GRANT Shapps has played down reports that the chief nursing officer for England has been unable or unwilling to take part in the No 10 press briefings because she would not defend Dominic Cummings.
The Transport Secretary told the daily Downing Street briefing that he expected Ruth May would be appearing again at future briefings.
“I don’t think it is true. She has attended them many times before. I notice that at the top of the No 10 Twitter feed I see one of her tweets pinned,” he said.
“I am absolutely sure she has been a regular contributor before and I am sure she will be back here again.”
READ MORE: Chief nurse dropped from briefing for 'refusing to back' Cummings
Boris Johnson’s top adviser sparked a row last month after travelling to Durham and Barnard Castle during lockdown while sick with Covid-19.
Number 10 and the Prime Minister have stood by the aide, even putting on an unprecedented press conference in the Downing Street Rose Garden where Cummings gave a statement and took questions on his journey.
The Independent reports that two days after deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam made headlines for saying lockdown rules “apply to all” when asked about the PM’s adviser, Ruth May was due to take part in the UK Government’s daily coronavirus briefing.
A senior NHS source told the newspaper that before the briefing was due to start a special adviser asked her how she would respond if she were asked about Cummings’s trip – and she replied that she would respond the same way as Van-Tam.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock presented the slides on Covid-19 himself afterwards, alongside John Newton from Public Health England.
The source said: “A No 10 SPAD [special adviser] asked her directly how she would answer the Dominic Cummings question and she refused to play along and told them she would answer the same way as Jonathan Van-Tam. She was dropped immediately from the press briefing.”
Another said: “JVT was the first to publicly push back on TV. Everyone is being asked to support the government positions prior to doing a press conference. If they don’t, they get dropped.
“First it was Dominic Cummings, then easing lockdown and now the R-rate and the two-metre rule.”
Van-Tam has not appeared at the Downing Street press briefings since May 30, when he made the comment about Cummings.
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