Why drive 30 miles to beauty spot with your child in the back to test your eyesight?
Aide’s bizarre explanation for road trip
DOMINIC Cummings yesterday mounted an extraordinary defence of his decision to drive up and down the country during lockdown, saying he had broken neither the letter nor the spirit of the rules.
In an unprecedented Press conference in the Downing Street Rose Garden, the Prime Minister’s embattled chief aide explained his decision to drive his family 260 miles from London to Durham to isolate themselves at his parents’ farm.
Mr Cummings spent an hour trying to explain the events that have led to widespread calls for his sacking. He insisted he had behaved ‘reasonably and legally’ – despite taking a number of lockdown-busting trips.
In the most remarkable moment, he claimed he had driven his wife and four-year-old son on a 60-mile round trip from Durham to Barnard Castle on Easter Sunday – his wife’s birthday – in order to test whether his eyesight had recovered enough to make the long journey back to London.
He admitted they had got out of the car – and also stopped on the way back – but insisted the trip was justified. Mr Cummings acknowledged that he should have told Boris Johnson of his plans before embarking on a midnight flit to Durham on the evening of March 27 – four days after lockdown was introduced. However, he said he had acted in the best interests of his family, fearing that he and his wife Mary could become so ill with coronavirus they would be unable to care for their son.
He added that they self-isolated at a property at his parents’ farm for 14 days without coming into contact with others. Mr Cummings claimed the family only left the house during this time to walk in the woods on his parents’ land and when Mary went with their son to hospital when he became ill.
Mr Cummings said when Mary earlier became ‘badly ill’ in London, with ‘none of our usual childcare options available’, he was forced to dash home from No10 to care for their son.
Although she recovered enough to allow him to return to work, the episode caused him to worry about the risk to his own health. The previous evening the Prime Minister told him he had contracted coronavirus. Mr Cummings said: ‘At this point most of those who I work with most closely – including the Prime Minister himself and others who sit within 15ft of me every day – either had had symptoms and had returned to work or were absent with symptoms.
‘My wife had felt on the edge of not being able to look after him [their son] safely a few hours earlier. I was thinking “What if the same or worse happens to me? There is nobody I can reasonably ask to help”. The regulations make clear, I believe, that risks to the health of a small child were an exceptional situation and I had a way of dealing with this that minimised risk to others.
‘I thought the best thing to do in the circumstances was drive to an isolated cottage on my father’s farm.’ At the time, Government
guidance was that anyone displaying virus symptoms should isolate at home with their family and not go out. A No10 statement on Saturday said Mr Cummings had driven North ‘owing to his wife being infected with suspected coronavirus’.
Mr Cummings yesterday said his wife was not displaying typical symptoms, such as a temperature and cough, but they decided it was right to travel to Durham where his
nieces and sister had offered to help with emergency childcare.
The couple stayed at a basic ‘concrete block’ property on his father’s farm with their son.
Mr Cummings said he did not mix with his parents, who are in their 70s, apart from a few shouted conversations across a yard.
At one point the family ventured out for a walk in local woods, but
Mr Cummings said they stayed on his parents’ land and did not encounter others at close quarters. Mr Cummings said his son was taken to hospital during the night of April 2 after falling ill.
He drove to collect him on April 3 as there were ‘no taxis’ available. With these exceptions, the PM’s adviser said he did not leave the property for 14 days. In the event, the couple did not require help with childcare. He flatly denied claims he had travelled to Durham again after returning to work in London. And he said that the ‘numerous false media reports’ such as this were what had driven public opinion against him.
Mr Cummings said he had not told Mr Johnson about his decision in advance to drive his family to Durham. As a result, the Prime Minister did not sanction it. In a rare moment of contrition, he said this was ‘arguably a mistake’. But he added: ‘I did not ask the Prime Minister about this decision – he was ill himself and he had huge problems to deal with.
‘Every day I have to exercise my judgment about things like this and decide what to discuss with him. I thought I would speak to him when the situation clarified over the coming days, including whether I had symptoms and whether there were tests available.’
He finally explained the situation to Mr Johnson the following week.
The most extraordinary admission from Mr Cummings came over the family’s 60-mile round trip to Barnard Castle on his wife’s birthday, Easter Sunday.
Although the family were out of the 14-day quarantine period, it was the height of the lockdown and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab had issued a public appeal for people to stay at home.
Mr Cummings defended the trip, saying that he felt he was ready to return to work but was worried about the long drive home. He said: ‘My wife was very worried – particularly because my eyesight seemed to have been affected by the disease.
‘She did not want to risk a nearly 300-mile drive with our child, given how ill I had been. We agreed that we should go for a short drive to see if I could drive safely.’
So the couple decided to drive from Durham to Barnard Castle. He said he felt sick while he was there and went to sit on the riverbank with his family for 15 minutes. On the drive home they stopped again at woods so his son could go the toilet and play.
He decided he was well enough to drive back to London the following day. Mr Cummings acknowledged he could have stayed in Durham but, after seeking medical advice, he said the demands of his job meant he felt he should return. He added: ‘I felt like I ought to return to work if possible, given I was now recovering, in order to relieve the intense strain at No10.’