Boris Johnson adviser Dominic Cummings may have breached lockdown rules, police say - CNN

Durham Police have found following an investigation that Cummings' 26-mile drive to Barnard Castle "might have been a minor breach of the regulations that would have warranted police intervention."

No further police action will be taken against Cummings, and police said they did not deem him to have committed an offense by driving some 260 miles from London to Durham to relocate his family while they were self-isolating.

But the announcement from police Thursday has delivered another twist in a scandal which has threatened to derail Johnson's response to the pandemic.

Both Cummings and the Prime Minister had repeatedly insisted he did nothing wrong by driving from London to Durham in late March, nor by visiting Barnard Castle in mid-April on their way back to London.

Cummings claimed on Monday that he drove for half an hour to the town only to test his eyesight and check whether he could indeed drive safely -- a claim that was met with skepticism by critics and some lawmakers.

At the time, Johnson was urging Britons to "stay at home," and government guidance allowed people to leave the house once a day for exercise but not to drive to other locations to do so.

Johnson's reaction to the police announcement suggests he will not back down in his support of Cummings. "The police have made clear they are taking no action against Mr. Cummings over his self-isolation and that going to Durham did not breach the regulations," a Downing Street spokesman said Thursday.

"The Prime Minister has said he believes Mr. Cummings behaved reasonably and legally, given all the circumstances, and he regards this issue as closed."

But a growing group of lawmakers have called on Cummings -- seen by many as the architect of many of the government's policies -- to resign, and accused Johnson of undermining his own public health messaging in the middle of a pandemic.

"Boris Johnson's unwillingness or inability to do the right thing has left the Government looking untrustworthy and unprincipled," Labour leader Keir Starmer said on Thursday. "Worst of all, he's undermined the public health advice that keeps us all safe, just to keep one aide in his job. Our nation's health must come first."

On Wednesday, Johnson said he understood the "indignation" the public may feel over Cummings' actions, adding: "But I think what they want now is for us to focus on them and their needs rather than on a political ding dong about one adviser may or may not have done."

CNN's Sarah Dean and Luke McGee contributed reporting.

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2020-05-28 13:43:08Z
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