British PM’s sister violated lockdown rules, say news reports
LONDON:UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s sister has been accused of breaking lockdown rules imposed in the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic, just a week after his chief adviser Dominic Cummings was accused of breaching the restrictions, it was reported.
Rachel Johnson has allegedly been splitting her time between the family farm in Exmoor, in Somerset, and her Notting Hill property in London, the Metro newspaper said in a report on Sunday.
Government lockdown rules have banned visits to second homes and switching between different households.
Rachel had earlier said she was staying in the Somerset home with her husband and daughter, but as an essential worker, she has been travelling to the capital to host her Friday evening LBC radio show.
According to a report in the Mirror newspaper, after her show on Friday, the PM’s younger sister returned to the Notting Hill home before she met friends to play tennis on Saturday. The report said that she took a train back to Somerset
later that day.
Responding to the development, a spokesman for Rachel said, “In line with the majority of broadcasters, she is afforded keyworker status. The show finishes at 7pm. As it’s a fourhour journey back, she sometimes stays over. In line with the guidance, she makes a concerted effort to stay alert at all times.”
The allegations come after Rachel had said that Cummings should apologise for taking a trip to Durham, and a further trip to Barnard Castle to “test his eyesight” while the lockdown was still in place, the Metro newspaper reported.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Queen’s Elizabeth II, who has been self-isolating with husband Prince Philip at Windsor Castle in southeast England during the coronavirus lockdown, has been seen outdoors for the first time, riding a horse. The 94-year-old monarch, who is a keen rider, was pictured on a 14-year-old Fell Pony called Balmoral Fern in the sprawling grounds of her royal residence in Berkshire over the weekend.
The last public picture of the Queen was taken as she was driven away from Buckingham Palace in London to the castle on March 19.