# Cummings tells MPs the government failed on COVID-19

Date: 2021

On 26 May 2021 former Downing Street adviser [Dominic Cummings](/people/dominic-cummings) told a joint parliamentary committee that tens of thousands of people had died needlessly because of government mistakes in handling the [COVID-19 pandemic](/drivers/covid-19-pandemic). He said senior ministers, officials and advisers, himself included, had fallen disastrously short, and claimed Health Secretary Matt Hancock should have been sacked, which Hancock denied.

## People

- Dominic Cummings: https://factrail.ai/people/dominic-cummings

## Sources

- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-57253578

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/cummings-select-committee-covid-testimony-2021-05-26