Dominic Cummings Says Ministers "Fell Disastrously Short" in Covid Handling
Published Date: 5/26/2021
Source: Bloomberg Quicktake: Now
Boris Johnson's former aide Dominic Cummings began his testimony to the U.K. Parliament by telling MPs that “senior ministers, senior officials, advisers fell disastrously short of the standards that the public has a right to expect in a crisis like this.” “When the public needed us most, the government failed,” Cummings said. “I want to say sorry.” Johnson is facing an onslaught of criticism over his handling of the pandemic and his suitability to be British prime minister from Cummings. Giving evidence to a parliamentary hearing, Cummings said Johnson did not take the Covid crisis seriously enough at the start and isn’t suited to the role of premier. He said ministers had “disastrously” failed the public, revealing that he had repeatedly urged Johnson to fire Health Secretary Matt Hancock for allegedly lying. The risk for Johnson is that the revelations bring an abrupt end to the run of positive headlines he’s received over the U.K.’s successful vaccine rollout, and optimism over the end of lockdown, even though Cummings himself is a controversial character. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake: https://cor.us/surveys/27AF30 Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQuickTakeNews Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake