good morning, welcome to breakfast with rogerjohnson and louise minchin. our headlines today: borisjohnson sticks by his top aide over claims dominic cummings broke the lockdown rules by travelling hundreds of miles i think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent and i do not mark him down for that. but mounting calls for mrcummings to resign will overshadow today's cabinet discussions on lifting coronavirus restrictions. parents and teachers are told to prepare for the return of more pupils to schools in england

from next monday as planned. they're getting closer. from today, elite sports in england can have contact in training, it means the return of proper tackling. life in lockdown as documented by teenagers — we meet the young people who've captured their struggles in photos. a dry and sunny day for most of us today when we lose the fog but later, thicker cloud and rain mainly in northern ireland and western scotland. more details at 27 minutes past. it's monday, the 25th of may. our top story: there's growing pressure on the prime minister this morning to sack his key advisor dominic cummings who's been accused of flouting lockdown rules. borisjohnson has insisted mr cummings acted "responsibly, legally and with integrity". but some scientists say he's undermined efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus. our correspondent, simonjones, reports.

reporter: have you undermined the message, mr cummings? leaving downing street with the backing of the prime minister, but there are growing calls for dominic cummings to quit or be fired. he's accused of breaking lockdown rules by travelling to durham when his wife had coronavirus symptoms, so they could be close to other family members in case they needed help caring for their young son. i think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent. and i do not mark him down for that. i believe, that in every respect, he has acted responsibly and legally and with integrity. the uk was placed into lockdown on the 23rd of march, with strict limitations on travel. the government guidelines stated you should not be visiting family members who do not live in your home. the last time dominic cummings was seen before developing coronavirus symptoms was in london on the 27th of march. four days later, durham police said it was made aware of reports that an individual had travelled from london to

durham. on the 12th of april, newspaper reports suggested mr cummings was spotted in the town of barnard castle, 30 miles from his parents‘ home. two days later, he was photographed back in downing street. but on the 19th of april, it's alleged mr cummings again travelled to the north—east. number 10 this says this is false. labour wants an enquiry. this was a huge test of the prime minister and he's just failed that test. he hasn't sacked dominic cummings, he hasn't called an investigation, and he's treating the british public with contempt. the former conservative minister, paul maynard, tweeted: the concern is shared by one scientist who's been advising the government. if we undermine the unity between the population and the government, if people lose trust and lose adherence, if they stop complying with the measures which have

contained the infection, then all of us will lose out because the infection spike again and many more people will die. resign! dominic cummings was heckled as he returned home, but as the cabinet meets today to discuss plans to further ease the lockdown, ministers are facing the accusation that it's one rule for downing street and one for the rest of us. simon jones, bbc news. let's get the latest now from our political correspondent, jessica parker, whojoins us from downing street. jessica, the prime minister's emphatic backing of dominic cummings hasn't had the intended effect of putting this story to bed, has it? wright one look at the papers this morning will tell people that it hasn't worked. an attempt last night by borisjohnson to close this thing down, it seems to me that they are determined to keep their chief aide. we also had a couple of options look

up we also had a couple of options look up he should show some contrition on behalf of dominic cummings but he did a full defence. far from distancing himself from the actions of dominic cummings, he bound themselves closer together. boris johnson saying that mr cummins had acted legally, with integrity. backing his chief aide very much there saying he is having extensive face to face conversations with mr cummings. one issue is most people have not had face—to—face conversations with mr cummings and questions remain unanswered. did they take —— did his family take a trip to barnum castle? did one of them stopped at a service station when one of them had symptoms? other are when one of them had symptoms? other a re lots of when one of them had symptoms? other are lots of questions this morning and the whole saga row —— rolls into day three. there was a second area of the briefing the prime minister gave, concerning education was up

lots of people are very interested in that. boris johnson pushing ahead with this staggered reopening of primary schools from the first of june full of acknowledging there has been pushed back from the unions, for example, that it might not be possible in all school settings and a cabinet meeting will happen today about the gradual easing of lockdowns. other things we are likely to hear at the end of this week, what is likely to open with social cult —— social contacts and non—essential retail? one of the questions raised by critical tory mps is one of the things happening with dominic cummings risks undermining —— undermining the public message as this country moves to ease the lockdown and no government anytime wants to lose public trust or be out of touch with public trust or be out of touch with public opinion but especially so in the midst of a national crisis. we are putting some of the questions to gavin williamson, the education

secretary, coming up. if you have any questions, send them into bbc brea kfast. a further 118 people have died after testing positive with coronavirus in the uk, the lowest daily total since the end of march. that number includes deaths across all settings, not just in hospital. the official government figures show the total number of deaths in the uk now stands at 36,793. police in north ayrshire are searching for a gunman after a man was shot dead. detectives say the suspect opened fire at a property in the town of ardrossan yesterday evening. a 42—year—old man was pronounced dead shortly afterwards. a 46—year—old woman was also in the house, but was not injured in the incident. 50 firefighters were needed to tackle a significant blaze at the bombardier factory in belfast. it took over two hours for fire crews to bring the flames under control after they were alerted last night. nobody was injured in the incident which is believed to have been

an accident, though investigations are ongoing. the aerospace company is one of northern ireland's largest employers. western australia has been battered by a huge storm, ripping roofs off houses, downing trees, and leaving more than 60,000 homes without power. most were in the city of perth. the state's south was particularly hard hit, with dust storms and torrential rain as well as huge waves along the coast. officials said no injuries were reported. authorities had warned residents to prepare for a once—in—a—decade storm. new zealand has been rocked by a 5.8—magnitude earthquake while the country's prime minister was in the middle of a live television interview. the earthquake struck 30km off the coast of the country's north island and, although no damages were reported, it lasted for more than 30 seconds. ms ardern, who was in the country's parliament building, known as the beehive, when the quake hit, was remarkably calm under pressure.

we're just having a bit of an earthquake here, ryan, quite a — quite a decent shake here. but, if you see things moving behind me. the beehive moves a little more than most. she is remarkably uninflated, isn't she? —— unfluttered. greece will today reopen its islands to domestic tourists, the latest in a series of measures, ending lockdown restrictions. the country has had just 170 deaths from coronavirus, and its tourist industry has been badly hit by the pandemic. ferries to the islands will be operating for citizens at a 50% capacity. it is 6:09. many of us have missed out on seeing family since lockdown, but imagine being separated from your child before you've even met. the bbc has been told that there are now more than 100 newborn surrogate babies stranded in ukraine following restrictions brought in because of coronavirus. the country is one of the world's leading destinations for commercial surrogacy, asjonah fisher reports.

manu is eight weeks old and has never met his parents. he was born to a surrogate in ukraine and is one of more than 100 babies left stranded here by the coronavirus. this is where manu should be sleeping. his biological parents have prepared a room ready for him — 13,000 kilometres away in argentina. jose and flavia decided to try surrogacy in ukraine after years of failed pregnancies and fertility treatment. but, just as they were about to travel to kyiv for manu's birth, disaster struck — ukraine closed its borders and argentina cancelled all commercialflights.

this is the other side of ukrainian surrogacy. lyusyena is a student from a poor part of the country. two weeks ago she was paid $16,000 after she gave birth to a healthy boy for an american couple. unlike most parts of the world, that's completely legal here. do you love that baby? hello? hi. hi, flavia, hi, jose. how are you doing? we helped to arrange a video call so that manu's parents could see their son. this is olga. got manuel.

after ten minutes, manu dozes off to the sound of his father's voice. jose and flavia are now pinning their hopes on catching a special flight from argentina to europe. manu is taken back to the room where he sleeps with 30 other babies. all of them waiting for this to be over and for their parents to come and claim them. jonah fisher, bbc news, in kiev. quite a distressing story to hear

that. let's take a look at today's papers. the front pages are dominated by the growing pressure facing borisjohnson to sack his senior adviser dominic cummings. "what planet are they on?" is the headline on the daily mail. the paper says mr cummings' actions have given "every selfish person a licence to play fast and loose with public health. " the guardian says the prime minister has "bet his all" on mr cummings, and claims there is "fury" from conservative mps and experts. are some of whom we will speak to on the programme this morning. "he has acted responsibly, legally and with integrity" is the headline on the telegraph, quoting the prime minister yesterday. some of you may have watched that press c0 nfe re nce . but the paper says some ministers believe the story could undermine the government's lockdown strategy. the independent‘s website has launched its happy list for 2020. they're asking the british public to nominate their heroes in a crisis.

i expect there will be plenty of those. lots of heroes in a crisis. there definitely will be. this is from the guardian. one of my biggest achievement in loch down was to grow some lettuces. —— lockdown. lots of people are doing better things. this is about new inventors. it is giving new impetus to inventors. dame whitehurst and his wife put the finishing touches to a room in their home in kent that they hope will be a chillout space for them and their three—year—old daughter. with normal working life abruptly halted, they got equipment and plans for relaxation put on hold. from this temporary prototype, he began thinking what life would be like in coronavirus world and it goes on because he has created this with lots of people. he has designed a magic wallet. brilliant things. people are really putting their heads together and actually doing

great things so well done to all of you, clearly spending lockdown in a much better way than i am. often said, isn't it, the best ideas of a simple ones. you wonder why no—one has ever thought of them before. tesco, one supermarket,. white eggs on its shelves for the first time in 40 on its shelves for the first time in a0 yea rs on its shelves for the first time in a0 years according to the guardian. went out of fashion in the 19805 and we re went out of fashion in the 19805 and were only used in fast food restau ra nt5, were only used in fast food re5taurant5, but due to an increase in supermarket demands nos, and nothing with takeaways, we will see white egg5 back on the shelves for the first time since the 19805. white egg5 back on the shelves for the first time since the 1980s. an unusual way to say happy birthday. the help of a cherry picker. the nephew, the daughter and others rented the vehicle to reach her flat

while following 5trict lockdown rule5. they delivered a card and balloons while suspended in the sky. a p pa re ntly balloons while suspended in the sky. apparently dog parlour5 have opened again, which i have to say is not something... i don't have a dog, so i wasn't aware. iam aware i wasn't aware. i am aware because i wasn't aware. i am aware because obviously we can't go to hairdressers, and i notice my friend's dog had had a haircut and how is that allowed? but it is! here are some of the recipients of a new little makeover, some very cute dogs on here, i have to say. long walks, treats on tap and their beloved owners at home everyday, dogs have loved lockdown, but haven't necessarily loved them because groomers closed because of the pandemic but now they are able to have a trim. if only we could find one that could do a human head of hair these days. charlie's was very impressive at the weekend, i

don't know if you spotted it? idid, very don't know if you spotted it? i did, very impressive indeed. one of the key questions being asked by medical professionals right now is why some of us have more severe coronavirus symptoms than others. it's hoped some of the answers may lie in research being carried out by a team of scientists, clinicians and volunteers in cambridge. here's our science correspondent, richard westcott. why does covid—19 put some people, like george gilbert here, in hospital, yet others get no symptoms at all? how are you doing? lovely. oh, that's good. well, he's helped volunteered to help find out. because part of the answer might lie in his blood. you take all that lot?! yeah, we're like vultures, aren't we? i shan't have any left. once it's sealed up the blood's passed to volunteer ben. his medical research and to go on hold because of the virus, so he's set up a team that every day carries covid samples to be analysed. so, ben, it's quite an odd way to interview someone. it is, yes. how did you get involved in this? so i would normally be working in the lab on pulmonary hypertension, a rare lung disease.

and it's quite frustrating because i can't do that. so ijust e—mailed my colleagues and asked how can i get involved, how can i help? and it's been excellent, to be honest, because you do feel you're making a difference in these difficult times. samples are taken to a brand—new lab just around the corner on the cambridge biomedical campus. your blood contains cells that play a key role in fighting off the coronavirus. some of them make antibodies, others directly kill infected cells, but to analyse them first you have to separate them off. so at the very bottom we have the red blood cells, they ‘re the heaviest and go to the bottom of the tube. at the top, the yellow part, is the plasma, it's kind of the solution that your blood floats in normally. and then we're looking at this white small band here — this is white blood cells that are fighting off your infection. then it gets more complex. there are lots of different types of white blood cells all playing different roles. so next door a machine uses lasers count how many of of each key type.

it could then separate millions of them off for more tests. incredibly, each blob here is a droplet of salty water with one cell inside. i think we'll find that the pattern of white blood cell numbers is going to give us an answer to why some people recover and some people don't. so basically the very ill people might have different cell structures or cells to the people who don't get very ill? very ill people may start off with a different balance of white blood cells, or they may end up with a different pattern that doesn't help the recovery. 265 addenbrooke's patients and staff are giving their blood for this research. some got very sick, some didn't. the key question for scientists — can you see the difference in their blood? we've found a number of severe abnormalities in patients

with advanced covid disease, and some of those point very clearly to potential therapeutics that might impact on the disease. we're also finding that a lot of those abnormalities are visible early in disease and perhaps much earlier than we expected. so that's interesting — you might be able to tell much sooner who is going to get very, very sick? exactly. what we're hoping is that when people develop symptoms that make them suspect they might have covid and get their very first test, when tests become more readily available, at that point we might be able to predict who's going to go on to get severe disease, which should allow us to intervene earlier. by understanding the science of the disease it's easier to find drugs to fight it. richard westcott, bbc news, cambridge. 6:20am now. one of the big questions people are asking is whether or not some holidays will be possible abroad this summer. but as we're reporting this morning, greece is re—opening its islands to domestic travellers.

ferries to the usual tourist hotspots will be able to operate again, but with just half the number of passengers. let's speak now to ben hobdell—spatha, who runs a bar on the island of paxos. shall we have a little holiday break? he was there a minute ago, are you there, ben? good morning! i've got you, good morning. you certainly do. my you, good morning. you certainly do. my goodness me, it looks absolutely glorious this morning. have you been missing the tourists so far? we have, we have. we've changed our com plete have, we have. we've changed our complete thinking of business and, yeah, we're thinking... we're trying to think out of the at the moment due to this new development that we've had. —— the box. today is the first day all the local businesses are going to open for domestic trade and tourism. give us an idea... we can see a little bit of the sense of

people able to go there, what do they see and what do they get? the thing is, it is super quiet now. there's nobody here. people are trying to get their businesses open and people are trying to get over to the mainland. it is very difficult to imagine the predicament we are all in, but we are very hopeful and positive that we're going to pull through this and slowly and it's going to take a lot of time and, yeah, hopefully, fingers crossed, we can all ride this horrible journey together and see good from it. we're pictures of your bar. i think it must be pre—coronavirus, i imagine, but what kind of things are you having to put in place? presumably you have to make sure people observe social distancing, for example? the thing is, the greek government has put measures in. our tables will be about two metres distance from each

other. and we'll have a maximum of four to six people at each table. our sunbeds will be again two metres apart from each other. only two sunbeds from two metres distance. also we're going be have having to wear gloves and masks and antiseptic gel on and all that kind of stuff. we're going to have to be really conscious and sensible on how we deal with our guests and our visitors. we know domestic visitors can come there now and there's a hope that international visitors will also be allowed into greece. how much difference will that make to you? that's a different stop in the whole island is reliant on foreign trade —— that's a difference. —— that's a difference.

hopefully at the end ofjune we will get the international people coming m, get the international people coming in, which will be great. the island is 100% - i in, which will be great. the island is 100% — i would say 90% reliant on international tourism. for us who can't go, which might be for the foreseeable at least, tell us a little bit about paxos and what it is like. what are the attractions? i can see the sea, for starters. we're very to have this beautiful sea. we're very to have this beautiful sea. we have turquoise blue colours everywhere. combine that with the sky and the sun... it is unreal. we have huge, huge... how would you say, a huge garden! paxos is like an olive garden, so we've got, like, hundreds of thousands of olive trees. combine the green with the blues and the turquoise... if there

was a paradise, i think we are here! you're making us all very envious. tell us a little bit about how lockdown has been for everybody on paxos, and how concerned people have been about coronavirus. the thing is, we're very aware of this huge predicament that we are in and we are trying to be very sensible in how we deal with each other and travelling, but the thing is, we've all adapted and we are growing our own vegetables, and we are doing a lot of fishing and we're doing a lot of of the olives. we're getting on pretty well. we have full faith in the government that we are going to pull through this. we've done really well as an island. we've had no cases what so ever and hopefully we can keep it that way. ben, we're about to go to the

forecast ‘s. ben, we're about to go to the forecast '5. can you give us the forecast '5. can you give us the forecast in paxos or can i get it! —— forecast. forecast in paxos or can i get it! -- forecast. not a cloud in sight, as you can see. we do have some clouds. let me turn it around for you. don't worry, we caught a glimpse! there you go, there you go. a view clouds there. it's going to be all right, we're all going to pull through this, guys, and hopefully humanity will get something positive out of it. ben, you've made us really envious and thank you for bringing a bit of sunshine to bbc breakfast. thank you for having me and i hope you guys have a great day. a bit of live ben hobdell—spatha as well —— flippage as well stop your face was a picture, makes you long for a summer holiday! makes you think of the memories. paxos, lovely

place! i went there. here's carol with a look at this morning's weather. iam cursing i am cursing myself for starting with this picture. as beautiful as it is in devon this morning, we have some fog. although there is fog in the south—west and in parts of dumfries and galloway, for many it's not and it's like this, as in windsor, blue skies. the forecast for many today is warm and also sunny. most of us, because as always there is a fly in the ointment, high pressure is in charge but we've got a couple of weather fronts coming in across northern ireland and western scotla nd northern ireland and western scotland later and they‘ re northern ireland and western scotland later and they're going to introduce thicker cloud and then some rain and the wind will be a feature in the western isles. the fog we have will lift and then you can see all this sunshine, a lot of dry weather. gusty winds across scotla nd dry weather. gusty winds across scotland gusting about 30 mph and around a0 mph in the western isles. these white circles indicate the sustained average wind speeds.

