Dominic Cummings to make public statement later today
He will also take questions about his travel to Durham, Downing Street confirmed.
Dominic Cummings will deliver a public statement and take questions today after he was accused of breaking lockdown restrictions on more than one occasion.
The Prime Minister’s most senior aide travelled to Durham at the end of March with his wife and son after they started showing coronavirus symptoms. He is then accused of visiting Barnard Castle, 30 miles away from where he was staying, on April 12.
Downing Street confirmed that Mr Cummings then returned to London on April 14, but another witness claims they saw him admiring the bluebells in the woods near Houghall, in County Durham, on April 19.
After the allegations emerged, a series of Tory MPs began calling for Mr Cummings to be sacked by the Prime Minister. At the time of Mr Cummings’ alleged journeys, people were only allowed to leave their homes if they had a ‘reasonable excuse’, such as exercising close by, buying food or going to work.
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Under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020, brought in just days before Mr Cummings went to Durham, police officers can arrest or issue fines to anyone not following lockdown restrictions.
However, Mr Cummings has denied that he did anything wrong by travelling more than 250 miles across the country while potentially carrying the virus. He told reporters he needed to ensure he had childcare for his son, and behaved ‘reasonably and legally’ in doing so.
When asked if he thought his actions looked good, he said: ‘Who cares about good looks? It’s a question of doing the right thing. It’s not about what you guys think.’
Mr Cummings’ words were later backed by Boris Johnson himself, who began Sunday’s press conference by confirming that his senior aide would not be losing his job.
He said his adviser acted ‘responsibly, legally and with integrity’, adding that he ‘followed the instincts of every parent’ and would not be ‘marked down’ as a result.
Earlier today a police chief confirmed he had formally written to Durham Constabulary asking them to ‘establish the facts’ about the allegations.
Steve White, acting Durham police and crime commissioner, said: ‘It is vital that the Force can show it has the interests of the people of County Durham and Darlington at its heart, so that the model of policing by consent, independent of government but answerable to the law, is maintained.
‘It will be for the Chief Constable to determine the operational response to this request and I am confident that with the resources at its disposal, the Force can show proportionality and fairness in what has become a major issue of public interest and trust.’
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