A BRIGHTON MP has blasted Dominic Cummings for boasting while giving evidence to MPs on the government’s coronavirus response.

Caroline Lucas said the former adviser to Boris Johnson was putting forward a “weird self-advancing mix of apology and humblebrag” when speaking to the government’s health and science committees earlier today.

Mr Cummings, Mr Johnson’s former aide, has been shedding light on the handling of the pandemic while he was at No 10.

He has blamed the government’s secrecy over the coronavirus response for the “catastrophe” in spring 2020, saying the Covid plan was supposed to be “world class” but turned out to be “part disaster, part non-existent”.

In a tweet, Ms Lucas, Green MP of Brighton Pavilion, said that his evidence showed the government’s pandemic response was “chaotic” and labelled the Health Secretary Matt Hancock as “out of his depth.”

She wrote: “Could do without #Cummings weird self-advancing mix of apology and humblebrag suggesting he was so ahead of advisers – but he did show the chaotic back of envelope Govt with an out-of-depth Health Sec in position at the gift of an incompetent PM.”

Mr Cummings who left Downing Street last year, told the committee he was sorry that ministers, officials and advisers had fallen “disastrously short” of the standards the public should expect in a crisis.

He told the MPs: “The truth is that senior ministers, senior officials, senior advisers like me fell disastrously short of the standards that the public has a right to expect of its government in a crisis like this.

“When the public needed us most the government failed.

“I would like to say to all the families of those who died unnecessarily how sorry I am for the mistakes that were made and for my own mistakes at that.”

Mr Cummings said he regrets that he “did not follow up” and “push” on pandemic preparations at the end of January 2020, adding that it was not until the end of February that it was realised the plans were “hollow”.