showed coronavirus symptoms. i believe that in every respect, he has acted responsibly and legally, and with integrity. the labour party have responded angrily to the developments. sir keir starmer said, if he was prime minister, he would have sacked mr cummings. this was a huge test of the prime minister, and he's just failed that test. he hasn't sacked dominic cummings, he hasn't called for an investigation, and he's treating the british public with contempt. more than 100 are arrested in hong kong during protests against beijing's new proposed security laws.

hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are henry mance, chief features writer at the ft, anna isaac, journalist at the wall streetjournal, and olivia utley, deputy leader writer and head of pr at the sun. one story dominates the front pages of tomorrow's papers, so let's start with the i, which suggests there's disarray in downing street, as the prime minister's chief adviser, dominic cummings, hangs on to his job after breaking lockdown rules to travel to durham in late march. the daily mail asks the question it says the whole country is asking, as the paper focuses on what it calls the furious backlash within the conservative party over boris johnson's support of mrcummings. the daily telegraph chooses to feature the prime minister's words of endorsement from this afternoon's downing street briefing, that dominic cummings's actions were the instincts of every father. the daily express says borisjohnson was defiant in his support for mr cummings, despite fury from mps

on all sides. the mirror, which was one of the papers to first break the story, calls mrjohnson and mr cummings a cheat and a coward for their actions. the sun newspaper combines the prime minister's backing of mr cummings with the confirmation that schools in england will begin to reopen on 1 june. and finally the guardian says borisjohnson was unapologetic at this afternoon's briefing, the paper saying he'd staked his reputation on saving the career of his chief adviser. so let's begin. what shall we talk about? only one subject, of course, dominic cummings and borisjohnson. we will begin, olivia, with the guardian. no apology, no explanation. pm that's all on cummings. that secondary headline, pm that's all on cummings, that is i think something every newspaper would agree with —— bets all on cummings. that's true, he has com pletely cummings. that's true, he has

completely intertwined his fate. it was steve baker earlier who was saying that dominic cummings is burning through boris johnson's political capital, which is absolutely true, and borisjohnson seems to be letting him. the reporter in the telegraph talks about how borisjohnson doesn't like confrontation so he seems to have decided not to have a confrontation with dominic cummings and instead to confront the whole country. sometimes governments do that by promoting them to a loftier title or giving them an ambassadorship somewhere, but this is, in some ways, ajohnson somewhere, but this is, in some ways, a johnson cummings administration. yes, absolutely. those people that were familiar with mrcummings those people that were familiar with mr cummings before this story broke new him to be absolutely tired to the brexit campaign. he has been with mrjohnson every step of the way into downing street. so it is no great surprise to see mrjohnson backing him now, but it is a surprise that you have so many papers, even those which have not quite turned hostile on the

issue, making a very clear point that, ok, you back to your man, but now you and your man share the same fate, that that has been a shift, i think. henry, from the financial times, we're going to look at the daily mail now, which i imagine might cause a intake of breath in downing street. what planet are they on is the headline. your colleague said when number ten talked about campaigning newspapers, criticising newspapers, it might not have had in mind the daily mail. yes, the phrase you referred to, campaigning newspapers, was a numberten you referred to, campaigning newspapers, was a number ten attempt to write off the criticism from, and indeed the investigative journalism of, the daily mirror and the guardian. they are papers critical of downing street in the first place. the daily mail was very excited when boris johnson won a big majority, not so excited now. i think it would only run a front page like this if it felt its readers

we re like this if it felt its readers were white hot with anger about this. and i think they have taken the judgement that that is the feeling of the country. and of course, if they are wrong, and if dominic cummings can survive this and borisjohnson dominic cummings can survive this and boris johnson can survive without making any kind of change to his administration, then it is a huge blow to the sort of power and authority of the daily mail. so it is high risk on both sides. but everything we are hearing is that the anger is spreading. it is not just mirror and the guardian. it is scientist, tory mps, cabinet ministers, even bishops of the church of england have been angrily talking about how they feel cheated and disappointed. so the daily mail does seem to be on the right side of the moment. one newspaper which number ten will turn to, usually the first one it probably tends to, is the daily telegraph, which says he has acted responsibly, legally and with integrity. a direct quote from the prime minister. olivia, does it look like telegraph editors are white hot with anger?|j look like telegraph editors are white hot with anger? i wouldn't say white hot with anger? i wouldn't say white hot with anger, but although

