Claims that Dominic Cummings broke lockdown twice are ‘not true’, Grant Shapps says

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has told Sky News claims Boris Johnson’s top adviser broke the lockdown twice are “completely untrue”.

Dominic Cummings – who was spotted going into Number 10 just before midday – had already admitted that he drove 260 miles from London to Durham with his wife and young son in late March to self-isolate at a family property despite strict restrictions against long-distance journeys.

Now, the Sunday Mirror and The Observer claim the prime minister’s right-hand man made a second trip to Durham and was seen there by a member of the public on 19 April – five days after being photographed in Downing Street on his return to Westminster.

Mr Shapps said accusations Mr Cummings “travelled backwards and forwards” are “completely untrue”, and since returning to London on 14 April, the PM’s most senior adviser had stayed put in the capital.

He told Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “I certainly know that the first one you mention, of travelling back up (to Durham), I know that is not true.

“I’m afraid I don’t know (about Barnard Castle) but if that date was true that would have been outside the 14-day period. But I’m afraid I don’t have the information on that.

“But I do know it is not the case that he has travelled backwards and forwards, which seemed to be a major part of the stories I saw in the paper today.”

Mr Shapps said Mr Cummings was “trying to do his best” by his son who was “in danger of having both his parents fall ill”.

He said by travelling to Durham, Mr Cummings “took perfectly sensible and rational steps” and “tried to position himself where there was some family support”.

“There are all kinds of things that are being said here that are completely untrue,” he said.

“The basic story is actually pretty straightforward. Husband and wife were ill, they hunker down, they look after their four-year-old and they don’t move until they are better.

“And coming back down to London afterwards, they would have been travelling for essential work which is always allowed as well.”

According to government guidance, households should self-isolate for 14 days if someone in the family has coronavirus symptoms.

Analysis: Govt stance puts at risk public faith in lockdown measures

By Rob Powell, political correspondent

Cracks are beginning to show in the protective ring Number 10 has thrown around Dominic Cummings.

Backbench Tory MPs – some long-time critics of the controversial adviser, some not – are breaking ranks.

The pressure could be insurmountable for Boris Johnson if that overt anger spreads into the cabinet.

Senior scientific advisers, less in hock to the Downing Street machine, may also be worried about eroding their clinical objectivity to placate powerful political figures.

Then there is the risk of public faith in the lockdown measures crumbling.

The government explicitly denied today Mr Cummings made a second trip to Durham.

But the damage may already be done.

Their self-isolate message watered down to protect one unelected but apparently invaluable adviser.

In the latest allegations, Mr Cummings was reportedly spotted by a member of public in Houghall Woods near his parents’ Durham home on 19 April.

And a week earlier, the papers allege he was seen in Barnard Castle, 30 miles away from the city, during the period he was believed to be self-isolating.

No photographic evidence has been published, and the reports are based on the testimonies of two eyewitness.

Facing further uncomfortable questions from Ridge about what Mr Cummings did do, Mr Shapps continued to struggle to give the details.

“I don’t have all the times and dates for you but I understand he will have travelled up there towards the end of March and stayed there, remained there for 14 days, didn’t leave the property and isolation, as per the rules and guidance,” he said.

Number 10’s version of events on Saturday night contradict an earlier statement released by Durham Police.

Officers were tipped off by a member of the public that Mr Cummings was staying with his parents.

But Downing Street insists Mr Cummings stayed in a separate property, and that his sister shopped for the family and left everything outside the door.

The police force’s initial response to the allegations on Friday said officers explained to Mr Cummings’s family the guidelines around “self-isolation” and reiterated the “appropriate advice around essential travel”.

But in a second statement Durham Police said officers provided advice about “security issues”.

Mr Shapps said there appeared to be some “confusion” and that the conversation Mr Cummings’s father had with Durham Police did not relate to his son’s travel from London.

He said: “I think it was, in fact, Mr Cummings’s father who contacted the police, not the other way round.

“And it was in reference to security advice, which you’ll appreciate the family don’t want to go into – not about this specific issue.”

Asked whether the prime minister knew his top aide was in Durham self-isolating, Mr Shapps added: “I don’t actually know whether the prime minister tracks every single move of Dominic Cummings.

“I think he knew that Dominic Cummings was ill and self-isolating, which is exactly what he was doing with his wife and his child.”

The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford, who has echoed calls by acting leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey for the PM to sack Mr Cummings, told Sky News the government has been “too slow” in dealing with the fallout.

“He should have gone well before now,” he said.

Labour said if everybody in the country had followed Mr Cummings’s example, the rate of transmission of the virus would not have slowed.

Shadow policing minister Sarah Jones told Ridge: “If everybody had decided to break the rules then we wouldn’t have brought this infection rate down.

“And when we heard the prime minister, we heard him say ‘stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives’ – he didn’t say ‘or drive 260 miles to Durham if you think that’s the right thing to do’.”

(c) Sky News 2020: Claims that Dominic Cummings broke lockdown twice are ‘not true’, Grant Shapps says