Boris Johnson 'regrets confusion' about Dominic Cummings' trip but says 'I had a lot on'

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he regretted the "confusion and anger" caused by the Dominic Cummings row - and defended the advisor's claim that he drove 30 miles to "test his eyesight".

He faces pressure to sack the Downing Street aide, who took his wife and child 260 miles to Durham during the lockdown - and drove 30 miles to Barnard Castle on Easter Sunday.

In an extraordinary press conference this afternoon, Cummings said he made the Barnard Castle trip to test his eyesight while recovering.

At the daily Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister said his own eyesight had suffered after he contracted coronavirus.

He said: "Do I regret what has happened?

"Yes, of course I do regret the confusion and the anger and the pain that people feel."

He added: "This is a country that has been going through the most tremendous difficulties and suffering in the course of the last 10 weeks and that's why I really did want people to understand exactly what had happened."

The Prime Minister said he had been told about Cummings' decision to drive to Durham to isolate while he was himself ill and "had a lot on my plate".

"I didn't know about any of the arrangements in advance," Boris Johnson said.

Cummings has said he does not regret making a 260 mile trip to Durham during the lockdown with his family - and dodged calls to apologise.

The Downing Street aide - who faces intense pressure to quit - said his actions were "reasonable" during an unprecedented address this afternoon.

Cummings, who said he had not considered resigning, admitted it was "reasonable to say that other people would have behaved differently" - but said there were exceptional circumstances to justify the trip.

He denied breaking the rules, and claimed he had not broken the "spirit" of the rules, saying: "I did what I thought was the right thing to do."

Speaking at a grilling in the garden at Downing Street, he said: "I don't think there's one rule for other people, as I said I knew what the guidance was, it talks about exceptional circumstances with small children, and I believe I behaved reasonably and legally."

He conceded that he had not investigated childcare options in London - saying it was "not reasonable" to ask a friend to look after his four-year-old son if he and his wife became too ill to care for him.