the headline is quite supportive, the headline is quite supportive, the main story they run is peppered with negative quotes from conservative mps. and i think it is worth bearing in mind, obviously the telegraph is hugely supportive of borisjohnson in the lead up to the election, but since the election, the telegraph has already kind of split with boris on hs2 and china. soi split with boris on hs2 and china. so i don't think it is quite the all—out boris is our star columnist, stars and fireworks when he won the election. i think that has changed a little bit. and i think this story, although the headline, as we said, is positive, shows that things might be shifting there. boris doesn't have a huge amount of friends in the media right now. it is very interesting. even though he was himself for many years a journalist, and isaac, let's look at that column, saying in the telegraph the inconvenient truth is thatjohnson needs an enforcer. yes, i should declare an interest in that it is my old paper but i think this column

when it talks about johnson not enjoying confrontation, of wanting to be loyal to people and be liked by people, is a very interesting insight into what kind of a conversation that has gone on, and for how long. we knew it was ours and hours in downing street. on the point of this is that it explores the relationship between johnson point of this is that it explores the relationship betweenjohnson and cummings, but also the role of ministerand cummings, but also the role of minister and advisor and the power balance therein. now, you have to, if you are in charge, be prepared to sack someone, be prepared to give them marching orders. but if that is something you struggle with, and you invest that attribute, you give someone that power on your behalf, as she suggests that boris does, mr cummings is there to do the stacking on his behalf, because he doesn't like to do it, then who do you turn to when it is on you, when mr johnson is faced with that dilemma, and he has to do the sacking? so if this is a fundamental character flaw, it has really been shown

up by this incident. the prime minister not wanting to confront might be useful in some situations and possibly not in others. moving onto the times, which is pretty sympathetic in its headline, cummings acted like any father, insists prime minister. yes, i think that headline is actually a red rag to many voters, who think it is a kind of challenge to their own parenting decisions over the last few weeks of lockdowns. so i think that headline, although supportive, is higher risk as a defence. i think these newspapers all highlight, really, the unanswered questions, and the idea that this story was going to be shut down just hasn't come to pass. and that is because you've got continuing new revelations, you've got unanswered questions, and you've got now the possibility of the police looking into a complaint by a durham man,

possibility of the police looking into a complaint bya durham man, a retired chemistry teacher. i think one of the really interesting questions is when did borisjohnson know that dominic cummings had gone to durham? did he effectively give him permission at the end of march, for this trip? if so, i think that really will bring this affair right to being one of the prime minister's judgement instead of being one of his close advisers. it does seem a long time since the culture secretary was on saturday tweeting end of story. it is very clearly not the end of the story. let's look at the end of the story. let's look at the daily express, whose headline is defiant boris stands by his man. i got belatedly this was a reference to the wynette song, which hillary clinton got in trouble for quoting earlier, it makes them if not a couple, certainly a pair. definitely, totally intertwined from

now onwards. we haven't actually talk about this, the fact that dominic cummings hasn't resigned. there was an interesting tweet by a former government advisor, not this government but the previous government, saying that what you get isa government, saying that what you get is a special advisor is you get quite a lot of power and influence with not very much accountability. so that is all great for you, but the deal is that you have to go when something goes wrong. you are expendable, you take the fall for your minister. we saw fiona hill when theresa may lost the election, her right—hand man and woman had to go straightaway. and dominic cummings hasn't felt the need to do that, which i think does add to the arrogant impression which i think is what is really annoying real people around the country, express readers, daily mail readers, who we have been talking about. remembering in the tony blair years, mendelsohn had to 90, tony blair years, mendelsohn had to go, and the nixon years, going back to the early 19705, the great

