Former EU chief trolls Dominic Cummings over lockdown trip to Durham

Former European Council president Donald Tusk has criticised Dominic Cummings as the crisis surrounding his alleged breach of the coronavirus lockdown rules deepens.

Cummings has faced calls to step down from his role as an adviser to Boris Johnson after it was revealed he had driven 250 miles to northern England while Britain was under a strict lockdown.

Tusk, who has been a vocal critic of Brexit and the Vote Leave campaign masterminded by Cummings, posted a tweet on Tuesday mocking Johnson’s aide over the scandal.

“This is apparently Cummings and his Brexit friends’ rule: that they leave when they should stay,” Tusk tweeted.

Since Boris Johnson became prime minister, Cummings has acted as a special adviser within Number 10 - a post he refused to resign from in an extraordinary press conference on Monday.

Speaking from the Downing Street garden Cummings pushed back against criticism of his actions and denied any wrongdoing.

He argued instead that his journey to Durham in March was justified as he sought to protect his family's health.

Cummings said he and his wife, the journalist Mary Wakefield, drove to Durham to stay in a cottage on his father's farm because of concerns about childcare for their four-year-old son if they were incapacitated by coronavirus, and also over fears about safety at their London home.

He declined to apologise and said he did not regret his actions.

But many questions remained unanswered, including over his subsequent drive to Barnard Castle which he said was to test his eyesight after it was affected by Covid-19.

Downing Street declined to answer numerous unresolved queries, but Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said the journey, some 25 miles from where the aide was isolating, was "completely appropriate" because he was "preparing to return to work" by checking he was safe to drive the long trip back to London.

"It'd have been entirely within his right to return to work that day on the basis of the advice he had been given, that's my understanding, so that drive was completely appropriate," Gove told BBC Radio 4's Today.

Number 10 insisted the PM had not split the government by backing Cummings amid concerns over how the decision will affect the public, police and health workers during the pandemic.

Some 71% of Britons believe Cummings broke the lockdown and 59% think he should resign, according to a snap poll of 1,160 adults by YouGov after the aide's defence, which suggested his statement had turned public opinion further against him.

The political storm surrounding Cummings' press conference in Downing Street's garden overshadowed Johnson's announcement that all shops in England will be able to open next month if they can protect shoppers and workers.

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