Advertisement
UK markets closed
  • FTSE 100

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • FTSE 250

    19,884.73
    +74.07 (+0.37%)
     
  • AIM

    743.26
    +1.15 (+0.15%)
     
  • GBP/EUR

    1.1696
    +0.0027 (+0.23%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2622
    -0.0016 (-0.13%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    56,064.57
    +1,083.66 (+1.97%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,254.35
    +5.86 (+0.11%)
     
  • DOW

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    83.11
    -0.06 (-0.07%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,254.80
    +16.40 (+0.73%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • DAX

    18,492.49
    +15.40 (+0.08%)
     
  • CAC 40

    8,205.81
    +1.00 (+0.01%)
     

'My mother died alone': Headteacher posts open letter condemning Dominic Cummings as 'arrogance personified'

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's senior aide Dominic Cummings leaves his north London home, as lockdown questions continue to bombard the Government after it emerged that he travelled to his parents' home despite coronavirus-related restrictions.
Dominic Cummings leaves his north London home. (PA)

A headteacher has sent a furious letter to his local MP demanding Dominic Cummings resign for flouting coronavirus lockdown rules.

John Tomsett, the headteacher at Huntington School in York, said the strict social-distancing measures meant his mother had died alone in a care home since he was unable to visit her.

In an open letter posted on his Twitter account, Tomsett said the rules, partially created by Cummings, meant he hadn’t seen her in the “last few weeks and days of her life”.

Instead he was only able to say his last words to her over the phone, according to The Press.

Tomsett told Sky News on Sunday that the revelation of Cummings’s alleged 260-mile round trip to visit family in Durham had “tipped him over the edge”.

ADVERTISEMENT

"You can't have one rule for one set of people and one for another, I'm finding it really hard to accept,” he said.

"He [Cummings] has shown a real arrogance for what he did. It’s just too much, it’s been a really difficult experience.

"Everybody has taken the hit during the lockdown, everyone has suffered."

In his open letter to York Outer MP Julian Sturdy, Tomsett blasted the prime minister’s adviser for his response to the accusations – which he said was “arrogance personified”.

“I know you [Sturdy] to be a man of integrity and intelligence. I am sure you can appreciate why I am appalled at Cummings’ disregard for the lockdown rules he had a hand in making,” the letter reads.

“Please make my story known to Number 10. There are thousands of similar stories across the land.”

Cummings has denied returning to Durham in April, weeks after his initial time spent self-isolating in the region.

Speaking outside his London home on Sunday, after one journalist asked if he went back to Durham in April, Cummings said: "No, I did not."

The Labour Party has called for Johnson to front the daily Downing Street press conference to explain what went on, and is demanding an investigation into Cummings' behaviour.

The prime minister defended Cummings after news surfaced that he had travelled to Durham.

But Downing Street said it would "not waste time" replying to fresh allegations from "campaigning newspapers".

Coronavirus: what happened today

Click here to sign up to the latest news, advice and information with our daily Catch-up newsletter

Read more about COVID-19

How to get a coronavirus test if you have symptoms
What you can and can’t do under lockdown rules
In pictures: How UK school classrooms could look in new normal
How public transport could look after lockdown
How our public spaces will change in the future

Help and advice

Read the full list of official FAQs here
10 tips from the NHS to help deal with anxiety
What to do if you think you have symptoms
How to get help if you've been furloughed