Dominic Cummings 'beset by nerves' during Durham defence, says body language expert

Dominic Cummings sought to defend his decision to drive to County Durham despite the coronavirus lockdown restrictions, saying he believes he behaved "reasonably" and does not regret his actions.

In a highly unusual press conference in the rose garden of 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's chief adviser said he made the journey because of fears over a lack of childcare if he became incapacitated with the virus, and concerns about his family's safety.

Mr Cummings said he was worried that if both he and his wife fell ill, there was "nobody in London we could reasonably ask to look after our child and expose themselves to Covid".

Body language expert Judi James has studied the footage of Cummings' unusual statement and Q&A.

There had been debate about how the man often seen as the Maverick of Downing Street and a guy who doesn’t suffer fools gladly might decide how to perform his message today in the wake of his boss Boris’s ‘making a bad situation worse’ press statement of the day before.

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The Cummings we saw appeared very much to play against type.

Almost humble in his arrival he sat at a table wearing a bland white shirt rather than his signature Islington grunge and his weak, soft-sounding voice as he apologized for being late plus the way he then sat shuffling and arranging his notes across his table for a considerable length of time suggested a man beset by nerves.

He leaned forward on his elbows to self-diminish his frame in what looked like a non-confrontational and even modest approach.

He scratched his arm, he licked at his lips and he read word-from-word from his script as he told his tale in detail.

His knee-splay suggested some of his boss’s love of machismo but his feet were crossed at the ankle, hinting at some repression of anything resembling arrogance or confrontation.

His eyes were either on his notes or they were darting as he picked at his pen and the way he picked his papers up and banged them hard on the table suggested he was keen to be off, as did his left leg which appeared to be making an early break for the exit at one point.

His stuttering as he answered questions did suggest some struggles under pressure but verbally he stuck stubbornly to a line of ‘no regrets’.

His eyes stayed on the table as he said he had not offered to resign and some of his moments of sympathy and empathy for the public fell short when he placed the words ‘Obviously…’ at the start and ‘but…’ in the middle.

He managed to keep things low-key and non-combative through to the bitter end with only an accelerated blink rate hinting he might be struggling with either some irritation or impatience.