Dominic Cummings is haunted by a fear that he could end up in prison, according to reports in this weekend’s Sunday Times.
The prime minister’s former chief advisor has long been concerned that irregular spending during the Brexit referendum or his conduct in government could land him in hot water.
In 2018 the official Brexit campaign was found guilty of four charges of breaking electoral law, with serious questions raised over the coordination between Vote Leave and a smaller campaign, BeLeave.
The campaign group received a donation of more than £600,000 in the closing weeks of the referendum following advice from the Vote Leave director, Mr Cummings.
Vote Leave admitted there was email correspondence between a donor, Anthony Clake, and Mr Cummings about the donation.
An investigation concluded that there was a “common plan”, and therefore the law was broken.
Despite his public displays of bravado, Cummings has long been haunted by a fear that he could end up in prison: either over irregular spending during the Brexit referendum or his conduct in government. https://t.co/tK9BNQvYQJ
— Peter Jukes (@peterjukes) April 25, 2021
“Chatty rat”
It comes as the row between Cummings and Number 10 threatened to spill over this week.
The UK’s most senior civil servant is expected to indicate he has not cleared Boris Johnson’s former adviser over the so-called “chatty rat” leak of plans for a second lockdown.
Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, is expected to say his inquiry into the leak last autumn is still “live” when he appears before the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC).
Mr Cummings has accused Mr Johnson of seeking to block the investigation after learning that a close friend of his fiancee Carrie Symonds had been implicated, a claim the Prime Minister denied.
Incendiary blog post
In an incendiary blog post, Mr Cummings went on to say that Mr Case had told Mr Johnson that neither he nor the then No 10 director of communications Lee Cain was the culprit.
However officials familiar with the investigation said that it had neither “landed” on any one individual or exonerated anyone.
The disclosure is likely to further anger Mr Cummings who released his onslaught after he was accused by No 10 of a series of damaging leaks including text message exchanges between Mr Johnson and the entrepreneur Sir James Dyson.
Ministers are now concerned at what he may say when he gives evidence to MPs investigating the Government’s response to the pandemic next month.
Mr Cummings is widely known to have been critical of Mr Johnson’s delay in launching a second lockdown in England when cases began rising last autumn and there is speculation he will seek to blame him for the high death toll.
The Daily Mail carried a claim that following the lockdown the Prime Minister had said he would rather see “bodies pile high in their thousands” than order a third one.
Related: ‘There is no opposition in this country’: Reaction as ‘corrupt’ Johnson pulls ahead in the polls
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