Boris Johnson has ‘trashed’ public trust and adherence to lockdown, government advisers warned last night.
Psychology professor Stephen Reicher said the Prime Minister’s defence of Dominic Cummings had threatened the UK’s fight against coronavirus.
The University of St Andrews academic, who serves on the Sage committee advising the Government on behavioural science, tweeted: ‘I can say that in a few short minutes tonight, Boris Johnson has trashed all the advice we have given on how to build trust and secure adherence to the measures necessary to control Covid-19.
Boris Johnson has ‘trashed’ public trust and adherence to lockdown, Government advisers warned last night. Pictured: Mr Johnson during tonight’s Dowing Street press briefing
Psychology professor Stephen Reicher (pictured) said the Prime Minister’s defence of Dominic Cummings had threatened the UK’s fight against coronavirus
‘Be open and honest, we said. Trashed. Respect the public, we said. Trashed. Ensure equity, so everyone is treated the same, we said. Trashed. Be consistent we said. Trashed. Make clear “we are all in it together”. Trashed.’
Shortly after the comment was shared, three other government advisers, two also on the committee, echoed Professor Reicher’s anger.
On Saturday, the Government said Mr Cummings had acted ‘reasonably and legally’ in response to claims he had driven 270 miles from London to Durham with his wife amid the nationwide lockdown.
Retired chemistry teacher Robin Lees then claimed he saw Mr Cummings and his family on April 12 walking in the town of Barnard Castle, according to The Guardian and The Mirror.
On Saturday, the Government said Mr Cummings had acted ‘reasonably and legally’ in response to claims he had driven 270 miles from London to Durham with his wife amid the nationwide lockdown. Pictured: Mr Cummings leaving No. 10 today
The town is 30 miles from Durham, where the aide had been self-isolating. Mr Lees has reportedly made a complaint to the police.
Mr Cummings was photographed back in Downing Street on April 14 before a passerby claimed to have seen him in Durham again on April 19.
But despite ten Tory backbenchers demanding Mr Cummings’s head, Mr Johnson refused to bow to public and political pressure to sack his top aide.
He claimed Mr Cummings had ‘no alternative’ but to make the journey when both he and his wife Mary Wakefield were ‘about to be incapacitated by coronavirus.’
The prime minister said he had ‘extensive face-to-face’ talks with Mr Cummings, claiming his close associate had ‘acted responsibly, legally and with integrity’.
Following Professor Reicher’s Tweet, Susan Michie, professor of health psychology at University College London said: ‘I don’t want science to be dragged down by association with dishonesty.
Shortly after the comment was shared, three other Government advisers also on the committee, including Professor Susan Michie (left) and Professor Robert West (right), who echoed Professor Reicher’s anger
‘My fear is that science, which is key to getting through this pandemic, will be diminished in the eyes of the public.’
Robert West, also part of the advisory group, backed his colleagues as he shared Professor Michie’s post.
Professor West had earlier tweeted: ‘Conservative MPs and supporters must be feeling alarmed at what is going on in government. It is nothing short of a shambles with Trumpian levels of deceit.
‘The people of this country are being treated like idiots and I doubt that they will stand for it.’
He also implored the public to continue following the guidance on the lockdown, adding: ‘There is a natural human tendency to say, “If someone else can flout it, so can I”, but who will suffer? Dominic Cummings won’t suffer if we abandon it, the Prime Minister won’t suffer – it will be the people who we love who will suffer.
Epidemiologist on the Government’s Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling Adam Kurcharski (pictured) said it’s going to be more difficult to achieve contact tracing through public adherence
Adam Kucharski, an epidemiologist on the Government’s Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, added: ‘I spent this weekend refining our contact tracing analysis.
‘One of the things that’s always stood out is that for these targeted measures to work, we need public adherence to quarantine to be very high.
‘But I fear it’s now going to be far more difficult to achieve this.’