Dominic Cummings 'doesn't regret' lockdown journey and won't resign

Boris Johnson's chief adviser Dominic Cummings has said he does not regret travelling to Co Durham during lockdown.

At a press conference, he said he drove straight to his father's farm in Co Durham in late March and did not have contact with anyone apart from his wife and young son.

Mr Cummings made an extraordinary public statement half an hour later than expected following calls for him to be sacked over allegations he breached coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

"The rules make clear that if you're dealing with small children that can be exceptional circumstances," he said.

He said he had "not offered to resign" and "had not considered it".

Read more: Dominic Cummings is no stranger to controversy

The adviser said he understood public anger but that was "based on reports in the media which have not been true".

"A lot of people have shouted at me in the street," he said.

Although he admitted that he should have told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson before leaving London.

He said he "gave a full account of my actions" to Mr Johnson yesterday and believed he behaved "reasonably and legally".

Mr Cummings said "none of our usual childcare options were available" after his wife fell ill with coronavirus symptoms and feared she could not look after their four-year-old son.

He said he was concerned that he could develop symptoms. He said he did develop symptoms - although neither he and his wife have never been tested - and his child also fell seriously ill.

"I thought the best thing to do was to drive to an isolated cottage on my father's farm," he said.

He said he stayed in the cottage for 15 days and made a trip to hospital when his son fell ill.

Asked about the nature of any contact with his parents, Mr Cummings said he had had "shouted conversations" with them from a distance.

He said: "I was in a cottage, 50 metres or so away from everybody else. Obviously we kept very, very far away from them. There are various reports that I visited them, I was staying with them. That's all completely untrue.

"My parents are in their 70s. Obviously I did not want to give them this disease. And so we stayed very far away.

"We did have some conversations but they were on a farm and they were shouted conversations at a distance. They weren't some of the things that have been reported."

Mr Cummings said on day 15 he made a short trip to a nearby castle - Barnard Castle - to check he was fit to drive after concerns coronavirus had affected his eyesight.

He said he did not come into close contact with anyone there.

He said he did not consult Mr Johnson because he was ill himself - a move he admitted was a "mistake" - but said he had told the prime minister what he had done.

However, he insisted his trip did not fall outside the lockdown rules.

"I believe I made the right judgement," he said.

Mr Cummings denied he had broken the "spirit" of the rules and said he had not offered his resignation to the prime minister.

He said: "No, I have not offered to resign. I have not considered it.

"I think it's reasonable to say that other people would have behaved differently, in different ways, in this whole situation.

"But as I stress I was trying to balance lots of competing things."

He said he could not have remained in an isolated cottage for weeks afterwards because he was involved in vital work in Downing Street.

"I thought that if I could return to work then I should seek to return to work", he said, and took "expert medical advice" before doing so.

Mr Cummings said that during his time in Durham "at no point did any of the three of us enter my parents' house or sister's house".

He said their only exchanges were "shouted conversations at a distance" and his sister left shopping outside for them.

He denied going back to Durham after returning to London on April 13.

He added: "In the last few days there have been many media reports I returned to Durham after April 13.

"All these stories are false. There's a particular report I returned there on April 19.

"Photos and data on my phone prove this to be false, I was in London on that day."

The unelected adviser's public address has been seen as a highly unusual move. Under the code of conduct, special advisers must not take part in political controversies.

The prime minister's aide continues to face sustained pressure from across the political spectrum to quit his Government role.

Mr Cummings travelled to County Durham in March to self-isolate with his family - apparently because he feared that he and his wife would be left unable to care for their son - while official guidelines warned against long-distance journeys.

Further reports also suggested he took a second trip to the North East in April, having already returned to London following his recovery from Covid-19 - a disease which has seen more than 45,000 people in the UK die after contracting it.

Several Conservative backbenchers have joined calls from opposition parties for Mr Cummings to quit or be sacked.