PM pressed over fresh aide claims

Boris Johnson is facing calls to “set the record straight” and prove his chief aide Dominic Cummings did not make a second trip to Durham during the lockdown.

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner called on Downing Street to publish the evidence the adviser says he has to show he did not make the additional journey during the peak of the coronavirus crisis.

Dave and Clare Edwards, a couple who say they saw Mr Cummings walking in Houghall Woods on April 19, the weekend after he had returned to work in London, have criticised Durham police’s investigation into the adviser.

They have filed an official complaint to the police watchdog, the Guardian and the Mirror reported.

Mr Cummings told a press conference in May that photos and data on his phone prove the allegation about the second trip was false.

Ms Rayner said: “The public have a right to know whether the prime minister’s chief adviser made a second lockdown-breaching trip to Durham, and it is surely therefore only right that this evidence is produced.

“If Dominic Cummings was in London during both the morning and afternoon of the April 19, and not in Durham as has been alleged, I’m sure that he the prime minister will welcome this opportunity to set the record straight.”

The new allegation follows publication of research which said Mr Cummings’ trip to Durham while suffering from coronavirus drastically undermined public trust in the government’s handling of the pandemic.

The analysis, published in The Lancet and carried out by University College London, found that his actions reduced people’s willingness to follow social distancing rules.

Dominic Cummings.