UK government denies top aide broke lockdown twice

Several lawmakers from Britain’s governing Conservative Party on Sunday joined opposition calls for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s top aide to be fired for allegedly violating the national coronavirus lockdown rules that he helped to create.

Adviser Dominic Cummings has defended his decision to drive 250 miles (400 kilometers) from London to his parents' home in Durham, in northeast England, with his wife and son as he was coming down with COVID-19 at the end of March.

Britain's lockdown, which began March 23, stipulated that people should remain at their primary residence, leaving only for essential local errands and exercise.

Anyone with coronavirus symptoms was told to completely isolate themselves.

The government has defended Cummings, saying he travelled to be near extended family because his wife was showing COVID-19 symptoms, he correctly thought he was also infected and he wanted to ensure that his 4-year-old son was looked after.

Critics of the government expressed outrage that Cummings had broken strict rules that for two months have prevented Britons from visiting elderly relatives, comforting dying friends or even attending the funerals of loved ones.

The opposition Labour Party has called for an official investigation.

Cummings is a key but contentious figure in Johnson’s administration.

A self-styled political disruptor who disdains the media and civil service, he was one of the architects of the successful campaign to take Britain out of the European Union, and orchestrated the Conservatives’ decisive election victory in December.

Government ministers defended him as a father concerned for the welfare of his child who travelled to be near his family but self-isolated in a separate building, away from his elderly parents.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps denied a second claim that Cummings was spotted again in Durham on April 19, after he had recovered from the virus and returned to work in London.

But he said he did not know the truth of a report in Sunday newspapers that Cummings had visited a town 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Durham on April 12.

Johnson’s government is already facing criticism for its response to a pandemic that has hit Britain harder than any other European country.

Britain’s official coronavirus death toll stands at 36,675, the second-highest confirmed total in the world after the United States.

Statistics that include suspected as well as confirmed virus cases put the toll well over 40,000.

The UK is gradually easing its lockdown, allowing more outdoor recreation and letting some shops and businesses reopen.

The government hopes primary schools can start reopening in June, though many parents and teachers worry that it is not yet safe to do so.