temperatures today not bad, not far off from what paxos is going to. 25 as the top temperature in london, 2a in hull, 19 in belfast and we could see 21 somewhere around north—east scotland. through this evening and overnight, that weather front bringing this cloud and also patchy rain with it, sinks a little bit further south. it's bumping into the high pressure, so weakening all the time. ahead of it, clear skies and behind it we'll also have clearer skies. not a cold night — our overnight lows, roughly nine to 13. for tomorrow, here is our weak weather front continuing to slip steadily southwards into this high pressure, not making huge progress. here it is first thing in the morning — band of cloud with spots of rain in it, but the rain will tend to dry up. as it sinks further south, the sunshine will turn hazier and it has been and behind it, more sunshine coming through. for

scotla nd sunshine coming through. for scotland and northern ireland, temperatures tomorrow are more less about where they should be for this stage in may but further south, they are higher — 26 is the top temperature somewhere around the london area. moving from tuesday into wednesday, high pressure really sta rts into wednesday, high pressure really starts to build. we've got a warm front coming in from the west and that's likely to introduce again more cloud and also some patchy light rain and drizzle across northern ireland and western scotland. moving away from the north, we're back into the sunshine. one thing you will notice, though, a bit more of a breeze on the north sea coast during wednesday and temperatures in the south, 25 to 26. again, we've got 12 to 16, 17, 18 as we push further north. thank you, carol. look at that, promises of sunshine! just like paxos! hello this is breakfast with rogerjohnson and louise minchin. it's 6:30. we'll bring you all the latest news and sport in a moment,

but also on breakfast this morning: from a never—ending road to time standing still — we'll bring you some of the beautiful photographs taken by teenagers documenting their lives in lockdown. mark wright roped in tyson fury, keith lemon and jamie rednapp for his living room workouts. he'll tell us how you can get involved just before 8:00. and we'll hear how ryan reynolds and meryl streep are among the stars narrating "james and the giant peach" to raise money to tackle covid—19. good morning, here's a summary of today's main stories from bbc news. the cabinet will discuss the further easing of lockdown measures this morning, but any announcements are likely to be overshadowed by accusations the prime minister's most senior advisor broke lockdown rules. borisjohnson has insisted dominic cummings acted "responsibly, legally and with integrity". however, some scientists say he's undermined efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus.

parents and teachers have been told to prepare for the phased reopening of schools in england from next monday. borisjohnson said the government intended to reopen for pupils in reception, year1 and year6. that's despite resistance from some teaching unions and councils. schools have been closed since the 20th of march, except for key workers' children and those who are vulnerable. a further 118 people have died after testing positive with coronavirus in the uk, the lowest daily total since the end of march. that number includes deaths across all settings, not just in hospital. the official government figures show the total number of deaths in the uk now stands at 36,793. it's time now to answer some of your questions with the gp, dr nighat arif, who joins us from chesham.

thank you for talking to us this morning, dr arif. thank you for talking to us this morning, drarif. talking thank you for talking to us this morning, dr arif. talking about schools going back. how much of that is an concern for you? it is a high concern for parents with vulnerable children. children in the vulnerable category. for example, children with severe asthma or they are compromised or children with leukaemia. parents are contacting me and asking me, is it safe to send my child? i am doing it on a big and asking me, is it safe to send my child? iam doing it on a big —— and asking me, is it safe to send my child? i am doing it on a big —— on an individualistic way. they have got to keep the baby say. if they feel their child isn't ready to go back to school or if they have added pressure on their concerns around covid—19, i am asking them to stay at home and carry on doing home schooling. a lot of children have got into a routine. my five—year—old, she is on the shielded list and although has been a massive sale for me, he has actually adapted —— we are doing

things with him. he is learning other skills he might not have had a chance to do. chores, learning about plants, the gardening. children learn in different ways and this has been a revelation for some families. i know it is very difficult and some families are really struggling because they might need to get back to work so it is trying to find that alan singh act between education, family life, care, between education, family life, ca re, response between education, family life, care, response abilities and also keeping your children safe. sounds like a perfect child if he will do the gardening for you! he doesn't very laughs. for personal reasons, as you have mentioned, shielding your son, a comment on the headlines over the last few days, do you feel the government's message is in

danger of being diminished?” the government's message is in danger of being diminished? i think the way it is being handled, the whole situation, it is obviously going to undermine the policy of a stay—at—home, stay safe and also social distancing is going to be completely, for some people, one rule for us and another rule for somebody else. colleagues have died on the front line. she was 28 years old, pregnant, her baby was born via c—section. lives have been affected. people have really taken lockdown seriously. people have had to make real difficult choices was up family members have not been there when their loved ones have passed away in their loved ones have passed away in their last moments and to be able to see what is happening in the media with dominic cummings and being able to reach the rules is a real hard one to stomach. however, saying that, i have to say, the way it has

been handled in the media, particularly people handing on the streets, taking photos, the huge torrent of horrible stuff that is being said on social media, that is not right either. we have to be able to find a middle ground somewhere. for me, personally, itjust evokes the situation around caroline flack when she died. regardless of what is going on, if you can be anything, be kind. i know this is hard to not harm somebody at their home because we can deal with this and frankly, asa gp, we can deal with this and frankly, as a gp, and the general british public as a whole, they are really great, following the rules, listening to doctors. we have been trying to give advice as much as possible. just carry on doing that and ignore some of this. well, not ignore it, but let's not hang somebody for what has happened, let us somebody for what has happened, let us deal with it in the proper way. mental health, as you say, is a whole separate issue which is important during the course of the

lockdown. we have some viewers' questions if you would be kind enough to take them. they are very generic and i will run them by you. derek has been in touch. he is talk about the reopening of things like public toilets are coasts and beauty spots, many of them haven't reopened but as that happens and the lockdown is eased, he wants to know whether we need to take further precautions other than washing our hands and just trying to do the basics. social distancing is the most important thing. we know that the virus is carried through droplets. as long as you have two metres between you, for members who are not from your household, washing hands is vitally important but if you are vulnerable in any way and concerned that base coverings, i believe that is a good way, it protects me and it protects you from your droplets as well. there are questions around that as well but the great news, the british public are fantastic at following those rules. if you can take hand

sanitiser with you and as we generally slowly eased out of lockdown which we will have to do, this is something we will have to do, just make all the right choices that you are doing. making sure that you are keeping social distancing going. that will be key. a couple more questions. another viewer has e—mailed to us, if the virus continues to affect our lives in the long—term, what will it take for more vulnerable people, and i guess perhaps your son is a vulnerable person so you will have a handle on this, what will it take for more vulnerable people to be allowed out and what measures can they take to remain safe? i guess covering some of the grounds you have already outlined. i think the other thing is, for really vulnerable people, whether we have to wait for a vaccine. i don't know, that is a long shot. i realise that as a scientist and as a doctor as well. but to keep some of our real vulnerable patients safe, that is going to be one thing. the other thing is, there are places where we

get a reduction in covid—19 cases, that will put people '5 minds at rest. shielding vulnerable groups, thatis rest. shielding vulnerable groups, that is advice given by the government. always discuss your situation with the gp because everybody is individual. one size does not fit all. why would always say to people, if you have any concerns about easing out of lockdown, speak to your doctor or healthcare professional first. just a quick one about antibody tests. there are two strands to this, really. one, if you have an antibody test, will it affect your result if you are taking immunosuppressant drugs and would it show up? if you had it a few months ago, the virus, would it show up now? that is a really good question you asked me which i wish i had the answerfor! i don't want to tread on toes for my

collea g u es don't want to tread on toes for my colleagues who are doing antibody testing and would know far better than me. i am just a gp!|j testing and would know far better than me. i amjust a gp! i am sorry you didn't get a chance to see the questions before. and finally did you have a good eid? did you see my bangles and my hannah! eat is —— and my henna. eid is our christmas! any big celebrations, mosques have been closed, families are not allowed to go around, and the whole point of eid, you get dressed in your bangles and your henna. i wanted to show it to you! it is great to see you. thank you for talking to us, dr arif. lovely to see you again. good

