Police ‘spoke to Cummings over lockdown breach’
PM faces calls to sack his closest aide for visiting elderly parents
Boris Johnson’s top aide was investigated by police after flouting the Government’s own lockdown rules, it emerged last night.
Dominic Cummings travelled 264 miles from London to his elderly parents’ home in County Durham at the end of March.
The Prime Minister was last night fighting to keep hold of his most senior advisor after Downing street was thrown into crisis.
Mr Cummings was quizzed by police in the North of England when he was meant to be self-isolating after developing symptoms. Government advice at the time was not to travel and to stay at home. He is the latest in a string of senior figures to break the lockdown advice.
Last night Labour demanded a ‘very swift explanation’ from Downing street. A party spokesman said: ‘if accurate, the Prime Minister’s chief adviser appears to have breached the lockdown rules. The British people do not expect there to be one rule for them and another rule for Dominic Cummings.’
it is understood Mr Cummings was spotted by a member of the public who made a complaint to the police.
Downing street had previously claimed he was holed up in his London home. After he recovered his wife, Mary Wakefield, wrote a detailed account about ‘emerging from quarantine’ into the London lockdown.
But a joint investigation by the Mirror and the Guardian revealed Mr Cummings went to the North of England. The PM’s chief of staff was seen running through Downing street on March 27 after it was announced that Mr Johnson and Health secretary Matt Hancock had tested positive for coronavirus. Downing street later said Mr Cummings had developed symptoms ‘over the weekend’ of March 28 and 29.
But instead of self-isolating in London, he drove the family North, it was claimed. on March 31, Mr Cummings was in County Durham at his parents’ home.
Police confirmed that on that day they visited an individual at an address in Durham who they had learned had travelled from London during lockdown to self-isolate.
According to the Mirror they spoke to the family and reminded them that travelling to stay with relatives was in breach of the rules.
A spokesman for Durham Constabulary said: ‘on Tuesday, March 31, our officers were made aware of reports that an individual had travelled from London to Durham and was present at an address in the city. officers made contact with the owners of that address who confirmed that the individual in question was present and was self-isolating in part of the house.
‘in line with national policing guidance, officers explained to the family the guidelines around self-isolation and reiterated the appropriate advice around essential travel.’
on the same day, March 31, the PM’s official spokesman told journalists: ‘i think he’s in touch with No10 but he is at home, he is selfisolating, he has some symptoms.’
several days later, on April 5, Mr Cummings allegedly remained at the property in Durham.
A neighbour of Mr Cummings’ parents, robert, 73, and Morag, 71, claimed they spotted him outside the property while passing for their daily exercise. They heard Abba’s Dancing Queen playing loudly and saw him, wearing a scarf and coat. There was a small boy running around, believed to be his son.
The neighbour, who did not want to give their name, told the Mirror: ‘i got the shock of my life. There was a child, presumably his little boy, running around in front. i recognised Dominic Cummings, he’s a very distinctive figure.
‘i was really annoyed. i thought it’s OK for you to drive all the way up to Durham and escape from London. i sympathise with him wanting to do that but other people are not allowed to do that. it’s one rule for Dominic Cummings and one rule for the rest of us.’
The BBC reported that Mr Cummings and his wife stayed in a separate building at his family’s farm while they both had coronavirus.
He is also said to have told colleagues that he and his wife feared they would not be well enough to look after their small boy. ITV reported that they decided, already ill, to drive North.
When he returned to work, Mr Cummings’ wife, an editor at The spectator, wrote about their experience of self-isolating in lockdown.
she wrote: ‘We emerged from quarantine into the almost comical uncertainty of London lockdown.’
in the same issue of The spectator, Mr Cummings wrote: ‘At the end of March and for the first two weeks of April i was ill, so we were both shut in together.’ This month
Professor Neil Ferguson, the epidemiologist whose modelling prompted lockdown, quit as a member of the scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (sage) after it was revealed his girlfriend had been visiting him during lockdown.
scotland’s chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, also quit after making two trips to her second home during lockdown.
Last night a close friend of Mr Cummings said: ‘He isn’t remotely bothered by this story, it’s more fake news from the Guardian. There is zero chance of him resigning.’
Downing street has been approached for comment.
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‘I sympathise but people aren’t allowed to do that’