Over 250,000 people sign petition for Dominic Cummings to be sacked

More than 250,000 people have signed a petition calling for Dominic Cummings to be sacked.

Boris Johnson’s chief adviser is facing increasing pressure to resign after it emerged he broke the Government’s lockdown by travelling 260 miles to Durham with his family while suffering with coronavirus symptoms.

The Prime Minister and a string of top Cabinet ministers have so-far defended the senior aide, who apparently made the trip because he feared he would be unable to care for his son.

A Downing Street statement even described the trip as ‘essential’, despite the Government’s own travel guidance stating ‘essential travel does not include visits to second homes, campsites, caravan parks or similar, whether for isolation purposes or holidays.’

The storm around Mr Cummings’ position at the heart of Government sparked a furious petition from the public, with a quarter of a million people signing in just two days.

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The page explains how, under Government guidelines, anyone with coronavirus symptoms should not leave their home, even if for essential supplies, for seven days.

The page also refers to Government scientist Professor Neil Ferguson who stepped back from his role after it emerged that his girlfriend had visited him from another household during lockdown.

When Boris Johnson announced a nationwide lockdown on March 23, he told the nation: ‘I must give the British people a very simple instruction – you must stay at home.’

Police confirmed Mr Cummings definitely broke this key guidance as officers spoke to his father about him being in Durham on March 31, after the regulations came into force in England on March 26.

Mr Cummings and his wife, who was experiencing coronavirus symptoms, stayed in a property ‘adjacent’ to his parents’ home. It is not clear whether or not the family had any rest stops during the drive up to Durham.

Downing Street insisted Mr Cummings ‘stayed put’ at the property in Durham for 14 days and made the trip as he needed childcare support. But eyewitness accounts have suggested he flouted rules by travelling 30 miles to a beauty spot.

Mr Cummings then returned to London on April 14, but witnesses in Durham say they saw him back in the area on April 19, close to his parents’ home on a walk with his wife.

Writing on the petition, members of the public shared the ways they had followed lockdown rules as they voiced their upset with the senior adviser.

One person said: ‘I had to attend a close friend’s funeral via a link, I wasn’t able to travel to it. Many have had loved ones die on their own in hospital and [Cummings] thinks it’s ok to do as he wishes. That’s why I signed!’

Another added: ‘My mum recently died, not corona related but we still were not allowed to visit in hospital. Two days before she passed a nurse rang me and I had a brief video call with my mum.

‘I got to tell my mum via phone that I loved her, she was so weak we could just about hear her, meanwhile that ****hole Cummings goes on a trip to relatives under the pretext of him and the wife being ill and relatives going to look after their kid.’

While a third wrote: ‘I have shielded now for over nine weeks following the government advice. It is a sacrifice and nobody should be excluded from the lockdown requirements.’

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