Dominic Cummings, the PM’s most senior advisor, has been exposed for allegedly breaking lockdown rules as it was recently revealed he travelled 260 miles to Durham from his London home. This report places him among other political figures who have been accused of flouting the rules such as the ex-Scottish CMO Catherine Calderwood, and ex-government scientist Neil Ferguson.
A Timeline of Events:
- In a televised press conference, Cumming’s explained his trip took place on 27 March 2020 after his wife, Mary Wakefield, began experiencing coronavirus-like symptoms on the same day. Afraid that nobody in London could look after their four-year-old child if they both fell seriously ill, that evening, Cummings decided to take his family to Durham where they had relatives who could help with childcare.
- While in Durham, Cummings and his son developed COVID-19 symptoms. A source at No 10 stated Cummings was self-isolating ‘at home’ because of these symptoms.
- On 2 April, their son was hospitalised during the night. The next day, having recovered, their son was discharged after being tested. Days later, his test came back negative.
- On 12 April, Cummings took another, albeit shorter, trip with his wife and son to Barnard Castle, citing the need to test his eyesight as the motive for this excursion. This also happened to be on his wife’s birthday.
- On 13 April, the family drove back to their London home.
- At the end of April, Wakefield writes an article for the Spectator about how her family has struggled after suffering COVID-like symptoms. It leaves out their trip entirely.
- It’s also worth noting that in the evening of the day after arriving back, Cummings edited an old blog post to add a section about the threat of coronavirus which during his press conference he claimed to have written “last year”.
Despite Johnson’s statement claiming Cummings “acted responsibly and legally and with integrity”, there are feelings of injustice among the public surrounding why suddenly following “the instincts of every parent” has overridden following the rules which Cummings instigated himself.
The guidelines Cummings allegedly failed to commit to are as follows:
- Upon any household member showing symptoms of coronavirus “all other household members who remain well must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days.“
- Although the simple ‘stay at home’ advice is more complex when concerning young children “(If you have children, keep following this advice to the best of your ability, however, we are aware that not all these measures will be possible.)” this was not expressed in other government issued information, for example the guide on essential travel states: “Essential travel does not include visits to second homes… whether for isolation purposes or holidays. People must remain in their primary residence.”
- There was also a queried breach when Cummings remarked he tried exercising outside during the second week of his stay (4-11 April) when PHE advice about outside exercise changed on the 9 April to state that for those displaying any symptoms “any exercise should be taken within your home”, though a different NHS guidance said self-isolators could exercise in their gardens.
- Durham Police on the 28 May released a statement describing how Cumming’s trip to Barnard Castle “might have been a minor breach of the regulations that would have warranted police intervention.”
Though there are many ministers defending Cummings actions, and by his own admission he doesn’t regret what he did, there are also a significant number calling for his resignation, with at least 45 Tory MPs directly asking for him to quit or be sacked and a further 55 being critical of his choice of actions.
An online petition titled ‘Dominic Cummings must be sacked’ has also garnered over a million signatures since its creation.
Editor: Chloe Pumares
