Prime Minister Boris Johnson has sent a text to his former chief of staff Dominic Cummings, saying the accusations against the latter are "bullsh*t", the Daily Mail reported.
This means that the Cabinet does not suspect Cummings of leaking the details related to the pandemic lockdown six months ago, which caused Johnson to announce it during a 31 October press conference, much earlier than planned.
According to the report, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case also sent Cummings a text, absolving the official, with Case instructing the government press office to say that Cummings was not the "chatty rat". At the same time, a probe is ongoing, and the identity of the culprit still remains unknown.
The head of the British government found himself in hot water after his March 2020 messages to billionaire James Dyson were disclosed, with Johnson assuring the businessman his employees wouldn't have to pay additional taxes if they came to the UK to make ventilators amid the pandemic.
Addressing the scandal, Cummings stressed that he "was not directly or indirectly a/the source for the BBC/Kuenssberg story on the PM/Dyson texts" and that he was "happy to meet with the Cabinet Secretary and for him to search my phone for Dyson messages".