Church Of England Bishops Slam Gov't For Defending Senior Adviser Over Lockdown Trip

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2020) Several leading Church of England bishops have slammed the government for defending Prime Minister Boris Johnson's senior adviser Dominic Cummings after reports emerged over the weekend that he had flouted the UK's social distancing regulations to visit his parents.

Over the weekend, The Guardian newspaper reported that Cummings, the architect of the UK's Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 Brexit referendum and senior adviser to Johnson, flouted lockdown rules more than once and traveled from London to Durham, in northeast England, with his family during the ongoing pandemic.

"Unless very soon we see clear repentance, including the sacking of Cummings, I no longer know how we can trust what ministers say sufficiently for @churchofengland to work together with them on the pandemic," Bishop of Manchester David Walker wrote on Twitter.

Bishop of Leeds Nick Baines shared these sentiments and said that the government had patronized and lied to the UK population.

"The question now is: do we accept being lied to, patronised and treated by a PM as mugs? The moral question is not for Cummings - it is for PM and ministers/MPs who find this behaviour acceptable. What are we to teach our children? (I ask as a responsible father.)," Baines wrote on Twitter.

Cummings has justified his actions by saying that he and his wife wanted to ensure that they could guarantee childcare should they fall ill with COVID-19.

Leading opposition figures such as Labour leader Keir Starmer have slammed the government and called for Cummings to be fired.

Johnson has stated that his adviser acted responsibly, and many cabinet ministers have rallied in his support. However, several Conservative Party lawmakers, such as Steve Baker, have demanded Cummings's resignation.