Boris Johnson has backed Dominic Cummings following outrage about the political adviser’s controversial journey across Britain during coronavirus lockdown while his wife showed symptoms of Covid-19.
The UK Prime Minister said at Sunday’s daily coronavirus briefing that Cummings acted “responsibly, legally and with integrity” when he carried out the 260-mile trip from London to Durham in April. It followed a full weekend of speculation about Cummings’ future.
Cummings faced mounting calls to resign over the journey after revelations of further lockdown breaches were reported in British newspapers on Sunday.
An eyewitness told the Sunday Mirror and the Observer that they saw the 48-year-old at Barnard Castle on Easter Sunday, a popular tourist location 30 miles away from Durham, during the period he was thought to be self-isolating.
The newspapers also reported that Cummings made a second trip to Durham a week later and was seen there on 19 April, five days after being photographed on his return to London.
The adviser was seen entering the prime minister’s Downing Street residence on Sunday after a handful of Conservative MPs called for his resignation and reports citing high-ranking Conservatives indicated that it was “only a matter of time” before Johnson asked him to quit.
Downing Street had earlier said that it would “not waste time” replying to the new allegations from “campaigning newspapers”.
