'Clear demonstration of contempt from a sitting PM,' says JK Rowling over Cummings row

Best-selling British author JK Rowling on Monday slammed UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for defending top aide Dominic Cummings for breaching nationwide lockdown rules saying that this was a 'clear demonstration of contempt' from a sitting Prime Minister. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday defied pressure from his own party and the public and backed Cummings after the latter travelled over 400 km to his parents’ house to ensure the safety of his four-year-old son since both he and his wife showed COVID-19 positive symptoms.

JK Rowling lashed out at both the Prime Minister and his advisor saying, "Grieving families have been split, funerals have been unattended, the dying have been forced to say their farewells via iPads, because people obeyed the rules to protect the NHS & save lives, and Johnson stands there defending Cummings."

Read: Boris Johnson’s Top Aide Dominic Cummings Accused Of Flouting Lockdown Rules

Dominic Cummings' trip caused a nationwide outcry with UK’s main opposition party, the Labour Party, calling for an urgent investigation into the matter. Boris Johnson had rejected calls of sacking Cummings saying, "I've concluded that in travelling to find the right kind of childcare at the moment when both he and his wife were about to be incapacitated by Coronavirus, and when he had no alternative, I think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent." 

Cummings has been a highly controversial figure in British politics since masterminding the successful 2016 Brexit campaign alongside Johnson.

Read: UK's Labour Party Calls For Urgent Inquiry Into PM Adviser Cummings' Lockdown Trip

Read: UK PM's Adviser Cummings Says He Will 'obviously Not' Resign After Defying Lockdown

(With Agency Inputs)