Dominic Cummings says he warned Boris Johnson not to pick a “stupid” fight with Marcus Rashford over free school meals.
The PM’s former top aide insisted many of the apparent errors during the pandemic were not in communications - but in policy and decision making.
Mr Cummings claims he twice said to the Prime Minister: “Do not pick a fight with Rashford, obviously we should do this instead.
“The PM decided to pick a fight and then surrendered twice. “
Mr Rashford, who had recently been awarded an MBE for services to vulnerable children, launched a petition calling on the government to lengthen the scheme in order to attempt to end child poverty.
But in response, a No 10 spokesman said: "We took that decision to extend free school meals during the pandemic when schools were partially closed during lockdown. We're in a different position now with schools back open to all pupils.
"It's not for schools to regularly provide food to pupils during the school holidays. We believe the best way to support families outside of term time is through Universal Credit rather than Government subsidising meals."
Rashford wasted no time in hitting back on Twitter, with a post that read: "Merry Christmas kids…”
Mr Johnson was later forced to backtrack, announcing during a Covid briefing that he had spoken to the footballer, and adding “I think he's right to draw attention to this issue.”
The Government announced a one-off £120 million fund to benefit 1.3 million children in England over the six-week summer period.
Mr Rashford held Mr Johnson’s feet to the fire a second time over plans to scrap free school meals over the Christmas break - forcing a second u-turn.
Mr Cummings added: “After that everyone says ‘your communications are stupid’ - what’s stupid is picking a fight with Rashford over school meals and what should have happened is just getting the school meals policy right.”
