Dominic Cummings has fallen under further fire this evening after claims he made a second trip during lockdown - just days after recovering from Covid-19.
Pressure was already mounting on the Prime Minister to sack his chief aide after it was revealed he made a 260-mile trip to County Durham from his London home while displaying symptoms of the virus.
Opposition parties are calling for a full investigation into the incident, which has prompted politicians to call for Boris Johnson to 'show Cummings the door'.
Now The Mirror, who first broke the story of Cummings' trip last night, has revealed in a joint investigation with the Guardian/Observer that witnesses have come forward who claim to have spotted the aide on another lockdown journey.
They say he was spotted in Houghall Woods just two weeks after the first sighting, and five days after returning to work following his recovery from Covid-19.
Strict rules were still in place not to travel.
A second eyewitness told the two papers they also saw him a week earlier in Barnard Castle on Easter Sunday, a popular tourist location 30 miles away from Durham.
The news comes after a host of senior Cabinet ministers – including Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Attorney General Suella Braverman – took to social media to show support for Mr Cummings.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, speaking at the daily Downing Street briefing, said Mr Cummings had “stayed put for 14 days” while residing at a family property, having preempted his own illness once his wife showed Covid-19 symptoms.
But the trip to Barnard Castle, if correct, would call that testimony into question.
It is clear that @BorisJohnson must sack Dominic Cummings. When the PMs top advisor ignores the Governments instruction to the public not to engage in non essential travel he has to leave office. Immediately. https://t.co/4u5ptD7S9c
— Ian Blackford (@Ianblackford_MP) May 23, 2020
Ian Blackford, leader in Westminster of the SNP, renewed his calls for the PM to axe Mr Cummings from his team following the new reports.
He said in a statement: “These fresh claims are extraordinary. If true, they raise serious questions for Dominic Cummings – and over Boris Johnson’s judgment.
“The Prime Minister must come out of hiding, sack Mr Cummings, and then answer for his own role in this mess and the Downing Street cover-up.
“Given the seriousness of these issues, the Cabinet Office inquiry should take place regardless of when Mr Cummings is removed from post. We need to know who knew what and why the public were kept in the dark for eight weeks over the rule-breaking.
“Dominic Cummings broke multiple lockdown rules, possibly on multiple occasions, and polls show the majority of the public think he should go.
“If Boris Johnson is to salvage any public confidence in his Government he must finally act and show Mr Cummings the door.”
A YouGov poll now shows that 68 per cent of people think Cummings broke the rules, 52 per cent saying he should resign.
After the news of his first trip broke today, Cummings talked to reporters outside his London home on Saturday afternoon, and said: "I behaved reasonably and legally."
When a reporter suggested to him outside his London home that the trip to Durham did not look good, he replied: “Who cares about good looks.?
“It’s a question of doing the right thing. It’s not about what you guys think.”
And in its first official statement since the news broke, Downing Street backed Cummings and said his actions were 'in line with guidelines'.
READ MORE: SNP call for Cabinet Office investigation into 'Tory Government's cover-up' after Cummings' trip
The statement read: "Owing to his wife being infected with suspected coronavirus and the high likelihood that he would himself become unwell, it was essential for Dominic Cummings to ensure his young child could be properly cared for.
"His sister and nieces had volunteered to help so he went to a house near to but separate from his extended family in case their help was needed.
"His sister shopped for the family and left everything outside."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel