Barrister has reached out to Cummings in bid to stop Govt 'muzzling its critics'
1 July 2021, 13:57
'I've reached out to Dominic Cummings'
The Good Law Project's Jolyon Maugham QC revealed to James O'Brien he has reached out to Dominic Cummings in an effort to prevent the Government from "muzzling its critics."
It comes after the Financial Times reported that top government officials have investigated what legal action can be taken against former aide Dominic Cummings to prevent him releasing further information.
Since being sacked by Number 10, Mr Cummings has shared an abundance of damning revelations about the Government, via both Twitter and his blog, as well as during the inquiry in to the early handling of the pandemic.
Read more: Dominic Cummings: The key quotes from Boris Johnson's ex-adviser
The latest information shared by Cummings is a string of WhatsApp messages where the Prime Minister appeared to call the former Health Secretary Matt Hancock "totally f***ing hopeless."
Ministers and senior officials are secretly fearful that legally pursuing Cummings will turn him in to a martyr, a Government insider told the FT, so it is unlikely this decision will be made.
However, the Good Law Project's Jolyon Maugham told LBC he is prepared to support the former aide if this does occur.
Dominic Cummings confirms 'bodies piled high' comment
"We reached out on social media, I've reached out on Gmail to him privately," Mr Maugham said, "Dominic Cummings like everyone else in the Government operates a private address and is doing Government business using his Google Mail address.
"I reached out to him and I said look, we don't think Government should be muzzling its critics. All the power rests with Government. If you've got stuff and you need to say it and you think it's in the public interest for the public to hear it, then we will make sure so far as we can that you're in a position to do so."
Mr Maugham reflected, "It tells you something important about the law really, it's a neutral tool. It exists for people Good Law Project is natural allies with and it exists for people like Dominic Cummings who, it's probably not too strong to say, absolutely hate us.
"The law is neutral, it's for everybody."
