Dominic Cummings won't quit but admits 60-mile car journey 'to test eyesight'

The prime minister’s chief adviser has refused to step down over allegations he repeatedly broke lockdown rules.

Speaking from the Downing Street rose garden on Monday afternoon, Dominic Cummings remained defiant as he defended his actions by travelling 260 miles to visit his parents’ home in Durham, with his son and wife who had coronavirus symptoms in late March.

The nation was left outraged over the weekend when fresh allegations emerged suggesting he visited Barnard Castle, 30 miles away from where he was staying, on April 12. Downing Street confirmed that Mr Cummings then returned to London on April 14, but another witness claims they saw him ‘admiring the bluebells’ in the woods near Houghall, in County Durham, on April 19.

Dressed in a white shirt, Mr Cummings said that the government rules do not cover all scenarios and he did what he thought was right for his family in a ‘tricky situation’.

He insisted that at ‘no point’ did he come into contact with his family when he travelled to Durham and stayed in an annex on his parents’ property.

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Mr Cummings said he should have made the statement earlier but added that he was not speaking on behalf of the government but on his ‘own thinking’.

Mr Cummings said: ‘Around midnight on Thursday 26th March, I spoke to the PM. He told me that he’d tested positive for Covid. We discussed the nation emergency, arrangements for No. 10, given his isolation, and what I would do in No. 10 the next day.

‘The next morning I went to work as usual. I was in a succession of meetings about this emergency. I suddenly got a call from my wife who was at home looking after our four-year-old child. She told me she suddenly felt badly ill, she had vomited and felt like she might pass out and there would be nobody to look after our child.

‘None of our usual childcare options were available. They were alone in the house. After very briefly telling some officials at No.10 what had happened, I immediately left the building, ran to a car and drove home.’

He added: ‘There’s nobody here that I can reasonably ask to help. The regulations made clear, I believe, that risk to the health of a small child were an “exceptional situation”, and I had a way of dealing with this that minimised risk to others’.

Despite facing mounting pressure to sack Mr Cummings, Boris Johnson told Sunday’s No 10 press conference that he had acted ‘responsibly, legally and with integrity’ by travelling to Durham. He branded further rule-breaking allegations as ‘palpably false’.

Moments before Mr Cummings’ speech, a row between No 10 and Durham Constabulary intensified after the force released a fresh statement confirming officers had spoken to the top adviser’s father on April 1.

This disputes a Downing Street statement, which denied police had spoken to the family of the the former Vote Leave campaign co-ordinator.

Durham Constabulary added: ‘Mr Cummings confirmed that his son, his son’s wife and child were present at the property.

‘He told the officer that his son and son’s wife were displaying symptoms of coronavirus and were self-isolating in part of the property’.

The force said earlier that it had received further information and complaints from the public regarding Mr Cummings’ whereabouts in the area.

A police chief confirmed he had formally written to Durham Constabulary asking them to ‘establish the facts concerning any breach of the law or regulations’ regarding the allegations. He noted there was a ‘plethora of additional information’.

Using the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020, police officers have the power to issue fines to anyone not following lockdown restrictions or forcibly return them to their homes.

This means that thousands of Brits could start appealing their lockdown fines after Mr Johnson said Mr Cummings’ journey to Durham was ‘responsible and legal’.

The PM insisted despite defending his chief aide’s actions, that the coronavirus restrictions ‘have not changed’.

Meanwhile, more than 460,000 people and counting have signed a petition calling for him to be sacked.

Protesters have seen outside his north London home over the past 24 hours holding placards questioning ‘are you above the law?’ and showing quotes from George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

Growing numbers of Tory MPs are also turning on the prime minister and his top aide, with more than 20 Conservative backbenchers demanding he be fired over the scandal.

On Sunday, several Tory MPs said they were tired of the chief adviser’s ‘I don’t care attitude’ and that he has a ‘track record of believing that the rules don’t apply to him’. They warned the government is at risk of losing all credibility amid the scandal.

Mr Cummings’ speech is considered unprecedented as the Special Adviser Code of Conduct says that government advisers should not make speeches or engage in public rows.

Section 14 says ‘special advisers must not take public part in political controversy, through any form of statement whether in speeches or letters to the press, or in books, social media, articles, or leaflets.

‘They must observe discretion and express comment with moderation avoiding personal attacks, and would not normally speak in public for their Minister or the Department’.

The speech comes just 48 hours after he told press outside his north London home that it’s ‘not about what you guys think’ and insisted he acted legally and responsibly.

Ahead of Mr Cummings’ speech, Alastair Campbell, former spin doctor to Tony Blair, tweeted: ‘Cummings speaking in the Rose Garden is like Monica Lewinsky giving her side of the story from the Oval Office.

‘Heaven knows how the cabinet secretary has allowed this. But hey – in Trump Britain all norms rules and standards are collapsing.’

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