BORIS Johnson has been given a roasting over his handling of the Dominic Cummings scandal by one of the longest serving Tory MPs.
Sir David Amess said he was "totally dissatisfied" with the way in which the issue was being dealt with and that there needed to be "immediate action".
The senior backbencher posted a message on his website to furious constituents this afternoon saying he had not "seen anything like" the present controversy since he was elected in 1983.
He said he had copied the message to the Prime Minister and his party's chief whip.
He called for the Prime Minister to suspend Cummings and for an inquiry to be held into his actions.
"Since I was first elected to parliament in 1983 there have been controversies about any number of special advisers, but none quite like the present controversy," he wrote.
"We are in the middle of a national crisis, as indeed is the rest of the world... I am only too well aware of the enormous sacrifices which we have all been asked to make.
"The full efforts of our nation, and most certainly our Government, should be focussed on ensuring that we get through this crisis as quickly as we possibly can. "
He added: "The present controversy is a complete distraction from those efforts, and I am totally dissatisfied with the way in which the issue is being handled. There needs to be immediate action, and without going into the arguments for and against the Chief Adviser’s position, he should be suspended from his office whilst a full and thorough independent investigation is held."
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