UK PM’s top aide accused of lockdown breach
LONDON (AFP) — The British government on Saturday rejected calls to sack top adviser Dominic Cummings over allegations he broke coronavirus lockdown rules by traveling across the country while displaying symptoms of the disease.
Cummings, who announced he was suffering from coronavirus symptoms on March 30, was seen with his young son close to his parents’ home in Durham, northeastern England, more than 250 miles (400 kilometers) away from his London home on March 31.
Under lockdown rules brought in on March 23, anyone with symptoms must self-isolate in their own homes. And people aged over 70 — as Cummings’ parents — are not allowed to receive visitors.
Britain’s opposition Labour party said his actions suggested Cummings viewed himself as above the law.
“The public have made extraordinary sacrifices during this pandemic and the lockdown. It cannot be one rule for those who set them and another for the British people,” Labour leader Keir Starmer said.
Ed Davey, acting leader of the smaller Liberal Democrats, said that if Cummings had broken the rules, “he will have to resign”.
And Ian Blackford, leader of the Scottish National Party in the Westminster parliament tweeted: “It is clear that @BorisJohnson must sack Dominic Cummings.” An unnamed minister told the Daily Telegraph: “He’s going to have to go. It’s just arrogance.”
But a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Cummings had acted “in line with coronavirus guidelines.
“Owing to his wife being infected with suspected coronavirus and the high likelihood that he would himself become unwell, it was essential for Dominic Cummings to ensure his young child could be properly cared for,” the spokesman said on Saturday.
“His sister and nieces had volunteered to help so he went to a house near to but separate from his extended family in case their help was needed,” he added.
Deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries suggested on Saturday there was some room for maneuverer if both parents were ill, saying that “all guidance has a common sense element to it, which includes safeguarding around adults or children.”