PM stands by aide as police close case

PRIME MINISTER Boris Johnson was last night standing by his chief aide Dominic Cummings despite the police saying officers would have taken action if they had stopped him on his journey to Barnard Castle.

Amid mounting anger and plummeting poll ratings, Downing Street said the Prime Minister “regards this issue as closed” after Durham Constabulary said it did not intend to take “retrospective action”.

The police found Mr Cummings may have committed “a minor breach” of lockdown rules when he drove the 50-mile round trip to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight after it was affected by Covid-19. But the force said that had a police officer stopped the aide they would have “likely advised Mr Cummings to return to the address in Durham, providing advice on the dangers of travelling during the pandemic crisis”.

The force said it did not consider Mr Cummings had committed an offence by locating himself at his father’s farm in the county after driving up from London.

But it noted that it was concerned with breaches of the regulations, not the general government guidance to stay at home.

Meanwhile, the Government’s top scientific advisers were blocked from answering questions about Mr Cummings during yesterday’s daily briefing.

Mr Johnson said he did not want Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, and Professor Chris Whitty, England’s Chief Medical Officer, being dragged into a “political argument”.