morning to you, sally. contact might be allowed in some sport, is that right? it's getting closer. from today, the government's given permission for elite players from all sports to have some contact in training, which sees the return of things like tackling. this will allow clubs to prepare for competitive fixtures. joe wilson reports. under lockdown so far, this is what professional training has looked like for top coaches can watch from a distance but essentially, it is a solitary, well, the two metre barrier no longer applies also remember the old days? training won't look like this again straightaway. initially, clusters of just two or three individuals will be allowed but the government accepts that practice has to be realistic stop the dcms statement reads, " the progression of training to stage two is vital to prepare for

the return of competitive sporting fixtures in many sports". close contact training is required to replicate match formations and conditions. imagine rugby, for example, without physical contact. there has, thus far, been no return to training in premiership rugby at all. sports in stage two will still have to adhere to guidelines and limitations. for example, changing rooms should still be closed, equipment cannot be shared, positive covid—19 tests must immediately reported. and it is still the individual‘s right to opt out. remember, even in the first stage in separated sessions, some have chosen not to return to training grounds. this is a new directive, it is not an order. joe wilson, bbc news. that is something a lot of clubs have been really clear on. if someone wa nts to been really clear on. if someone wants to opt out, that is their right to do so. well, this all comes as many

teams in the championship resume training today. most clubs are in favour of restarting their season, with leeds and west brom currently on course for promotion. but one league chairman says, with no vaccine and therefore no crowds expected until perhaps next year, up to 60 clubs could go bust. the discussion now has to be in tandem with completing the season which will happen when safe. what is football going to do to ensure that the entire pyramid survives this because they have got no income. you are going to have no sales, no match day income, sponsors, and there is a real probability that if something isn't done now and agreed, i think you will be looking at 50, 60 clubs in the football league ceasing to exist. and the bundesliga is carrying on with no hitches so far in germany. yesterday, red bull leipzig won 5—0 against mainz, with timo werner scoring a hat—trick, celebrating it not

with hugs and high—fives, but with elbow—taps. that is something i think we will see a lot more of. and there was another charity golf event in the states overnight. tiger woods and phil mickelson paired up with nfl stars payton manning and tom brady, and being shown just how its done too. this is miami quarterback bradyjust casually making an eagle on a par—five. look at that! now, he might be one of the most talented sportspeople on the planet, but he might need a new pair of trousers after a malfunction, shall we say? see? it happens to the best of us. they were just a little bit too tight. it has probably happened to most of us at some point. we have all done it, a bit optimistic on the trousers sizing. laughs. ican't believe it, sally. thank you very much.

the pandemic has left many teenagers missing theirfriends and school, but some have been using the time to capture snapshots of this moment in history. it's all part of a photography project to show what lockdown has meant for young people. our reporter, graham satchell, has been to meet some of them. it almost helps me to understand my feelings, to take pictures of what is going on. i think before i kind of would just take pictures a bit almost carelessly, just snap it, but now i actually look at the composition of it. i think, like, roads can be like metaphors for life almost. it is a long road but there is no end to it almost, itjust seems like so isolated.|j is no end to it almost, itjust seems like so isolated. i can't bear this in one minute, i'm so

impatient! an online class led by award—winning photographer caroline mendelsohn. these teenagers are being encouraged to document their life in lockdown little bit of the project funded by bradford council. what has life been like in lockdown? incredibly boring most of the time. i miss my friends, i usually see my friends weigh more, obviously. i definitely prefer document through photography. sitting around, just sort of waiting for something to do like waiting for lunchtime, then teatime, then bed. in year11 like waiting for lunchtime, then teatime, then bed. in year“ and i wasjust about teatime, then bed. in year“ and i was just about to take my gcses and due to the coronavirus, they were cancelled. i have had a lot of down

days, obviously the lockdown, and i think many other people have as well. especially teenagers because we're so stressed obviously education. i feel like time is really strange right now and my mind has been going over what time it means to me. the pocket watch is my grandfather's who passed away a couple of years ago. everybody is froze n couple of years ago. everybody is frozen right now. every body is wondering what is going to happen next so for me, that was a symbol of froze n next so for me, that was a symbol of frozen time and how we can try and make the most out of it. was everybody blown away by this picture that harry took? i certainly was. allan people always talk about a work — life balance and how you have to separate work and school from your life at home. but we are in this strange position where these things have been joined this strange position where these things have beenjoined together.|j

wanted to portray that stressful feeling of it being quite all—encompassing surrounding you. i think everybody wants like to go back to normal, really, and even if it isjust a tiny, tiny glimmer of what we view as normal, i will take it. some of the wonderful images taken by young people, teenagers, during the lockdown to chronicle a time in their lives that i'm sure... i'm sure lots of people watching how teenagers at home and will have sympathy for what's going on, a really tough time. time they will never forget, that's for sure. borisjohnson may have thrown is full support behind his senior adviser, but there are mounting calls for dominic cummings to resign this morning. one of those saying he should go is the acting leader of the liberal democrats, sir ed davey. we can speak to him now. thanks very much indeed forjoining us. i'm sure you watched the prime

minister's news conference yesterday stop he talked about father's instinct, what do you make of that? i don't see anywhere in the guidelines that instincts can champion the rules. we all remember the prime minister coming on tv and giving us a strict instruction to stay at home, and by failing to act he undermined his authority to lead the country through this crisis and it brings his ownjudgement into question. millions of people abided by his instruction, huge sacrifices, and they're going to be astonished and they're going to be astonished and angry that the prime minister just won't apply those same rules to his own closest adviser. he also... there's been a lot of talk about this safeguard in of a child to, sort of, explain what happened. what do you make of that?” sort of, explain what happened. what do you make of that? i think many people out there will have some sympathy with that argument. i'm a pa rent sympathy with that argument. i'm a parent with two children. however,

because people... many people had that challenge, that dilemma, they looked locally for solutions — friends or relatives that live nearby, local authorities, the volu nta ry nearby, local authorities, the voluntary sector. what's been amazing in this crisis is how help has been at hand for people who reached out to seek it, but that's a com pletely reached out to seek it, but that's a completely different question from jumping ina completely different question from jumping in a car when you ought to be self isolating because you've beenin be self isolating because you've been in contact with the virus and driving 260 miles. i'm afraid while my heart goes out to anyone who's got this illness and has dilemmas about care for a close relative, they still needed to stick by the rules and find solutions that enable them to stick by the rules.” rules and find solutions that enable them to stick by the rules. i know use a you've got children yourself, so did you go through the process of preparing mentally for if you were ill, for example? absolutely. and although i don't have relatives very

close by, i do have a brother in london and i do have friends locally. i've also been working with the local council, with the local volu nta ry the local council, with the local voluntary sector, and helping and advising constituents who had to self—isolate. and the advice has a lwa ys self—isolate. and the advice has always been — reach out and people will help you. one really question is whether this is reallyjust an explanation that just doesn't stand up. —— questions. i'm hoping conservative mp5 will do what they ought to have been doing a few days ago and saying to the prime minister — a minute cummings has to 90, minister — a minute cummings has to go, he's undermined the authority of the prime minister to lead in this crisis -- the prime minister to lead in this crisis —— dominic cummings. let's remember, the government's performance over things like testing, getting ppe to front—line workers, dealing with the pandemic in ourcare homes,

workers, dealing with the pandemic in our care homes, the government's performance has not been good and they really need to step up and deal with the crisis affecting so many people. we had the worst performance in the whole of europe when it comes to the number of fatalities due to this pandemic, and therefore first of all this pandemic, and therefore first of alercummings is this pandemic, and therefore first of all mr cummings is a distraction preventing the government from getting on and doing itsjob and doing it better, but it also undermines, ina doing it better, but it also undermines, in a very severe way, the public health messages and the credibility of those messages to the public during this crisis. in many ways, this is all about public health compliance. the prime minister has to sack dominic cummings so the government has more red ability with what it says about public health. let's pick up on your point about public health, how damaging could it be? it was already the case, partly due to the confusing messaging from the prime minister himself when he shifted from stay at home to stay alert that has been causing the

lockdown to be stressed. i think that this could be very damaging to that this could be very damaging to that lockdown. very damaging when we are in this process of easing the lockdown, where messaging is that much more difficult. and so, for the prime minister not to apply the guidelines and the messaging to his own team... his own adviser, who must have been involved in drawing up these guidelines, that makes it very difficult for the police, for example, to draw up the guidelines. imagine able offers are going up to a member of the public saying they are breaching the guidelines, that member of the public might say the prime minister's closest adviser is in breach. my message to people is pleased stick to the guidelines and that's why the prime minister has to act, because the message is being confused and undermined. you talked

about conservative mp5, what are you doing and what are you asking for?” wrote to the prime minister to days ago with a whole set of questions about this suggest in he needed to act fast and hard about this —— suggesting. rna letter to conservative mp5 urging them to stand up for their constituents —— i wrote a letter. people will be astonished and angry about this. they made huge sacrifices — not going to the funerals of their loved ones, not seeing their loved ones, seeing their businesses collapse. this has been a dramatic thing in our lives. the major message that the prime minister, and the instruction, that the prime minister gave us all — to stay at home — has been breached by his top adviser. that's what you can't get away from in this story. it's pretty simple. soi in this story. it's pretty simple. so i really hope that the prime minister will come to his senses and reca ptu re minister will come to his senses and

