Dominic Cummings seeks to defend decision to visit Durham despite lockdown

Dominic Cummings has sought to defend his decision to drive to County Durham despite the coronavirus lockdown restrictions, saying he believes he behaved "reasonably" and does not regret his actions.

In a highly unusual press conference in the rose garden of 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's chief adviser said he made the journey because of fears over a lack of childcare if he became incapacitated with Covid-19, but also concerns about his family's safety.

Mr Cummings said stories suggested he had opposed lockdown and "did not care about many deaths", but he told reporters: "The truth is that I had argued for lockdown.

"I did not oppose it, but these stories had created a very bad atmosphere around my home, I was subjected to threats of violence, people came to my house shouting threats, there were posts on social media encouraging attacks."

Mr Cummings said he was worried that "this situation would get worse", and "I was worried about the possibility of leaving my wife and child at home all day and often into the night while I worked in Number 10".

"I thought the best thing to do in all the circumstances was to drive to an isolated cottage on my father's farm," he added.

The defence of his actions comes amid furious calls for him to resign or be sacked by Mr Johnson for travelling to County Durham in March to self-isolate with his family after his wife developed coronavirus symptoms.

Mr Cummings denied further reports which suggested he took a second trip to the North East on April 14.

He conceded that "reasonable people may well disagree about how I thought about what to do in the circumstances", but said: "I don't regret what I did."

He added: "I think what I did was actually reasonable in these circumstances. The rules made clear that if you are dealing with small children that can be exceptional circumstances.

"And I think that the situation that I was in was exceptional circumstances and the way that I dealt with it was the least risk to everybody concerned if my wife and I had both been unable to look after our four-year-old."

Mr Cummings also said:

– He has not considered resigning, and did not offer to do so.

– He did not ask the Prime Minister about his decision and admitted that "arguably this was a mistake".

– He drove up to Durham with his wife and son and did not stop on the way, and the next day woke up in pain and "clearly had Covid symptoms".

– The Prime Minister had asked him to publicly give his account and he acknowledged he should have spoken earlier.

– He could see why people basing their opinions on media reports of his actions could be furious.

Labour MP Chris Bryant tweeted: "This Barnard Castle bit is a manifest breaking of the very express instruction not to travel that weekend. It was repeated time and again. But Cummings thought he knew better."

His party colleague Peter Kyle tweeted: "If you have symptoms you stay home...you don't go for a drive to see if your eyes work!! This is much, much worse than I had expected. Much worse. Dominic Cummings is bringing down the government right in front of our eyes."

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas tweeted: "My heart goes out to every parent making tough choices during this crisis but I'm genuinely struggling to understand why circumstances Dominic Cummings found himself in were exceptional, yet not the circumstances that saw 13yr old Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab die alone in hospital."

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner tweeted: "This is actually painful to watch. He clearly broke the rules, the Prime Minister has failed to act in the National interest. He should have never allowed this situation with a member of his staff."