Attorney General says she does not regret defending Dominic Cummings over lockdown trip
Suella Braverman has said she does not regret tweeting her support for Dominic Cummings
2 min read
The Attorney General has said she does not regret defending Dominic Cummings in a tweet over his controversial lockdown trip.
Suella Braverman has denied her message of support for the Prime Minister's chief aide was a "legal opinion" as she hit out at the "needless politicisation" of the row.
The chief legal adviser to the Government,had come under fire after she retweeted a message from Number 10 saying it believed Mr Cummings had acted "responsibly and legally".
Alongside a raft of senior cabinet ministers who tweeted their support for the senior aide, Ms Braverman had added: "Protecting one's family is what any good parent does.
"The 10 Downing Street statement clarifies the situation and it is wholly inappropriate to politicise it."
But facing questions from MPs during a session of the Commons justice committee, she said she "didn't offer any legal view".
"I don't think a tweet of some 10 words can really be described as a legal opinion and I'm sure the lawyers around this room will be very familiar with what a legal opinion looks like and how long it often takes to read them," the minister said.
"I don't think there's any question that I offered a public legal view.
"I have made it clear, I wasn't offering a legal opinion. I don't regret tweeting in the way that I did and it was a welcoming of the clarification in what was a needless politicisation of an issue."
And hitting back at claims from critics her support for Mr Cummings had undermined her role as a legal adviser, she denied there had been "serious implications" from her comments.
"I don't think it was a legal opinion in any sense of the word," she said.
"I don't think it was outside the remit of what I can and cannot do or what I can and cannot say, and I don't think it breached any constitutional boundaries.
"I don't regret what I did and I don't think there were any serious implications."
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