Should Dominic Cummings resign?

Dominic Cummings’ controversial 270-mile drive to Durham, a few days after Boris Johnson announced the lockdown on 23rd March has grabbed media attention and public interest over this past week. He made the trip across the country whilst simultaneously advising the public to ‘stay home and save lives.’

Government advice at the time, and still now, is that if you feel you may have coronavirus, you must isolate for one week, and members of your household should isolate with you for two weeks. The advice was clear. Yet, Cummings, the Prime Ministers most senior adviser, took a five-hour drive across the country, whilst fearing himself and his wife may have coronavirus.

He claims his journey was to ensure he had someone to care for his child if him and his wife was the become too ill to look after them. During Cummings’ press conference, he explained how guidance on the main advice page explains that, “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.” However, government advice also states that you are only allowed to leave your household for essential travel, and travelling across the country does not class as essential. The public have found this hard to comprehend, particularly when he has family and friends in living London who could have looked after his child. He defended this by explaining his family member in Durham was 17 years old and much less at risk of suffering from coronavirus than his friends in London.

They are believed to have stayed at his second home in Durham; guidance also states, "essential travel does not include visits to second homes... whether for isolation purposes or holidays. People must remain in their primary residence."

On the 2nd April, Cummings’ four-year-old son was ill and taken to hospital, the following day he was told he was able to go home. Cummings picked up his wife and son from hospital, despite displaying coronavirus symptoms. Government advice says people with coronavirus symptoms must, "remain at home until they are well.” The advice also says you can let staff know if arrangements getting home from the hospital need to be made. After over a week isolating in Durham, Cummings’ was told by medical experts he was able to return home. However, he drove 25-miles out of Durham to Barnard Castle, with his wife and child. In the press conference he explained this was to test his eyesight before the drive home, as he was still feeling weak. The Road Traffic Act 1988 states that, “a person is guilty of an offense if they drive a vehicle on a road whilst their eyesight is defective,” with it also stating you must be able to read a car number plate from 20 metres away and be fit to drive. Thus, Cummings clearly broke the Highway Code.

Cummings has not yet apologised for his actions, saying he "acted legally." He also said he did not regret any of the decisions, he claimed he “followed guidelines as this was an exceptional circumstance.” He failed to acknowledge that other parents who displayed coronavirus symptoms followed his advice of staying home and isolating as a household, thus, making the public angry in regard to his actions. This led to some challenging questions of Cummings when asked during the press conference ‘why he thought the rules didn’t apply to him’.

He has been critiqued by the public who claim he was 'finding loop-holes' in this situation. The public have also found this hard to accept as himself and the Prime Minister were not upfront with his actions to begin with. He responded by saying, " in retrospect it would have been better to set this out earlier on, but at the start I was worried my honesty would lead to more confusion."

Boris Johnson is set to face questions today by senior MP’s as there are still calls for his senior adviser to reign or be fired. The discussion later today will also include talks on schools returning and the availability of PPE.