Coronavirus: Dominic Cummings visited parents'
home while he had symptoms
Dominic
Cummings travelled hundreds of miles from London to County Durham during the
lockdown when he had virus symptoms, the BBC has been told.
A source
close to the PM's chief aide confirmed reports he and his wife went to his
parent's home to self-isolate.
But the
BBC's Laura Kuenssberg said she had been told Mr Cummings did not break
government guidance because he and his wife stayed in a separate building.
The story
was first reported by the Mirror and Guardian newspapers.
Labour said
No 10 needed to provide a "very swift explanation" for Mr Cummings'
actions.
"If
accurate, the prime minister's chief adviser appears to have breached the
lockdown rules. The government's guidance was very clear: stay at home and no
non-essential travel," a spokesman said.
"The
British people do not expect there to be one rule for them and another rule for
Dominic Cummings."
The
Scottish National Party's Westminster leader Ian Blackford said Mr Cummings
should resign or be dismissed by Boris Johnson.
"This
is a key test of leadership for Boris Johnson. People must have confidence that
the Tory government is following its own rules - not being investigated by the
police for breaking them," he said.
And Ed
Davey, acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, added: "If Dominic Cummings
has broken the guidelines he will have to resign, it is as simple as
that."
Who is
Dominic Cummings?
The Mirror
and the Guardian reported Mr Cummings, the former Vote Leave chief who was the
architect of the PM's Brexit strategy, had been approached by the police.
Durham
Constabulary said: "On Tuesday, March 31, our officers were made aware of
reports that an individual had travelled from London to Durham and was present
at an address in the city.
"Officers
made contact with the owners of that address who confirmed that the individual
in question was present and was self-isolating in part of the house.
"In
line with national policing guidance, officers explained to the family the
guidelines around self-isolation and reiterated the appropriate advice around
essential travel."
A source
close to Mr Cummings defended his actions, saying he had not been spoken to by
police, and that he had made the trip because his parents could help with
childcare while he and his wife were both ill with symptoms of coronavirus.
Pressure on Dominic Cummings to quit over
lockdown breach
Exclusive: PM’s adviser was with parents away from
London home when he had coronavirus symptoms
Matthew
Weaver
Fri 22 May
2020 20.00 BSTLast modified on Sat 23 May 2020 00.20 BS
Police
spoke to Dominic Cummings about breaching the government’s lockdown rules after
he was seen in Durham, 264 miles from his London home, despite having had
symptoms of coronavirus, the Guardian can reveal.
Officers
approached Boris Johnson’s key adviser days after he was seen rushing out of
Downing Street when the prime minister tested positive for the virus at the end
of March, a joint investigation by the Guardian and the Mirror has found. There
are now calls for his resignation.
At the
time, the government had instructed people not to travel and to stay at their
family homes. Cummings, however, was seen in Durham. A member of the public is
understood to have seen him and made a complaint to the police.
When asked
if Cummings had been warned about breaching the lockdown, a spokesman for
Durham Constabulary said: “On Tuesday, March 31, our officers were made aware
of reports that an individual had travelled from London to Durham and was
present at an address in the city.
“Officers
made contact with the owners of that address who confirmed that the individual
in question was present and was self-isolating in part of the house.
“In line
with national policing guidance, officers explained to the family the
guidelines around self-isolation and reiterated the appropriate advice around
essential travel.”
Downing
Street has previously refused to disclose where Cummings was staying during the
lockdown.
The
Guardian has also been told Cummings was spotted near the gate of his parents’
home with a young child, believed to be his son, at around 5.45pm on Sunday 5
April, five days after the complaint was made to the police.
This was
just over a week after he began self-isolating with symptoms of the virus. It
was also less than two hours before the prime minister was admitted to hospital
after his symptoms worsened.
The
Guardian has previously asked Downing Street about this sighting in April, but
officials declined to comment.
The
disclosure that Cummings was spoken to by police raises potentially awkward
questions for him and No 10. With the UK in the grip of the pandemic, the
government’s own advice urged everyone to stay at their main homes to avoid the
spread of the virus and to save lives.
“You should
not be visiting family members who do not live in your home,” the guidance
said. “The only exception is if they need help, such as having shopping or
medication dropped off.”