recapture hisjudgement minister will come to his senses and recapture his judgement and minister will come to his senses and recapture hisjudgement and re—in authority this crisis by acting. ed davey, thank you very much your time on bbc breakfast this morning —— re—in still. we will talk to labour and other parties later in the programme. every week, we gather to applaud key workers from all sectors who have kept the country going through the coronavirus pandemic. among them are national grid employees, who have been spending six weeks at a time locked into power stations in order to keep the uk's electricity supply flowing. our correspondent, phil mackie, has been speaking to one of them. six weeks is a long time for a dad to be away from home. daddy! life's just starting to get back to normal for chris and claire jarvis and their boys, dylan and toby. for chris and claire jarvis and their boys, dylan and tobym for chris and claire jarvis and their boys, dylan and toby. it was ha rd their boys, dylan and toby. it was hard work, hard work if i'm honest. we did a video call every day, we

signed up to that, didn't we? just to each other‘s face. signed up to that, didn't we? just to each other's face. stay in touch. stay in touch and pass on virtual hugs. this is chris at work, filmed by one of his colleagues. it's hard being away from my family for such a long period but it's a sacrifice we've all been willing to make to keep the hospitals free. this is the pa rt keep the hospitals free. this is the part where he slept. this is my pod, it had everything i've needed to survive. tv in the corner, tea and coffee behind me, i bathroom there with a shower and everything. three teams of six are locked away inside the powerstation for six weeks at a time. a bit like being in an onshore oil red. there a socially distant canteen and tv lounge, and when there's downtime, teams can even go outside and play a bit of cricket. that's me finished, final shift after six weeks and i'm looking forward to going home this evening

to see the family, i've missed them a lot. after 1.5 months, chris was able to come home and his family was delighted to him. quite emotional really, makes you realise what you have. daddy! they were just stuck to him like glue, just wouldn't leave him like glue, just wouldn't leave him alone, with a just piled on top of him and cuddles all round. it was quite a moment, wasn't it? it has been since, hasn't it, little man? yeah! chris and claire never thought they would ever be separated for this long. he's got a few weeks of now to relax before preparing for another possible stint inside. phil mackie, bbc news, warwickshire. amazing to see some of the sacrifices people have made. here's carol with a look at this morning's weather. amazing landscape, love that you're bringing that to us! good morning. this is a weather

watcher picture in northern ireland, and the sun is out, as in many areas this morning. through the day we will hang on to a fair bit of sunshine and it will be quite warm for most, but as always, there's a fly in the ointment in the shape of these weather fronts coming in from these weather fronts coming in from the west, which will later introduce thicker cloud, strengthening winds and rain across northern ireland and western scotland. with got fog, dumfries and galloway, glasgow and the south—west and that will lift, leaving a dry day for the bulk of the country with sunshine coming through —— we've got fog. except for the west where we have gusty winds. not as windy as the weekend but still gusts across scotland, 30 mph, the western isles, a0 mph. 1a in stornoway to 19 in belfast. 21 in newcastle. the top temperature is likely to be 25 in london. through this evening and overnight, our weather front sinks slowly south,

bumping into high pressure, so it's continuing to weaken but it will still be cloudy and it will still have spots of rain. ahead of it, clear skies, behind it, have spots of rain. ahead of it, clearskies, behind it, also have spots of rain. ahead of it, clear skies, behind it, also clear skies. as you can tell from the temperatures, they aren't falling away too much, overnight lows between nine and around 13. tuesday sees our weather front continuing to sink south at the high pressure is really establishing itself, so it will continue to weaken. although we might start with the odd spot of rain from this weather front, that will dry up. the cloud syncing south, turning the sunshine that bit hazier than it has been in southern areas and behind it we see a return to sunshine across scotland, northern england and northern ireland. temperature is more or less where they should be for the average at the end of may but as we come further south, look at how high they are, up to about 26 in london —— temperatures. from tuesday into

wednesday, high pressure is dominating the weather. this weak front from the west will introduce thicker cloud, some patchy rain, some drizzle at times across northern ireland and western scotland. for the rest of the uk, it's going to be dry and the sunny skies will be england and also wales, and this is where we see the highest temperatures, when he five or 26 as we push further north. —— 25. further north, 17 or 18. wednesday will have an onshore breeze down the north sea coast, which you will also notice. through the rest of the week, for all of us, looks very much like it will turn warmer. more on that later. the headlines are next.

good morning, welcome to breakfast with rogerjohnson and louise minchin. our headlines today: borisjohnson sticks by his top aide over claims dominc cummings broke the lockdown rules by travelling hundreds of miles. i think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent, and i do not mark him down for that. but mounting calls for mrcummings to resign, will overshadow today's cabinet discussions on lifting coronavirus restrictions. parents and teachers are told to prepare for the return of more pupils to schools in england from next monday as planned.

they're getting closer. from today, elite sports in england can have contact in training, it means the return of proper tackling. it's monday, the 25th of may. our top story: there's growing pressure on the prime minister this morning to sack his key advisor dominic cummings who's been accused of flouting lockdown rules. borisjohnson has insisted mr cummings acted "responsibly, legally and with integrity". but some scientists say he's undermined efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus. our correspondent, simonjones, reports. reporter: have you undermined the message, mr cummings? leaving downing street with the backing of the prime minister, but there are growing calls for dominic cummings to quit or be fired. he's accused of breaking lockdown rules by travelling to durham when his wife had coronavirus symptoms, so they could be close to other family members in case they needed help caring for their young son.

i think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent, and i do not mark him down for that. i believe, that in every respect, he has acted responsibly and legally and with integrity. the uk was placed into lockdown on the 23rd of march, with strict limitations on travel. the government guidelines stated you should not be visiting family members who do not live in your home. the last time dominic cummings was seen before developing coronavirus symptoms was in london on the 27th of march. four days later, durham police said it was made aware of reports that an individual had travelled from london to durham. on the 12th of april, newspaper reports suggested mr cummings was spotted in the town of barnard castle, 30 miles from his parents' home. two days later, he was photographed back in downing street. but on the 19th of april, it's alleged mr cummings again travelled to the north—east. number 10 this says this is false. labour wants an enquiry.

this was a huge test of the prime minister and he's just failed that test. he hasn't sacked dominic cummings, he hasn't called for an investigation, and he's treating the british public with contempt. the former conservative minister, paul maynard, tweeted: the concern is shared by one scientist who's been advising the government. if we undermine the unity between the population and the government, if people lose trust and lose adherence, if they stop complying with the measures which have contained the infection, then all of us will lose out because the infection will spike again and many more people will die. hypocrite! resign! dominic cummings was heckled as he returned home, but as the cabinet meets today to discuss plans to further ease the lockdown, ministers are facing the accusation that it's one rule for downing street

and one for the rest of us. simon jones, bbc news. let's get the latest now from our political correspondent, jessica parker, whojoins us from downing street. if you look at the papers this morning, if the prime minister hoped that by appearing at the news conference the story would go away, it hasn't, has it? and effort last night to close the matter down but that does not look like it has worked. the prime minister keen to keep his top aid in post. he could have gone in the contrition angle or a full throated defence and went for the latter saying he believed dominic cummings acted legally, responsibly, with integrity, he didn't mark him down for what had happened and he had extensive face—to—face conversations with his chief aide about events and said some of the reports around what happened were palpably untrue. i suppose an issue with that is lots

of other people have not had extensive face—to—face conversations about what has happened and this morning, questions do remain. did the family take a day trip to barnard castle while they were staying? did they stop at a prep —— petrol station en route to london from durham when one of them had covid symptoms? because those questions remain unanswered and were not answered at yesterday's press conference, this whole saga rolls and today three. the prime minister gave an update on the opening of schools or reopening in england?m course the prime minister already said he wanted to see a phased reopening if the conditions were right, for primary schools, from during the first was not reiterating last night that was still the plan but acknowledging that may not happen everywhere. unions, for example, have raised safety concerns and the cabinet will meet today to talk about the next phase of easing the lockdown we expect to hear more that —— more this week on social contact and retail. one of the

concerns that has been raised by some conservative mp5 but by no means all, what has happened with all of the annette cummings situation, it has risked undermining ta ke situation, it has risked undermining take public message. —— dominic cummings. —— undermining the public message was not no—one wants to be appearing out of touch with the national mood but particularly in the midst of a national crisis. we will be talking to you later running the programme and we would —— be putting some questions later. if you have any questions, feel free to send them in. —— and we'll be putting some of those points to the education secretary, gavin williamson, at 7:30. a further 118 people have died after testing positive with coronavirus in the uk — the lowest daily total since the end of march. the number includes deaths across all settings, not just in hospital. the official government figures show the total number of deaths in the uk now stands at 36,793. police in north ayrshire

