By defending Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson is betraying the trust of first-time Conservative voters

Editorial: The prime minister seems to have miscalculated the strength of public feeling, which is surprising given that the 10 Downing Street operation run by Mr Cummings often boasts of the speed and sophistication of its daily opinion polling

The prime minister has done his government lasting damage with his defence of Cummings (10 Downing Street/AFP via Getty)

We tried to warn the prime minister. The Independent said last weekend that Dominic Cummings had to furlough himself if Boris Johnson were to keep the authority he needed to lead the nation out of lockdown.

Instead, the prime minister defended him on Sunday and Mr Cummings himself gave a long account of himself on Monday. Neither attempt to justify and explain Mr Cummings’s trip to the north of England cut much ice with the British people, who remain overwhelmingly of the view that Mr Cummings broke the lockdown rules and that Mr Johnson operates a double standard by keeping him in his post.

By this weekend, the headlines had (mostly) moved on, but the public’s anger had not. As we report today from the “red wall” – the former Labour heartland of northern England and north Wales – those voters who entrusted the Conservatives with their support for the first time feel particularly let down.