Did that press conference convince Conservative MPs? A few. But what really matters is it convinced them Dominic Cummings can hold on to his job… more on @bbcr4today

MPs’ fury wasn’t overstated. One Brexiteer & Boris backer said they’d been bowled over by white hot anger of voters. Another called PM press conf on Saturday “morally repugnant”. Cabinet frustrated.

One fmr minister said press conference was “textbook Trump playbook performance” whose account “smells like bullshit”. Another that it was completely unconvincing and ill-advised

For a few there’s wholehearted support for Cummings who they think vital to No10. For more, his performance was pitched about right yesterday and should steady ship.

But some judgements made simply not on reasoning of Dominic Cummings’ actions, but his political support. If he’s staying, no upside at all in attacking him.

View out there that if a PM in middle of national crisis with vast majority and an election years away wants to keep an aide, he can keep an aide. For now, that’s what he’s doing. They can’t force his hand.

It’s just that as Dominic Cummings never charmed MPs (remember him saying parts of ERG should be “treated like a metastasising tumour and excised from the UK body politic”) some just don’t see the point of him…

One says: “We are the government in very serious and sobering times and we’ve got an advisor spending political capital like it’s going out of fashion”