British Minister Resigns over Coronavirus Row

A minister in the British government resigned, Tuesday, for questioning the justifications given by Dominic Cummings, Chief Aide to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who broke lockdown rules by traveling 264 miles across the country.

[caption id="attachment_128800" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Dominic Cummings[/caption]

“I haven't commented publicly on the situation with Dominic Cummings as I have waited to hear the full details. I welcome the statement to clarify matters, but there remains aspects of the explanation which I have trouble with. As a result I have resigned as a government minister,” said Douglas Ross, Minister of State for Scotland, after a news conference by the Deputy Prime Minister in which he justified the reasons for Cummings’s breaches of the restrictions.

https://twitter.com/Douglas4Moray/status/1265196839231533057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1265196839231533057&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2Flive%2F2020%2Fmay%2F26%2Fuk-coronavirus-live-dominic-cummings-boris-johnson-latest-updates%3Fpage%3Dwith%253Ablock-5eccd3a78f0864e579f17bd1

Cummings had sparked controversy after traveling to northern England during the general isolation measures, which were imposed to contain the novel coronavirus.

Controversy Sparked Across British Officials

On his part, British Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove said Cummings "acted in a reasonable manner," describing him as "a man of integrity”.

[caption id="attachment_128799" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] British Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove[/caption]

Gove, a long-time ally of Cummings, stressed that the latter had not violated the text of government guidelines on public isolation measures, but was simply "trying to care for his wife and four-year-old son."

"Cummings fully understands the feelings people felt when this story spread... Most people will understand that he was under pressure and sought to put the health of his wife and son first,”  Gove told the BB

“He is a man of honor and integrity.”

When highlighted that driving when your eyesight is not good enough is an offence under the Road Traffic Act, Gove replied: “Dominic’s eyesight was good enough, that was the whole point of the journey, to determine that he could drive safely.”

Asked about her reaction to the resignation of Scotland office minister Ross, the first minister Nicola Sturgeon said “fair play to him”.

The UK’s widely-spread magazine the Guardian reported that Sturgeon noted that whilst she had already made clear her views on the handling of the row and the “retrospective re-writing of the rules”, she believed that he had taken a “principled position”.