are searching for a gunman after a man was shot dead. detectives say the suspect opened fire at a property in the town of ardrossan yesterday evening. a a2—year—old man was pronounced dead shortly afterwards. a a6—year—old woman was also in the house, but was not injured in the incident. 50 firefighters were needed to tackle a significant blaze at the bombardier factory in belfast. it took over two hours for fire crews to bring the flames under control after they were alerted last night. nobody was injured in the incident which is believed to have been an accident, though investigations are ongoing. the aerospace company is one of northern ireland's largest employers. a row over breaking coronavirus—related rules has hit the president of austria. alexander van der bellen has apologised after he stayed at a restaurant in vienna, beyond the time allowed. we can speak now to our reporter in vienna, bethany bell. bethany, good morning to you. it

seems this was his first visit to a restau ra nt seems this was his first visit to a restaurant after seems this was his first visit to a restau ra nt after restau ra nts reopened and he got a bit carried away and stayed a bit too long? yes, the restaurants here in austria openedin the restaurants here in austria opened in mid—may and austria's president who is a ceremonial figure said on twitter that he had gone with his wife and two friends to an italian restaurant in the centre of town and we understand he was sitting on the street on the terrace on the street, and the restaurant closed at 11 o'clock which is the current rules under the coronavirus, because of the coronavirus situation at the moment. they shut but the president and his wife and two friends sat chatting for longer. the police came by, saw them sitting at the table in the street and they have taken measures. the president said he was severely sorry and they had overlooked the time and had also

said that if the restaurant owner faces a fine because of this, he would take responsibility for that and people here have been able to go out and about a bit because austria managed to flatten its curve quite early because it had put lockdown measures in place early and slowly people are now beginning to move around more freely. bethany, thank you very much. bethany bell reporting to us live from vienna this morning. western australia has been battered by a huge storm — ripping roofs off houses, downing trees, and leaving more than 60,000 homes without power. most were in the city of perth. the state's south was particularly hard hit, with dust storms and torrential rain as well as huge waves along the coast. officials said no injuries were reported. authorities had warned residents to prepare for a once—in—a—decade storm.

meanwhile, new zealand has been rocked by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake while the country's prime minister was in the middle of a live television interview. the earthquake struck 30 kilometres off the coast of the country's north island and, although no damages were reported, it lasted for more than 30 seconds. ms ardern, who was in the country's parliament building, known as the beehive, when the quake hit, was remarkably calm under pressure. we're just having a bit of an earthquake here, ryan, quite a — quite a decent shake here, if you see things moving behind me. the beehive moves a little more than most. so cool. very calm under pressure. "it's one rule for the prime minister's advisers and another rule for everybody else" — that's the message from labour as the party leads calls

for an urgent investigation into the allegations surrounding boris johnson's key aide, dominic cummings. we can speak now to the shadow communities minister, steve reed. let's first hear what the prime minister had to say. did dominic cummings make a trip to barnard castle while he was based in durham? what i can tell you is i think when you look at the guidance, when you look at the particular child care needs that mr cummings faced at the time, it was reasonable for him to self isolate, as he did, for him to self isolate, as he did, for 1a days or more, with his family, where he did. i think that was sensible and defensible. i repeat what i said earlier on. i have looked at them and i am content that at all times throughout his

period in isolation, actually on both sides of that period, he behaved responsibly and correctly and with an aim, view, to defeating the virus and the spread. as you might expect, many of the front pages this morning are calling for answers to the allegations. let's speak now to the guardian's archie bland, and dan hodges from the mail on sunday. thank you very much forjoining us. i know your paper, archie, has been working on this for a long time was up working on this for a long time was up when did you tell downing street you had this story? we first went to them a little more than six weeks ago now. we, over that period, were given no comment responses was up ago now. we, over that period, were given no comment responses was up it was only on friday that we finally reached a point where we felt we we re reached a point where we felt we were comfortable to publish but i do think it is important to say that that process shows that the suggestion that this is a problem ——

product of campaigning newspapers with a left—wing agenda, an ideology, that is not the case. this is just reporting an old—fashioned work and that is one of the reasons we collaborated, to make that work more effectively. one of the things the prime minister said, there are some things in the story that i palpably untrue, for example, the visit you talk about to barnard castle. you have a witness for that? we do, we have a retired chemistry teacher, named witness. i will say about the palpably untrue allegations, the barnard castle trip has not specifically been denied and this is very important. it is a 30 mile journey that dominic cummings and his family made on what we believed to have been his wife's birth day. it is famously a nice heritage site holiday destination. travelling 250 miles across the country in search of childcare, there is nothing in the government's

provisions the lockdown that suggests that is appropriate, whether you are healthy or not, and thatis whether you are healthy or not, and that is the question i think the prime minister has to be held to account on in the coming days, why that specific part of the trip was deemed to be necessary when for other people, it simply wasn't possible. i read something yesterday, when the mail and the guardian agree on something, you are in trouble in the political sphere. and today your paper is pretty much do agree, the front page of the mail is almost unprecedented. "what planet are they on?" is the headline. i don't think he can hear us. sorry, was that to me? it shows the view of your paper. it is not my paper, it is the daily... yes. there isa paper, it is the daily... yes. there is a degree of agreement there. there is a degree of difference across the papers as well but we fortunately have an independent

press and this is what should be expected. i think, press and this is what should be expected. ithink, i press and this is what should be expected. i think, i would just like to pick up on the point that was just made, that isjust not a factually accurate point. it is not the case, as far as i am aware, that there was a specific limit on the distance that we could go for travel. i am distance that we could go for travel. lam not distance that we could go for travel. i am not aware it was stipulated, specifically stipulated, even at that time, what distance we could travel. i am talking in relation to the barnard castle trip. it was a reasonable distance, wasn't it? whether or not that amount was a reasonable distance was top it was described as a reasonable distance. there was confusion over that and when it was clarified what a reasonable distance was, my understanding is, and it is easy to check, a reasonable distance was clarified that you could travel up to, for as long as, you are planning

to, for as long as, you are planning to exercise. is my understanding is, also, we were allowed to exercise forup most people did that from their own home, most people didn'tjump in the carand home, most people didn'tjump in the car and travel 30 miles. we're not talking about what most people did, we are talking about what most people did, we are about what the regulations specifically were, and i'm explaining my understanding of the regulations and that is that you we re regulations and that is that you we re allowed regulations and that is that you were allowed to drive for a period equivalent to the amount of time you are planning to exercise. archie bland, i know wanted to pick up on that. go for it. the first stipulation was stay home, that was pretty clear, and most people's understanding about whether it would be acceptable to travel 30 miles in a carto take be acceptable to travel 30 miles in a car to take your daily exercise as a car to take your daily exercise as afamily group, a car to take your daily exercise as a family group, when you're going to a family group, when you're going to a town or public or open place without close proximity risk to others doesn't stand up as a matter

of commonsense and the clarity of that messaging is something everybody remembers with great clarity themselves, and i'd be surprised if many people watching this didn't see that. dan hodges, cani this didn't see that. dan hodges, can i ask you both the same question — one point made by many people is whatever the facts are, the point is this can seem to undermine, dan hodges, the government's very important public health message. no, i'm sorry, the facts actually do matter regardless of what the government's health message is. in terms of dominic cummings' initial travel up to durham in relation to childcare and looking after his childcare and looking after his child and in relation to the other trip do matter. i appreciate we get into the point where it's convenient, but let's look at the facts, not the optics, the facts

matter and the facts matter in this case even if it is in relation to someone like dominic cummings. the questions are whether he broke the law, because as i understand it we are a nation of laws — he didn't. did he break the specific guidelines? no, my understanding is he didn't stop the therefore to take the point that your contributorjust said, to use his very own words — should people use commonsense? in this case it seemed dominic cummings did use commonsense and that gets to the crux of it. if there a public backlash or people are outraged, that's one thing, but as i say, unfortunately, inconvenient as it is, the facts in this case you actually matter. archie, a lot of people feel the prime minister has made his point, he's put it to bed, he's not going to get rid of dominic cummings but yet there is still press packed outside his house and it's turning into a witch—hunt.

