Emily Maitlis received ‘surreal’ message of support from Dominic Cummings after Newsnight monologue

More than 24,000 viewers complained about Maitlis’s speech criticising Cummings and the government

Emily Maitlis has revealed that she received a “text of support” from Dominic Cummings following her Newsnight monologue.

The presenter divided audiences in May after introducing an episode of the political programme with a speech claiming that Cummings had “broken the rules”, after he drove from London to County Durham at the height of lockdown.

But, while the segment generated nearly 24,000 complaints to the BBC, Maitlis told Tatler that she received a text from the Prime Minister’s political advisor after the broadcast.

“It was peak surreal getting a message of support from him in the middle of all the crazy stuff,” she said.

In response to criticism, the BBC stated that Maitlis’s words “did not meet our standards of due impartiality” after she hit out at the government for refusing to fire Cummings during the scandal.

“Dominic Cummings broke the rules,” she said. “The country can see that, and it’s shocked the government cannot.”

She continued: “He was the man, remember, who always got the public mood, who tagged the lazy label of elite on those who disagreed. He should understand that public mood one now: one of fury, contempt and anguish.”