Tory MP took train from London to North East after displaying coronavirus symptoms

A Tory MP has defended himself after he took a train from London to the North East of England while displaying coronavirus symptoms.

Darlington MP Peter Gibson, part of the 2019 intake of so-called Red Wall Tories, said he travelled 250 miles by train from the capital prior to lockdown to isolate at home.

He made the comment on Facebook when posting about the Dominic Cummings scandal earlier this week.

When asked why he had not stayed in London, he replied: "It was several weeks before lockdown and at the time I had no London address."

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Mr Gibson explained he was staying in a spare room of someone else's flat and did not have a permanent London base.

He later told the Northern Echo newspaper he began coughing on March 11 and called the MP's coronavirus helpline.

"I was advised if my normal mode of transport was the train I should use that but should isolate and keep myself to myself, which is what I did," he told the newspaper.

Mr Gibson said he self-isolated at home for seven days and his illness was short-lived.

He also told the Northern Echo that while some might have said he should have stayed in London, "Was I meant to move into a hotel?

"Was I supposed to go back to the flat of another MP when I had nothing apart from a couple of changes of clothes?

"Did I run the risk of potentially infecting the friend whose flat it was?"

Boris Johnson's chief aide Mr Cummings is accused of breaking lockdown rules by travelling from London to County Durham, including taking his wife and four-year-son to Barnard Castle on Easter Sunday, despite claiming to be displaying Covid-19 symptoms.

He has denied any wrongdoing and has received the full backing of the Prime Minister.

But having received calls from across the political spectrum to stand down, it has been reported Mr Cummings is weighing up quitting later this year.

Minister Robert Jenrick, meanwhile, drove 40 miles to visit his elderly parents - on more than one occasion - also during the lockdown, saying he was delivering essentials.