Dominic Cummings’ private texts and the public interest

‘A simpler explanation for Cummings might be that he’s not very bright,’ writes Michael Ayton. Photograph: Toby Melville/ReutersIt is more than a decade since the House of Commons authority refused to disclose details of MPs’ expenses with the claim that this “would compromise the privacy of the MP”. A government source now deploys this same specious contention to protect the executive, saying: “If MPs want to seize the private texts of advisers …