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On his blog about the counterattack against Boris Johnson: Dominic Cummings
Photo: TOBY MELVILLE / REUTERS
Former British government adviser Dominic Cummings has defended himself against allegations of being behind the publication of confidential text messages from Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Cummings wrote on his private blog on Friday that he was not "directly or indirectly" the source of the BBC story about an exchange of text messages between Johnson and entrepreneur James Dyson.
In the entry, Cummings accused Johnson's Secretary of Communications Jack Doyle of "making a number of false accusations against the media at the Prime Minister's request."
The former Johnson confidante had left his post on Downing Street after a bitter argument among close advisors in December.
The Times, Telegraph and Sun had previously reported, citing sources from Downing Street, that Cummings should have released the SMS messages.
The text message exchange between Johnson and Dyson last year was about possible tax breaks for Dyson's ventilator manufacturing company.
Johnson confessed to the news but defended his actions in the face of the crisis.
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Boris Johnson is criticized for contact with the vacuum cleaner company Dyson
Photo: RUI VIEIRA / AFP
In his blog article, Cummings accused the Conservative government of unjustified suspicion of several leaks in the media on him.
"It is sad to see the prime minister and his office fall so far below the standards of integrity and competence this country deserves," wrote Cummings.
At the same time, he came up with counter-allegations that put Johnson in a bad light: Cummings in turn accused the British Prime Minister of having blocked an internal investigation into earlier revelations because the person responsible was a friend of his fiancée Carry Symonds.
He also reported extensively about Johnson's alleged plans to secretly finance the renovation of his Downing Street apartment from private donors.
He refused to help Johnson with these plans, telling him that they were "unethical, foolish and possibly illegal," wrote Cummings.
He offered to repeat his allegations under oath and to substantiate them with private text messages.
A Downing Street spokesman dismissed all allegations against Johnson.
Cummings is considered one of the strategists of Johnson's Brexit campaign in 2016, but at the same time caused controversy with his confrontational style of politics.
According to media reports, there should have repeatedly been considerable disputes in the cabinet about the role of the advisor.
cop / dpa / AFP
