Maajid Nawaz furious at Dominic Cummings flouting rules "What gives him the right?"

23 May 2020, 13:40

Maajid instant reaction to Dominic Cummings lockdown flouting

Sharing his own heartbreak of not allowing his son to visit his mother, Maajid Nawaz fumed at Dominic Cummings' flouting his own lockdown rules.

Maajid began his show by stressing that "the facts haven't yet quite emerged as to what happened" but he took some assumptions from the current news story of Boris Johnson's chief adviser being found to travel 250 miles to self isolate in Country Durham

He made the key point that "Dominic Cummings had somewhere safe to reside in London" while suffering with coronavirus and this should be the end of the argument as to whether or not he was acting responsibly.

Maajid added that it is irrelevant "whether in Durham he stayed in a separate house" to his parents as he ultimately shouldn't have travelled so far in the first place. "One imagines you stop for a loo break on the way" he said, suggesting that Mr Cummings could have come in contact with other people on his journey.

"The mere travelling 250 miles when you have coronavirus is precisely what the government was telling everybody not to do" he argued, insisting that there is no way the government can salvage this and it is obvious that Mr Cummings did the wrong thing.

Maajid's temper began to flare and called out the government's chief advisor, saying "do not tell me you don't have the ability nor the resources for your family to stay in London."

He demanded people to have consideration for those who are obeying the rules when defending Mr Cummings and his apparent flouting of his own rules. Maajid used the example of his cousins who were unable to go to their grandmother's funeral "because it wasn't allowed" but yet those in power are ignoring their advice.

Maajid added that his "own mother is desperate to see her own grandson" but "she's not allowed to come to my home to see her own grandson because that is not yet approved by government."

"I'm now wondering what gives the right to the chief advisor to the Prime Minister to travel when he has a home which he can stay in London" Maajid said. He argued that the story is unacceptable and Mr Cummings cannot defend his position, and must apologise.