Instead,
Cummings appears to have made the trip from his home in east London to Durham
at a time when Johnson and the health secretary, Matt Hancock, had tested
positive.
Downing
Street said Cummings had developed symptoms “over the weekend” of the 28 and 29
March.
When
questioned about Cummings’ whereabouts during the following week, a Downing
Street spokesperson said only that he was in contact with No 10.
A Durham
resident who lives near the Cummings family home expressed shock and annoyance
after the 5 April sighting.
The
witness, who did not wish to be named, told the Guardian: “I was really
annoyed. I thought it’s OK for you to drive all the way up to Durham and escape
from London. I sympathise with him wanting to do that, but other people are not
allowed to do that. It’s one rule for Dominic Cummings and one rule for the
rest of us.”
Tulip
Siddiq MP, the vice chair of the Labour party, said of the reports: “If
accurate, the prime minister’s chief adviser appears to have breached the
lockdown rules. The government’s guidance was very clear: stay at home and no
non-essential travel. The British people do not expect there to be one rule for
them and another rule for Dominic Cummings. Number 10 needs to provide a very
swift explanation for his actions.”
The acting
leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, tweeted: “If Dominic Cummings has
broken the lockdown guidelines he will have to resign. It’s as simple as that.”
Ian
Blackford, the Scottish National party’s Westminster leader, said: “Dominic
Cummings’ position is completely untenable – he must resign or be sacked.”
Breaking
lockdown rules has been a resigning issue for senior officials.
Prof Neil
Ferguson, the epidemiologist whose modelling prompted the lockdown, quit as a
member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) for flouting
physical distancing rules when he was visited by his girlfriend.
After he
stood aside, senior Tories insisted he had done the right thing.
Hancock
said he was “speechless” and added: “I think he took the right decision to
resign.”
The former
Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said Ferguson’s behaviour “risks undermining
the government’s lockdown message”.
Scotland’s
chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, was also forced to quit after
making two trips to her second home during the coronavirus lockdown.
The
sightings raise questions about the government’s commitment to the “stay at
home” message it was repeating to the public in the first stage of the
lockdown. The Guardian has already revealed that the communities secretary,
Robert Jenrick, travelled to his parents’ home on the same weekend. Jenrick
said he was delivering medicine and essential supplies.
Cummings
was seen running through Downing Street on 27 March after it was announced that
Johnson and Hancock had tested positive for coronavirus.
Cummings
and his wife, Mary Wakefield, an editor at the Spectator, last month gave a
detailed account of how they coped under lockdown while having the symptoms of
coronavirus.
Writing in
the magazine, Wakefield said that Cummings rushed home to look after her when
she began showing symptoms. A day later he began feeling “weird” and then
couldn’t get out of bed. “Day in, day out for 10 days he lay doggo with a high
fever and spasms,” she said.
The article
goes on: “Just as Dom was beginning to feel better ... Boris was heading in the
other direction, into hospital.” This was the evening when Cummings was first
seen near Durham with the child. On the same evening, Scotland’s chief medical
officer, Catherine Calderwood, was forced to resign after she was photographed
visiting her second home in Fife.
Wakefield’s
article does not say where they were during quarantine, but it adds: “After the
uncertainty of the bug itself, we emerged from quarantine into almost comical
uncertainty of London lockdown.” Wakefield has been asked to clarify whether
the family were in their London home at the time.
In the same
issue of the Spectator, Cummings wrote: “At the end of March and for the first
two weeks of April I was ill, so we were both shut in together.” He described
the experience as “sticky … Everything is covered in a layer of spilt Ribena,
honey, peanut butter and playschool glue.”
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Tell us
A witness
said they were going past the Cummings family home on 5 April on their regular
exercise route when they heard Abba’s Dancing Queen playing loudly from the
property.
“I got the
shock of my life, as I looked over to the gates and saw him,” they said. “There
was a child, presumably his little boy, running around in front. I recognised
Dominic Cummings, he’s a very distinctive figure.”
Despite the
mild weather that weekend, they said Cummings was wearing a dark coat and thick
tartan scarf. “He must have been wearing them to protect himself while
recovering from Covid-19,” they said.
The
Guardian approached Downing Street for comment but had not received a response
by the time of publication.
matthew.weaver@theguardian.com
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