Dominic Cummings launches attack on Boris Johnson's 'integrity'

Dominic Cummings has launched a blistering attack on his old boss Boris Johnson, questioning his "competence and integrity".

The former top adviser denied leaking text messages sent between Mr Johnson and businessman Sir James Dyson.

And he claimed Mr Johnson had a "possibly illegal" plan for donors to pay for renovations of the Downing Street flat.

He also denied leaking details of the second Covid lockdown in England.

Mr Cummings was forced out of his Downing Street role at the end of last year, following an internal power struggle.

This is an explosive intervention from a man Boris Johnson used to count on as one of his closest allies.

And if you're tempted to roll your eyes and think it's just sour grapes from a jilted advisor, think again.

Dominic Cummings' blog is proof that he is willing to lift the lid on his time at the heart of Downing Street, regardless of how it reflects on the Prime Minister.

Beyond his denial of leaking text messages, he has also given his version of events relating to two potential political weak spots for Boris Johnson.

They are the financing of the renovation of the Downing Street flat and the leaking of a move to impose a lockdown.

The level of detail shows that Mr Cummings is willing to expose others while defending himself and lay bare the inner workings of number ten.

Several newspapers ran front page stories suggesting Mr Cummings was the source of leaked emails between Mr Johnson and Sir James Dyson, first reported this week by the BBC.

The BBC - whose political editor Laura Kuenssberg first reported on the text messages on Tuesday - said it did not discuss the sources of stories.

Asked whether he had blamed his former adviser for it, Mr Johnson said: "I don't think people give a monkey's, to be frank, about who is briefing what to who."

No 10 has launched an inquiry into who leaked the text messages.

The text exchange between Mr Johnson and Sir James happened in March last year, after the government asked companies to help build thousands of ventilators needed to deal with very ill patients.

In it, the prime minister agreed to "fix" concerns the businessman had tax bills for his Singapore-based staff if they moved to the UK to do this.

Writing on his blog, Mr Cummings said: "I was not directly or indirectly a/the source for the BBC/Kuenssberg story on the PM/Dyson texts."

He adds: "I am happy to meet with the cabinet secretary and for him to search my phone for Dyson messages."

Mr Cummings continues that he is "happy for No 10 to publish every email I received and sent July 2019-November 2020".

He also calls for an "urgent parliamentary inquiry into the government's conduct over the Covid crisis", adding that he thinks Mr Johnson has fallen "far below" the standards of "competence" the "country deserves".

Mr Cummings promises to answer questions about "any" issues when he appears before a parliamentary committee on 26 May.

In his blog, he claims the prime minister planned to have donors "secretly pay" for renovation of the Downing street flat.

He adds that Mr Johnson "stopped speaking to me about the matter in 2020", as he told him the plans were "unethical, foolish, possibly illegal and almost certainly broke the rules on proper disclosure of political donations if conducted in the way he intended".

Mr Cummings says he would be "happy to tell the cabinet secretary or Electoral Commission" what he knew about the matter but that his knowledge is "limited".

Denying being the source of a leak last year ahead of the second Covid lockdown in November, he says an inquiry at the time found that neither he nor the then-Downing Street director of communications, Lee Cain, had been responsible.

He adds that the events around inquiry "contributed to [his] decision to stick to [his] plan to leave No 10 by 18 December", which he says were "communicated to the prime minister in July".

Earlier on Friday, the government said that "costs of wider refurbishment in this year have been met by the Prime Minister personally."

Earlier, Downing Street declined to comment on "speculation" that Mr Cummings - who quit his government job last November after a row over his role as the PM's chief adviser - had leaked the texts.

On a visit to Derbyshire, Mr Johnson said anyone who thought there was something "dodgy or rum" in his dealings with Sir James Dyson was "out of their mind".

But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the it was "increasingly obvious" the prime minister was involved in "sleaze".