THE ongoing debate over the Boris Johnson/Dominic Cummings spat and refurbishment of the Prime Minister’s Downing Street flat continued to dominate the comment sections of the newspapers.

The Daily Mail

Stephen Glover said Boris Johnson is digging himself into a deeper hole.

“It still hasn’t been explained how and when the PM came up with £58,000 to pay off the costs of refurbishments to his Downing Street flat,” he said. “The Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case, rather limply told a Commons committee yesterday afternoon that he did ‘not have all of the facts’, though he promised a review.”

He said the Prime Minister’s championing of Cummings - who wrote a 1,000-word blog accusing the PM of being ‘unethical’ and falling ‘below the standards of competence and integrity the country deserves’ - called into question Johnson’s judgement.

“Sleaze stories have a habit of mounting up before creating an irrevocable impression. Can Boris Johnson get a grip? He needs to very soon, not least because that clear-thinking career psychopath Dominic Cummings is plotting his demise.”

The Daily Express

Leo McKinstry said the Prime Minister has been badly distracted by the allegations of sleaze at No10, fuelled by a torrent of damaging leaks from an insider known only as “Chatty Rat”.

“Supposedly armed with “a treasure trove” of incriminating material, Cummings seems determined to wage his vendetta until he destroys Johnson, although he insists he is not Chatty Rat, preferring to conduct his assault in the open,” he said. “Even so, the controversy may not be as dangerous to Johnson as it appears. There are a number of factors in his favour.”

He said none of the allegations have contained any real substance, there has been no gain from the public purse, no sign of clear malpractice.

“Cummings, with his own dubious lockdown record, can hardly pose as a champion of public rectitude. As Johnson said, what really interests voters is whether the Government delivers the vaccine programme and the economic recovery.”

The Guardian

Author Iain Overton said political scandals should not be exposed by leaks.

“Rather they should be in the public domain, open for scrutiny,” he said. “Conflicts of interests should be published on government contracts, and political donations listed on the register. Lack of transparency plays a huge part in these lobby scandals, and this has been the case for years. The proposed inquiries into lobbying should have happened decades ago.

“Here is a government that shows repeated contempt for transparency and accountability. Only by addressing that will our democracy be in a stronger place to end cronyism.”