummings escalated again today as an MP accused his colleagues of ‘declaring no confidence’ in Boris Johnson by demanding his chief adviser quits.

Devizes MP Danny Kruger accused ‘one wing’ of the party of ‘going bonkers’ and comparing the alleged lockdown breach to ‘the invasion of Suez’.

But in a sign of the depth of the devastating rift, former health secretary Jeremy Hunt has insisted Mr Cummings ‘clearly’ did break the rules.   

The bruising clashes came as the Tories saw their poll lead slashed by nine points in a week – thought to be the biggest drop in a decade.

The PM has seen his party’s ratings tumble by four points amid the row, while support for Labour has gone up five points, according to a YouGov survey for the Times.

The findings will cause fresh alarm in Downing Street as they desperately try to move on from the controversy.

But there is little prospect of respite, as Mr Johnson faces a grilling from senior MPs on the issue this afternoon.  

Dozens of Mr Johnson’s own MPs have now joined opposition politicians to demand that Mr Cummings is sacked, but the premier has flatly dismissed the calls. 

And Mr Kruger upped the ante by telling Newsnight that ‘one wing of our party is going collectively bonkers by comparing a four year old’s toilet break to the invasion of Suez’.

‘Appreciate the inbox and press are horrific but the PM is signalling (as he did with the sacking of 21 MPs last year – which appalled the same people in the parly party) that he’s serious.’

Mr Kruger said that Mr Johnson and Mr Cummings together were ‘why we won the 2019 election’.

‘An arguable minor infraction of lockdown rules is totally secondary to that,’ he said.

‘Also, No10 won’t budge, so calling for (Mr Cummings) to go is basically declaring no confidence in PM.’

Mr Johnson will be questioned by senior MPs over the coronavirus crisis on Wednesday as calls for his key adviser to resign continue to grow. 

But MPs on the Liaison Committee will only have a maximum of 20 minutes in a 90-minute session to probe the situation.  

Senior ministers have publicly expressed public support for the defiant adviser but a number of Cabinet members are unhappy at the situation.

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick was clearly frustrated this morning as he was forced to defend the adviser during a tetchy interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today.

And he also confirmed that a review into whether fines could be cancelled for thousands of people who travelled distances during lockdown – floated by Health Secretary Matt Hancock last night – was not happening. 

In other developments:

• Mr Hancock confirmed there could be ‘local lockdowns’ in future if the test and trace system identifies coronavirus hotspots
• Mr Hancock also pledged to speak to the Treasury about whether fines imposed on families travelling for childcare purposes during lockdown should be reviewed in light of the Cummings controversy
• A witness to the alleged lockdown breach by Mr Cummings said he has been interviewed by police
• Mr Johnson said an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak needs to take place

A separate poll has provided more worries for Mr Johnson, with a majority of Conservative supporters saying Mr Cummings should be fired for breaking coronavirus rules. 

A poll from JL Partners for the Daily Mail revealed that 66 per cent of people think Cummings should leave his post amid the row, including 55 per cent of all Conservative voters. 

A further 63 per cent believe Boris Johnson should sack his right hand man, including 53 per cent of Tory supporters. 

Perhaps even more damning is the statistic that 80 per cent of people and almost three quarters of Conservative supporters agree that Cummings broke the rules he played a key role in drawing up. 

In further bleak news for the Prime Minister, the research suggests that former Labour voters in the ‘Red Wall’ in the North and Midlands have reacted particularly badly to the row.    

At 72 per cent, working class ‘C1/C2’ voters are more likely to think the government is behaving as though ‘it is one rule for them and another rule for everyone else’, while 69 per cent are more likely to say Cummings is not telling the truth than voters overall.

The new survey comes after Mr Johnson’s personal approval rating plummeted from 19 per cent to minus one per cent in days.    

The Liaison Committee includes William Wragg, who has said it was ‘humiliating and degrading’ to see ministers put out agreed lines in defence of Mr Cummings, and Caroline Nokes, who has informed her party whips there could not be ‘wriggle room’ for some people when it comes to lockdown rules.

Also among those questioning the PM will be Labour chairwoman of the Home Affairs Committee Yvette Cooper, and Tory chairman of the Health Committee Jeremy Hunt – who has said he believes Mr Cummings broke lockdown rules.

Mr Cummings said he had driven to Durham to isolate in a property on his father’s farm because of concerns over care for his four-year-old son if both he and his wife were incapacitated by Covid-19.

But a growing number of Conservative MPs have voiced their frustration over Mr Cummings after he expressed ‘no regrets’ about his trip. 

Scotland Office minister Douglas Ross quit the Government yesterday, saying he could not ‘in good faith’ defend Mr Cummings’ actions.

Tory grandee Sir Roger Gale 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,’ the North Thanet MP said.

‘There are people on the 1922 executive who are courageous, and that’s their job.

‘They are elected to tell the PM what he needs to hear, not what he wants to hear.’