Boris Johnson's sister Rachel says Dominic Cummings should apologise and admit he 'messed up' and made 'bad decisions' over his lockdown trip to Durham
by Luke May For Mailonline- Rachel Johnson told Good Morning Britain's the situation was 'very problematic'
- Dominic Cummings has not apologised, saying he acted 'reasonably and legally'
- At least 40 Tory MPs have called for Mr Cummings to step down from his post
Rachel Johnson believes Dominic Cummings should apologise and admit he 'messed up' over a series of 'bad decisions' relating to his lockdown trip to Durham.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Boris Johnson's younger sister said Brits were 'unutterably furious,' with Mr Cummings decision to drive to Durham in March, along with his trip to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight in April.
Ms Johnson told presenter Ben Shepherd: 'I think that if I had been Cummings, I'd have admitted I'd messed up.'
He added: 'I'd have got on the front foot and said, "I apologise for all of those who followed my messages, I took bad decisions at the time and I understand how angry it's made a whole country feel, and please let's move on because we have bigger fish to fry".'
The journalist's older brother has stood by Mr Cummings at recent press briefings since news of the trips came to light last Friday.
The PM claimed Mr Cummings had acted 'responsibly, legally and with integrity' while making a controversial 260-mile trip from London to Durham during lockdown.
Mr Johnson insisted Mr Cummings had 'followed the instincts of every father' by driving to his parents' farm.
Speaking live from Somerset, Ms Johnson said: 'Obviously, everything is bigger than Dominic Cummings, the pandemic is bigger than Dominic Cummings and as my brother said, nobody has his unconditional support.'
She added: 'The reason the country is so unutterably furious and het up about the Cummings’ crisis is because there is an enormous amount of pent up anxiety, anger and fear.
'The Dominic Cummings affair has released that in a way we didn’t see with Professor Lockdown, Neil Ferguson, even though Professor Lockdown was one of the architects of lockdown himself.'
On whether she’s worried it’s damaged her brother, Ms Johnson said: 'Any family member worries about somebody who’s under so much pressure and taking so many big decisions, equally I’d worry about Theresa May being under so much pressure if she was running this crisis… I think everybody’s worried.'
Mr Cummings has refused to apologise over the row, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Heath Secretary Matt Hancock and Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove among a slew of high-profile Conservative figures to publicly back him.
However, at least 40 Tory MPs have now called on Cummings to quit, while sources say as many as six Cabinet minister privately believe he should leave his post.
Douglas Ross become the first minister to resign over the row yesterday, with the junior Scotland minister saying he could not support Cummings over his constituents who had followed the rules.
Mr Ross said in his resignation letter he could not in 'good faith' tell his constituents 'they were all wrong' to observe lockdown 'and one senior adviser to the government was right'.
Speaking to the press on Monday, Mr Cummings refused to apologise, saying he felt he acted 'reasonably and legally' to protect his family during the pandemic.
Mr Cummings conceded that 'reasonable people may well disagree' with his chosen course of action but he was resolute in his belief that he had acted in an appropriate manner and had not broken the rules.
He insisted 'I don't think there is one rule for me and one rule for other people' and blamed public anger at media reports 'that have not been true'.