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Conservative MPs are angry that no more time was spent ensuring that the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) “got their sums right” amid growing concern over Number 10’s handling of the crisis.
Summing up the party’s point of view, a conservative veteran said: “There is no question that he was deliberately informed to properly thwart the deliberations on this. You cannot run a government like this.
“At the most critical moments, you need close and hermetic communications. You need to be able to trust ministers and you need to be able to trust officials. At the moment, the Prime Minister doesn’t seem to trust anyone.
Now, to add insult to injury, there are suggestions that one of those at Friday’s pow-wow may have made calls to select newspapers Friday night out of frustration at Johnson’s “hesitation.”
As a Cabinet source put it: “If he was forced to make a decision, then it may have been a response to his tendency to nod and agree on anything. It doesn’t excuse the leak, but it could explain it.”
Seemingly condemned if he does and condemned if he doesn’t, the Prime Minister is accused of taking too long and not enough.
Amid much discussion about which minister had the most to gain from the leak, Johnson’s closest aides are now under increased scrutiny.
The Telegraph has learned that the attendees include Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s senior adviser, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, Lee Cain, Downing Street Communications Director and Sir Eddie Lister, the Prime Minister’s chief strategic adviser.
Also present were Professor Chris Whitty, Government Medical Director, and Sir Patrick Vallance, Senior Scientific Advisor.
Naturally, conservatives are willing to implicate Cummings, described by one as “in charge.”
The deputy added: “They call it a ‘quad,’ but it actually has five members unless you count Gove and Cummings as one, which a lot of people do. They have both been desperate because Boris didn’t decide to lock himself up in September. They are obsessed with the mortality rate “.
Suspicions about Gove’s involvement intensified after he appeared to contradict government policy on Sunday by suggesting the shutdown could extend beyond December 2.