advisers had to go, and essentially advisers had to go, and essentially a simple question then derived from olivia's point, is mr cummings and stackable? well, i think it rests on really whether or not this ends up being a bubble story or whether it i’u ns being a bubble story or whether it runs and runs and runs —— unsackable. and there are a lot of signs that it looks like it is going to do the latter. i took a quick look at google trends to see if we were breaking out of the bubble with this story, and a lot of people were looking to find out who dominic cummings is. i think that speaks to this issue that we have broken beyond westminster. this isn't an internal question of high political drama. this is like one of your neighbours disobeying the lockdown rules and making you feel like you have been overly cautious and you have been overly cautious and you have missed out on some special time with your parents at times of great need. so i think it does prove to run and run, and we will start to see as we are seeing with anonymous quotes and some of these stories from cabinet ministers that people feel that the lockdown has been massively undermined, to quote one

who is cited in the telegraph. and that really does break us out of the bubble, if it is about national policy at a time of emergency failing. henry, given the fact that none of us can get on a trainerjust go for a ride without worrying about restrictions, can you at the ft work out if a story has broken out of the bubble? that is a great question, but i think... look, mps are people who get lots and lots of e—mails, and they can monitor to some degree the interest in it. newspapers tend to be read by people who are interested in the news, and they are a segment, possibly not even, you know, a large majority of the electorate, as you find out every election, and results like the brexit referendum show, that you don't entirely know what is on people's mines, but i think this is

so people's mines, but i think this is so central to people's lives at the moment, lockdown, what we are meant to do, the rules, there is such obedience and such coming together of people who wouldn't normally fall into line. we have turned into a much more obedient society than we thought we were. we thought we were liberal and british and we didn't like to be told what to do by the government. and so i really think that this is so obvious to people, that this is so obvious to people, that it will cut through. let's go to the daily mirror now. the story which along with the guardian first broke the story. a cheat and a coward the paper has, with dominic cummings and boris johnson coward the paper has, with dominic cummings and borisjohnson presented there, isaac, as equals. and i think there, isaac, as equals. and i think the little snippet that we saw where they mentioned the scientific advisers are saying that they feel that their policies that they have helped to contract dominic construct have been trashed. that is where we really start to see the potential for this story to run a bit

further, to as we said, break out of the bubble. that is because throughout this entire crisis, government and politicians have said we are following the scientific advice. we will be led by the scientific base. they have very squarely put that responsibility onto the scientist. and now to have more and more of these same scientists on social media and in the newspaper saying, well, you've trashed it, that becomes a much harder play to make. so the spin that was constructed at the start of this affair to try and protect politicians from having to make very costly decisions in terms of the economic damage to the nation to try and preserve the health of the nation are going to become more and more pressing. to have scientific advisers saying that they believe, stepping out of anonymity, stepping out of the shadows, coming forward and saying that they feel their advice has been trashed, is going to be very, very difficult going to be very, very difficult going forward. looking at our final paper, the sun, which is the only paper, the sun, which is the only paper of the stack i have which

mentions another story, about the staggered return to primary schools. olivia, you are at the sun. are you in the newsroom when these puns are written? intel is a bit about it.|j wasn't working today, but i think it is quite interesting that we have sort of drawn attention to another story, and also our leader tomorrow is talking more about, you know, the upcoming recession that we are going to face which is going to be the deepest recession this country has seenin deepest recession this country has seen in 50,60 deepest recession this country has seen in 50, 60 years possibly ever. it is kind of terrifying, and we have all distracted ourselves by this dominic cummings story, which is of course important, but there are other stories around. i think perhaps this is very bad for dominic cummings and boris johnson, perhaps this is very bad for dominic cummings and borisjohnson, but i think this story will run for a long time, partly because it is a good distraction. it is quite a nice thing for people to... not nice, but an interesting thing for people to dwell over and talk about over supper with their spouse. what do

you think about dominic cummings? do you think about dominic cummings? do you think about dominic cummings? do you think it was defensible? blah blah blah. so i think it is going to keep on coming. that is why it is important for us in the media to pull people's minds back to what else is going on, which is also obviously very important. henry, final word to you. does this one story give everyone in lockdown something to talk about? yes, absolutely, and i think people would love to have concrete changes in the way life is going. they would love schools to have clarity, and schools, work, public transport, all these things. but that isn't really forthcoming. it is a very piecemeal approach. the testing is really piecemeal. this is something you can get your teeth into while all the uncertainty is going on. henry, you said we were are more obedient country than we thought. you are a more obedient panel than i thought. thank you very much. that is it for the papers tonight.