UK leader Johnson stands by aide over lockdown trip

LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Sunday he wouldn’t fire his chief aide for allegedly violating the national lockdown rules that he helped to create by driving the length of England to his parents’ house while he was infected with the coronavirus.

Defying a growing clamor from public and politicians, Johnson said Dominic Cummings had acted “responsibly, legally and with integrity” when he drove 250 miles from London to Durham, in northeast

England, with his wife and son at the end of March.

Britain’s lockdown, which began March 23, stipulated people should remain at their primary residence, leaving only for essential local errands and exercise. Anyone with coronavirus symptoms was told to completely isolate themselves.

Cummings said he traveled to be near extended family because his wife was showing COVID-19 symptoms, he correctly thought he was also infected and he wanted to ensure that his 4-year-old son was looked after.

Johnson told a news conference that Cummings had “followed the instincts of every father and every parent.” He said Cummings, his wife and son followed the rules by self-isolating for 14 days once they reached Durham.

But critics of the government expressed outrage Cummings had broken strict rules that for two months have prevented Britons from visiting elderly relatives, comforting dying friends or even attending the funerals of loved ones. The opposition Labour Party has called for an official investigation.

Labour leader Keir Starmer said Johnson’s defense of Cummings

was “an insult to sacrifices made by the British people.”

“The prime minister’s actions have undermined confidence in his own public health message at this crucial time,” he said .

Former Labour lawmaker Helen Goodman, whose father died in a nursing home during the outbreak, said Cummings’ behavior was “repellent.”

“What was the point of the sacrifice that we all made? What was the point of the miserable, lonely death that my father had?” she told the BBC.

Speaking inside the prime minister’s 10 Downing St. residence,

Johnson said “I can totally get why people might feel so confused and … so offended by the idea that it was one thing for the people here and one thing for others.”

But he said Cumming’s “particular childcare needs” left him “no alternative” but to make the 250-mile trip.

Government ministers have denied a claim that Cummings was spotted again in Durham on April 19, after he had recovered and returned to work in London. But they have not confirmed or denied report that Cummings visited a scenic area 30 miles from Durham on April 12.