press packed outside his house and it's turning into a witch-hunt. for the record, i don't think people big screen displays to dominic cummings' home is sensible and that's not what this is about. people want to turn this is about. people want to turn this into a culture war, it isn't, it's about reporting and dan said the facts matter. it would be straightforward for the prime minister and dominic cummings to lay out the facts, they are still open to do so. borisjohnson said he had a two hour conversation with dominic cummings yesterday and he was satisfied he didn't provide any of the details of that conversation. on the details of that conversation. on the point about the guidelines, what matters is consistently no consistency and what ministers and others have said the guidelines are. —— consistency. if you asked them on friday morning whether they thought a 250 mile round trip for childcare was sensible you would have got an unequivocal no, on saturday morning have got a different answer. the only thing that changed in the meantime is it was revealed that is

what dominic cummings had done. the idea of fairness and the rule that applies to those close to the centre of power compared to everyone else — everyone's good—faith understanding of what the rules were is the problem being presented to the prime minister in the days ahead. dan, thirst to you, given he's on the front page of the newspapers and he's at the centre of the story —— first. will dominic cummings survive this? i think he will, contingent on there being no additional revelations. i think the reason he will, again, just to pick up on the point of your contributor, i think if you had said to any cabinet minister on friday — would it be a cce pta ble minister on friday — would it be acceptable in the circumstances where two parents are incapacitated, they have a young and vulnerable child, would it then be acceptable for them to make alternative

childcare arrangements within the law and within also the specific guidelines, i think those cabinet ministers would say yes. frankly, if those cabinet ministers didn't say yes i'm not entirely sure what those cabinet ministers are doing because these sorts of decisions are ultimately a decision for parents such as david cameron, not the cabinet or anyone else —— dominic cummings. archie? i don't feel qualified and it's not up to me whether he should resign. one more point on that, to find childcare for your child when you're both incapacitated is one thing. the idea ofa incapacitated is one thing. the idea of a person of their resources with family in london needing to travel to hundred 50 miles in search of childcare when one was already sick and the other wasn't as something i don't think lines up with most people's understanding of what would truly be essential travel —— 250. it is hard to from anything that's been

yet provided as an explanation as to why that would be the case. it's also worth saying that we will see where the story goes in the days ahead. thank you, archie bland from the guardian and dan hodges from the mail on sunday. thank you both. let's speak to shadow communities secretary and labour mp, steven reid. thanks forjoining us —— labour. prime minister has made his position very clear, other parties have called for dominic cummings to 90. have called for dominic cummings to go, do you think he should resign or the prime minister should get rid of him? keir starmer, the labour leader, he was clear yesterday, he was clear that he should sack dominic cummings for what he has donein dominic cummings for what he has done in this situation, so that's clear. the prime minister's response at the press conference yesterday left so many questions still unanswered. we don't understand how dominic cummings got to durham, we don't know whether he went by car or

train, whether he stopped, whether he interacted with others, whether he interacted with others, whether he went more than once, whether he then travelled to barnard castle. there's so many unanswered questions about theirs and we don't have the a nswe rs about theirs and we don't have the answers from the government. the prime minister said he had a long conversation with him yesterday and he is satisfied by the explanation, it is hisjob to make big decisions, this is a reasonably big decisions, this is a reasonably big decision, he has made his decision and that's that. this is about the government's moral authority now. it's critically important that the public can trust what the government is saying so they can follow the guidelines to try and save lives. over the last few weeks, so many people have sacrificed so much to save other people's lives. they don't want to a situation where there appears to be one rule for the government but another for somebody else. my inbox yesterday and this morning is absolutely full of people recounting stories about how they have not gone

to visit dying relatives, how they've not been to family funerals. they made those sacrifices to keep other people safe and they are angry it appears dominic cummings didn't apply the same discipline to himself that he expected them to follow.“ you say, and you have, that keir starmer would have sacked in if it was hisjob, what can labour or anyone else do? the prime minister has stuck by his adviser, he said he acted with integrity and people can jump up acted with integrity and people can jump up and down but that is it, it is done. this story isn't going anywhere until we get clarity from the government. that's why labour is calling from the prime minister — if he won't sack dominic cummings on the face of what's happened, let's have an enquiry by the cabinet secretary. it needn't take long for the facts to be established — when he travelled, how many times he travelled, how he travelled. there

appears to be a very clear breach of cabinet office advise and i've got it in front of me, "leaving your home to stay at another home is not a llowed ". home to stay at another home is not allowed". it seems on the face of things, dominic cummings very clearly breached that government guidance, so let's have the cabinet secretary conduct an investigation, an enquiry, and publish it so we can all see the true facts. he is not the only person that breached the guidelines, stephen kinnock, in your own party, airy early on was censured for going to visit his parents. not everybody has been forced to resign and there's many thousands across the country who have also broken the lockdown guidelines. he's been made a scapegoat, hasn't he? there's millions more who have followed these guidelines very carefully and at great personal cost. i had an e—mail yesterday from a constituent who is terminally ill mother in wales... he doesn't know if he will ever see her alive again but he

hasn't travelled because he is following the government guidelines. dominic cummings is in a different position right now because he is one of the people who makes these rules, he sits in the sage committee, the scientific advisers who give us the scientific advisers who give us the scientific information, and these rules are based on that. he sets the rules are based on that. he sets the rules and you can't have someone who sets the rules for everyone else telling us they don't apply to him. it isa telling us they don't apply to him. it is a critical point of trust and in the critical moment of development of this unprecedented situation, it is vital trust remains strong between the government and public. let's talk about education, that's being talked about at the moment, schools in england are expected to start to go back, obviously lots have been providing care for key workers but to start to bring children back on the first ofjune. is that something now that labour supports? when it is a to do so, absolutely. we know there's a lot of

children going without education for such a long period being damaging to them, but parents are rightly concerned about whether it is safe to send their children back. what we would like to is the head teachers, the teaching unions, parents coming back together on a consensus about when it safe. they are doing it in wales and so we could do it in england. if a school is reopened and a parent doesn't feel comfortable sending their child to school, should the parent face any action? asi should the parent face any action? as i understand it under government proposals, there is no action and that would be reasonable under the circumstances but the best way forward is to give parents the reinsurance they need. steve reed, thank you for speaking to us, labour mp and shadow secretary of state for communities and local government. carol is here with some of the holiday whether. good morning. for some, a gorgeous start if you like

it sunny and for many, it will remain that way. i say many because we have weather fronts coming in from the west that will introduce thicker cloud, rain across northern ireland and also western scotland and here too, quite gusty winds, especially the western isles — adjusting to about a0 mph. fog this morning in parts of south—west england, dumfries and galloway, around the glasgow area, slowly starting to lift and when it does you will see sunshine coming through, but more cloud from the west through the afternoon. these white circles indicate average wind strengths, not the gusts, which of course will be higher. gentle winds and further south and in the warm sunshine, 25, feeling pleasant. further north, roughly between 13 to around 19 degrees. then as we head on through the evening and overnight, our weather front continues its descent slowly moving south. it's bumping into our area of high pressure, so weakening all the

time, so affectively it's going to bea time, so affectively it's going to be a band of cloud with some spots of rain. clear skies ahead of it and behind it, with temperatures falling to between nine and 13 degrees — not going to be a cold night. if we pick up going to be a cold night. if we pick up this weather front for tomorrow, it continues moving southwards, continuing to weaken all the time. as you can tell from the isobars, not going to be as windy across the north as it is today and it will not be as windy today as on the weekend. tuesday sees the weather front sink south, the rain in its drying up, turning the sunshine hazy as it moves the south—east behind it, for northern ireland, northern england and scotland, returning to sunshine. temperature—wise in scotland and northern ireland, more or less average for the time of year but further south, 22 to 26. by the time we get to wednesday, high pressure firmly in charge. this week warm front moving up the coast of northern ireland and also western scotla nd

northern ireland and also western scotland introducing thicker cloud and again, patchy rain and drizzle. away from that, it's going to remain dry. an onshore breeze from the north sea on wednesday but inland, highs of 25 or 26. further north, 12 to about 18. through the latter part of this week, for all of us, it's going to warm up. high pressure d rifts going to warm up. high pressure drifts further east, allowing all this air — warm or very warm air — to come up from the near continent. on thursday or friday, the temperature rising, variable amounts of cloud and a lot of sunshine around. 25, 26 likely to be the top temperature but by saturday, quite possible we'll be looking at temperatures once again back up into the high 205. thank you very much, carol. we look forward to it stop thank you. hello, this is breakfast with rogerjohnson and louise minchin. the cabinet will discuss the further easing of lockdown

measures this morning, but any announcements are likely to be overshadowed by accusations the prime minister's most senior advisor broke lockdown rules. borisjohnson has insisted dominic cummings acted "responsibly, legally and with integrity". however, some scientists say he's undermined efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus. so much to talk about with the education secretary gavin williamson whojoins us education secretary gavin williamson who joins us right now. you for joining us. we will talk about the plan to reopen, or extend the reopening at least, of schools in england shortly. thank you for joining us. let's address those allegations facing dominic cummings. they are across the front of every page of the paper. when the advice of the public was really clear, stay at home, protect the nhs, save lives, the prime minister's chief aid gets in the car with his wife

