THE PRIME Minister’s chief aide has come under pressure to resign as MPs have called for him to go over alleged breaching of lockdown rules.
Dominic Cummings has had “face-to-face” meetings with Boris Johnson over the reports he drove from London to Durham with his wife and children.
Newspapers have reported his wife had symptoms of coronavirus, and so he decided to drive to Durham to stay with his parents.
But further claims suggest Mr Cummings was spoken to by Durham Police, and may also have completed the same journey from London to Durham a second time.
Hove and Portslade Labour MP Peter Kyle has called for Boris Johnson to sack Mr Cummings.
Mr Kyle said Boris Johnson was “using the might of government to defend an unelected bureaucrat” and said Durham Police was having to “defend itself from an attack by 10 Downing Street”.
He said: “Police officers are serving bravely during coronavirus. Cummings is cheating his way through it.
“Boring Johnson needs to prove Cummings isn’t above the law.”
The Labour Party said: “There cannot be one rule for Dominic Cummings and another for the British people.”
But Conservative Ministers have rallied to defend Mr Cummings and his conduct, and they have been supported by Tory MPs in Sussex.
Arundel and South Downs MP Andrew Griffith said: “Another media non-story when there are so many important real stories of this crisis and the important recovery to come that need our focus”
Bognor and Littlehampton MP Nick Gibb cited Michael Gove who said: “Caring for your wife and children is not a crime.”
The state of it: @BorisJohnson using the might of government to defend an unelected bureaucrat 🤯
— Peter Kyle MP (@peterkyle) May 24, 2020
Boris Johnson said: “It is because I take this matter so seriously, and it is so serious, that I can tell you that I’ve had extensive face-to-face conversations with Dominic Cummings.
"I’ve concluded that in travelling to find the right kind of childcare, at the moment when he and his wife were about to be incapacitated by coronavirus and when he had no alternative, I think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent and I do not mark him down for that.”
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