ENGLAND’S chief nurse has said that she was dropped from a daily coronavirus briefing after refusing to back Dominic Cummings.
Although Ruth May said she did not know the exact reason why she had been dropped, it came after her refusal to condone Cummings's trip to Durham in a rehearsal for the briefing.
At the time of the June 1 briefing, journalists were told the head nurse would not be attending as she may have been stuck in traffic.
Speaking to Westminster’s Public Accounts Committee today, May, who is the chief nursing officer for England, said: “It is indeed true I was dropped from the briefing but that happened to many of my colleagues as well.”
READ MORE: READ: Full Durham police statement on Dominic Cummings lockdown breach
Meg Hillier, a Labour MP and the chair of committee, asked: “Were you at any point in that preparation for the press briefing being asked to defend the actions of one of the Prime Minister’s senior advisers?”
May replied: “As with all press briefings we talk about lots of these preparation questions and yes, of course I was asked about lockdown and rules to lockdown, yes.”
“And what are your views about lockdown and the actions of Dominic Cummings at that time?” Hillier asked.
“I believe that, in my opinion the rules were clear and they were there for everyone’s safety and they applied to us all.
“They certainly applied to all of us, including me,” May responded.
READ MORE: Daily briefing: England's deputy CMO makes views on Cummings clear
A few days before the incident, on May 28, Prime Minister Johnson prevented Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, from answering questions about Cummings.
“It’s very, very important that our medical officers and scientific advisers do not get dragged into what I think most people would recognise is fundamentally a political argument,” Johnson said.
UK Labour leader Keir Starmer said it was “extraordinary that the Prime Minister had stopped the scientists being able to answer a question put to them by journalists”.
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