THERE is something deeply distasteful about Dominic Cummings’ latest release.

His criticism of Health Secretary Matt Hancock continues to be devastating, and he has now handed Labour an alliterative tagline – “Hopeless Hancock” – but for all the colourful language, Mr Cummings didn’t yesterday tell us anything new: we knew that the procurement of PPE and the application of testing were both deeply flawed in the early stages of the pandemic.

Mr Cummings says that his motivation in releasing these details and documents is to get to the truth. That is commendable.

This, though, is a very one-sided truth. It’s his truth.

He ends his 7,000 word essay – in which he appears to be the only person who never put a foot wrong in those unsettling early days – by urging readers to subscribe to his blog.

How is this different from the way David Cameron took information from his time in office and tried to use it to the benefit of his new private employers? Mr Cummings is using information from his time in Government for the benefit of his new private blog.

It all calls into question Mr Johnson’s judgement, not just in keeping hold of “Hopeless Hancock” but in having someone so disloyal and destabilising in the heart of government as Mr Cummings.