Police: He may have broken rules with trip

PoLicE said yesterday that Dominic cummings may have committed ‘a minor breach’ of lockdown rules but will face no action.

Boris Johnson said he now regarded the matter as ‘closed’, adding once again that he believed his aide had acted ‘reasonably and legally’. But his message did not filter down to Tory mPs, as even more came out to call for mr cummings to consider his position, including former ministers Karen Bradley and Amber Rudd.

Even Government ministers, including defence minister Johnny mercer, criticised the actions of mr cummings.

Durham police have said they do not think mr cummings committed an offence by travelling with his wife and child to selfisolate in a property on his father’s farm in county Durham, 260 miles from his London home, during the lockdown in late march.

But police said he may have committed a ‘minor breach’ of the rules by driving 30 miles on Easter Sunday, his wife’s birthday, to the beauty spot of Barnard castle.

mr cummings has said he carried out the trip to test his eyesight, which had been affected by the virus, so he could be sure he was able to safely drive back to London for work. Durham police said if they had stopped him he would have likely been told to return to the cottage he was staying in and given ‘advice on the dangers of travelling during the pandemic’.

But they said they would not be taking any retrospective action because they have not done this in any other cases and it would be unfair to treat him differently.

mr cummings argues he acted responsibly by travelling north to self-isolate because he feared he would not have otherwise had childcare for his four-year-old son.

But the Tory rebellion continued to grow yesterday. in a letter to her constituents, mrs Bradley wrote: ‘So much of the account goes beyond simple human instinct and suggests there were breaches of the rules.’

Defence minister Johnny mercer said: ‘it does not take the brains of an archbishop to imagine my views on how this incident has been handled, particularly when contrasted with the immense personal sacrifices many of you have made.’

And former home secretary Amber Rudd told iTV’s Robert Peston: ‘He should quit because he’s making things worse.’

The police said: ‘Durham constabulary have examined the circumstances surrounding the journey to Barnard castle... and have concluded that there might have been a minor breach of the regulations that would have warranted police intervention.

‘Durham constabulary view this as minor because there was no apparent breach of social distancing.’

Last night mr Johnson said: ‘Durham police said they’re not intending to take any action, the matter is closed and i intend to draw a line under it.’ Latest coronavirus video news, views and expert advice at mailplus.co.uk/coronavirus