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Piers Morgan blames Dominic Cummings for 'destroying' lockdown on explosive GMB return

Piers Morgan is back on Good Morning Britain (1 June) and has wasted no time in laying into the government’s handling of the Dominic Cummings scandal.

The divisive presenter has returned after a week-off, and in the opening moments of the show declared Cummings’ trip to Durham has “single-handedly destroyed” the coronavirus lockdown.

News broke Cummings and his wife had driven to Durham just as Morgan started a scheduled break, and while he has used his Twitter platform to lay into the prime minister’s top adviser, this was the 55-year-old’s first opportunity to do so on air.

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Talking of the scandal, Morgan said: “He’s single-handedly destroyed the lockdown.

“He’s destroyed trust in the government. He needs to go. God knows what Cummings had on Boris Johnson.

Piers Morgan presents Good Morning Britain alongside Susanna Reid. (ITV)
Piers Morgan presents Good Morning Britain alongside Susanna Reid. (ITV)

“Every part of this story stinks. There he is, the guy who made the rules as if nothing happened. Britain has basically gone ‘forget the rule’.

“It’s one rule for them and one rule for us.”

Co-host Reid added: “If the person who helped set the rules can break the rules, why should anyone else stick to the rules?”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's top aide Dominic Cummings leaves his north London home as the row over his trip to Durham during lockdown continues. (Photo by Victoria Jones/PA Images via Getty Images)
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's top aide Dominic Cummings leaves his north London home as the row over his trip to Durham during lockdown continues. (Photo by Victoria Jones/PA Images via Getty Images)

After the scandal broke Cummings took to 10 Downing Street’s rose garden to explain his actions, saying he and his family made the trip to Durham in order guarantee they had childcare support as both he and his wife had COVID-19 symptoms.

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He insisted the subsequent trip to Barnard Castle, a thirty mile drive from the cottage he was staying in, was simply to make sure he was fit to drive as the virus had made his eyesight “weird”.

Police later confirmed Cummings definitely broke lockdown rules but said no further action would be taken.

The scandal has been a near constant subject in the media, and anger was such that a petition calling for Cummings to lose his job had more than one million signatures.