Dominic Cummings: UK could have “avoided lockdown” with “competent people” in charge

Cummings made the remarks in a lengthy Twitter tirade today

Dominic Cummings, ex-chief advisor to the Prime Minister, has claimed that the UK could have avoided lockdown if "competent people" were in charge of government. Cummings also said the UK lacked a proper plan to deal with the Covid outbreak. Having recently joined Twitter, Cummings has been posting a series of tweets criticising Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior cabinet ministers such as Matt Hancock. In the latest instalment of these tweets, Cummings says: "If we'd had the right preparations and competent people in charge, we would probably have avoided lockdown 1, definitely no need for lockdowns two and three." He added: "Given the plan was AWOL/disaster and awful decisions delayed everything, lockdown 1 became necessary." [caption id="attachment_273719" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Dominic Cummings makes a statement inside 10 Downing Street on May 25, 2020 in London, England. On March 31st 2020 Downing Street confirmed to journalists that Dominic Cummings was self-isolating with COVID-19 symptoms at his home in North London. Durham police instead said he was actually hundreds of miles away at his parent's house in the area. (Photo by Jonathan Brady-WPA Pool/Getty Images)[/caption] Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, around 127,000 lives have been lost in the UK. Cummings, until late last year, was Boris Johnson's political spin doctor and consigliere, after working alongside him on the Vote Leave campaign. He was largely credited as the mastermind behind many of Johnson's most controversial political decisions, such as the unlawful prorogation of parliament, making him fiercely unpopular with politicians on both sides of the house. His now infamous trip to Barnard Castle, which Johnson staunchly defended, put him front and centre of the political stage last year. He defended his actions in a now-infamous appearance on live news, despite not being an elected political official. Since resigning from his role in government, Cummings has repeatedly stuck the knife in with regards to the government's response to the pandemic. https://twitter.com/Dominic2306/status/1396115529811828736?s=20 Hindsight is a wonderful thing, eh? In a recent blog post, Cummings said "it is sad to see the PM and his office fall so far below the standards of competence and integrity the country deserves." He also claimed he lambasted Boris Johnson in relation to renovating his flat in Downing Street, even suggesting Johnson's behaviour could have been "illegal" - and says that he would be happy to "tell the Cabinet Secretary or the Electoral Commission what I know concerning this matter."