Veteran MP Sir Christopher Chope wrote to Benjamin Chadwick, who had sent him a letter concerning Cummings’ actions.
Chadwick claims that in his response Chope commended the senior aide’s “work ethic” while slamming government social distancing guidelines and migrants.
Chope is no stranger to controversy, and has hit the headlines on numerous occasions. In June 2018, Chope blocked the passage of a private member’s bill outlawing upskirting and in November of the same year, he voted against legislation to protect girls at risk from female genital mutilation.
In his letter to Benjamin Chadwick, Chope said Cummings should be left alone to resolve “many outstanding issues” before blaming the “financial burden” and “logistical nightmare” of easing lockdown on the two metre distancing rule.
“The 2m social distance guideline which is twice that of the World Health Organisation guideline of 1m… is adding to immensely to the financial burden and logistical nightmare of relaxing lockdown.”
Chope then moved on to issues closer to his heart. He criticised new government quarantine measures for UK entrants and ranted about migrants arriving in Dover.
“This makes a mockery of our border controls, public health protection policy and the ridiculous proposals to introduce ‘quarantine’ for everyone arriving lawfully in the UK from 8th June,” he wrote.
R-value close to one
The reproductive rate of coronavirus is close to one in parts of the country ahead of the partial easing of lockdown measures, the UK Government’s chief scientific adviser has said.
Sir Patrick Vallance told Thursday’s Downing Street press conference that the country was in a “fragile state” and that measures will need to be eased carefully.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the Government’s five tests required for the next phase of restrictions to begin have been met, which included reducing the rate of infection to manageable levels across the board.
Sir Patrick warned the public should expect local outbreaks of the virus and that there were currently about 8,000 new cases per day.
He said: “That is not a low number, so it’s worth remembering that we still have a significant burden of infection, we are still seeing new infections every day at quite a significant rate and the R is close to one.
“That means there is not a lot of room to do things and things need to be done cautiously, step by step and monitored, and the test and trace system needs to be effective in order to manage that.”
Related – PM’s wrap to Committee – *I got under 21 mins before Dom has got to go*