The prime minister’s chief adviser was called a ‘hypocrite’ and told to ‘resign’ as he walked home after spending the day at Downing Street.
Dominic Cummings was heckled following crisis talks with Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Number 10 after being accused of breaching lockdown rules when he travelled 260 miles to his parents’ home.
A woman, who recorded Cummings walking down his street, said: ‘I’m a single parent.
‘I’ve had no childcare since the beginning of this whole mess, not that I can afford to pay any child care.’
Another person said: ‘My mum’s terrified, my dad’s had three shoulder operations… she won’t even entertain me in her garden with a tent.’
Others shouted ‘shame’, ‘resign’ and ‘hypocrite’ but Cummings did not respond as he entered his home.
The PM chose to front the daily Downing Street coronavirus briefing earlier on Sunday to publicly back Cummings, saying he had ‘acted responsibly, legally and with integrity’ by driving from London to County Durham during the lockdown.
Johnson added ‘any parent would frankly understand what he did’.
Tory backbenchers tore into the prime minister over his handling of the row, while scientists claimed the defence of Cummings’ interpretation of the lockdown rules undermined efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Cummings travelled to County Durham in March to self-isolate with his family while official guidelines warned against long-distance journeys, apparently because he feared that he and his wife would be left unable to care for their son.
Further reports also suggested he took a second trip to the North East in April, having already returned to London following his recovery from coronavirus, a disease which has seen more than 45,000 people in the UK die after contracting it, according to the latest available data.
Cummings denied the fresh allegations, which were reported by the Observer and the Sunday Mirror, and Mr Johnson declared he would be standing by his most senior adviser.
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