who has coronavirus symptoms and drives 260 miles. was that within the guidance? well, understandably, there has been a large number of accusations that have been levelled at dominic cummings and completely understandably, prime minister wa nted understandably, prime minister wanted total clarity on this and a clear understanding as to what has happened. sat down with dominic cummings yesterday and deep into a discussion about this and has been absolutely categorically assured that both dominic cummings and his family that both dominic cummings and his fa m ily followed that both dominic cummings and his family followed the guidance and also followed the law. and the guidance was quite clear at the time stop stay—at—home. do not go somewhere else? as you would have also seen in the guidance, because the guidance is incredibly extensive, and at the heart of that

guidance is always the issue of safeguarding children and making sure the children are always absolutely protect it. my understanding is, from what the prime minister said yesterday, and you saw just as prime minister said yesterday, and you sawjust as i did, is that at every stage, dominic cummings and his family followed the guidance. at no stage did dominic cummings or his family break the law. the prime minister immediately sat down, had that discussion, wanted the absolute assurance that that had been the case and he had actually received that. if you have been given that absolute assurance that the guidance has not been broken all the law has not been broken, it seems fair to support that person. let's give you one example of somebody who was in a similar situation. " my husband and

i had covid in march. we have three young children, two are disabled, we had no support at all. our relatives are 65 miles away but we followed the guidance to the letter. to hear a couple with one child excused of travelling over 250 miles to see family is utterly enraging".” travelling over 250 miles to see family is utterly enraging". i think we all understand there has been so many sacrifices by so many people at this incredibly difficult time and we have at every stage been asking extraordinary things of the british people and what is so vital is that people and what is so vital is that people do follow the rules and do follow the guidance and do not break the law and our understanding is, the law and our understanding is, the prime minister has had assurance that neither the guidance or the law has been broken but what the prime minister has been doing is setting out very much about how we move out

of this lockdown face and just two weeks ago, you saw the prime minister setting out those first steps in terms of a roadmap as we go forward. yes. i think this is a sensible move forward and of course a key element of that is making sure that children have the opportunity to go back to school. and i will come to that, but you will understand, people do have questions still to be answered, specifically about the sense that there seems to be one rule for downing street and another role for everybody else. a sense of double standards. well, that certainly is not the case and what you saw the prime minister ensuring everyone is that actually, no rules have been broken and no laws have been broken. but as we do look forward, we have got to look forward to how we start... what do you say to people... sorry. i do

apologise, i didn't mean to speak over you. likewise, sorry. what do you say to people who didn't do what dominic cummings chose to do. who didn't go and see their relatives who are seriously ill in hospital? who didn't go to funerals. who didn't see, perhaps, their loved ones who died? what i have highlighted again and again, the prime minister, this is some very serious allegations that have been levelled at dominic cummings and his family in terms of breaking the rules and therefore breaking the law. dominic cummings has set out absolutely clearly, and absolutely categorically, that he didn't break the rules or the law. this is the prime minister's right to be asking those questions, right to be asking for those assurances. but we do need to start looking very much to the future and we do, on the first of june, we want to see schools

starting to return. in terms of primary school years, make reception, year1 primary school years, make reception, year 1 and primary school years, make reception, year1 and year 6. we wa nt to reception, year1 and year 6. we want to see nurseries starting to come back from the 15th ofjune, so many children, year ten, year 12, who are going to be facing in —— facing important exams next year and having face—to—face time with their teachers, this is incredibly important, incredibly vital, to make sure we deliver on our recovery out of this pandemic. ok, we'll let's talk about something the prime minister said yesterday. he talked about instinct, didn't he? parents' instincts. going forward, parents thinking about whether they take their children to school, do they follow instinct rather than guidelines? louise, you rightly highlighted in terms of the

conversations bbc were highlighting with your last caller, children being able to go to school from the first ofjune into those primary settings, and it was highlighted the fa ct settings, and it was highlighted the fact that we are not going to be finding parents if they decide not to send their children there. i think this was the right step to ta ke eve n think this was the right step to take even though i think we all put an immense importance on all children attending school, but we do realise that they will be an initial nervousness about the return of schools. what we have been doing in terms of working with all schools right across the country and all schools organisations and unions, is working about how we create a safe space within schools, making sure that we create a protect did bubble, so your child is going from their home into a much smaller class group that they would usually be in of no more than 15 children. making sure they are not interact with other

children in year groups, so reducing the chances of transmission, making sure there is really good discipline in terms of hand washing, cleaning of surfaces, making sure that we create a, you know, the maximum amount of create a, you know, the maximum a mou nt of safety create a, you know, the maximum amount of safety for children and those who work in schools. you have highlighted what they are going to do and all the different safety measures which of course are supremely important. do people follow their instinct or the guidelines? well, what we are encouraging people is to start sending their children back into school and we have this amazing opportunity for children to be benefiting from being in front of the teachers again and you have heard everyone from former labour education secretary '5 to the children's commissioner, to so many recognising how important it is that children are getting the benefit of

education. without them having the benefit of education, without them having the benefit of being able to go into school, they are really missing out. not just go into school, they are really missing out. notjust educationally but i am sure we have all seen it with our own children, the fact that there —— they have spent so much time away from children of their own age was not having those elements of social interaction. no matter how much we try at home to supplement that with home learning, none of it is really as good as a substitute as those inspiring, passionate teachers at the front of the classroom, giving them the enthusiasm to learn. and it is really good, as i say, not just for their education but also for their welfare, their physical welfare and also their mental health. so taking those steps and returning to school is so incredibly important and really for the benefit of the child. and also, it is a matter of trust, isn't it? that

pa rents trust matter of trust, isn't it? that parents trust you, the government, are doing the right thing. we see on the front pages of the newspaper very serious questions being asked about dominic cummings, key advisor, and is there not a danger that what is being said, the fact that he is at the centre of this political storm at the moment, really seriously undermines your public health message. louise. this has been probably one of the most difficult decisions i have probably ever had to take. in terms of ringing children back into school, making sure we do everything we possibly can —— in terms of bringing children back into school. making sure we do everything we can to make sure we do everything we can to make sure they are returning to school safely and that safety is at the heart of everything we do as well as for those who work in schools. but i know that there is such an importance in terms of children being able to get the education. i see it in my own children, just how much they are missing out and we

can't be in a situation where we just go months and months and months where children arejust just go months and months and months where children are just going to be missing out on education.” where children are just going to be missing out on education. i really appreciate what you are saying... coronavirus will be with us a year or more crosstalk put up if we don't bring them back, it will be incredibly tragic and we have to ta ke incredibly tragic and we have to take this first tentative, very cautious steps. many people will be really, really passionate about listening to you and hearing what your plans are for schools but can i just take you back to that, you know, the weekend's events and the fa ct know, the weekend's events and the fact that many, very serious people including behavioural scientists, we have the labour party, so many people asking serious questions about what it has done to the public health message and, for example, the fa ct health message and, for example, the fact that this has happened may make it difficult, for example, to enforce social distancing guidelines

to police. may make other people less willing to follow the public health guidance. dominic cummings has made it absolutely clear to the prime minister that he broke no rules and he broke no laws. as we move forward, we have a number of enormous challenges. those challenges are bringing schools back, reopening businesses, making sure that people can start to have some of the normality and some of the things that they need and getting the nation up on its feet again and out of lockdown. these are big measures and they are incredibly difficult and they are incredibly challenging and i agree with you, it is important that people have trust and confidence in government. i can assure you , as and confidence in government. i can assure you, as education secretary, i will be doing absolutely everything to make sure that children's return to school is done as smoothly and as calmly as

possible, supporting teachers, supporting schools, supporting pa rents supporting schools, supporting parents and most importantly supporting those children who have missed out on so much by not being at school. and your message... crosstalk. such an important step and from the first ofjune, we are going to see some of those children is having the opportunity to get world —class is having the opportunity to get world—class education. is having the opportunity to get world-class education. you have made your point very clear, gavin williamson, thank you very much, can i put this tweet to you? this is from blackpool mp paul maynard. one rule for them and another for the rest. dominic cummings has made it wa ntonly rest. dominic cummings has made it wantonly clear that he broke no rules and he broke no laws. have you spoken to dominic cummings himself? i haven't spoken to dominic cummings but the prime minister made it clear last night that he had spoken at length to dominic cummings. but as

you can really probably appreciate, my focus is on one thing and that is about making sure that children return to school safely and get the benefits of getting a first—class education that our schools provide right across this country. do you think he should resign? know, because he has made it clear that he has broken no rules and he has broken no laws. can ijust ask you one, because people still want details, don't they, about this, what is being called a day trip to barnard castle by dominic cummings, which is 30 miles from where he was isolating and that message at the time was, "to stay home". if he had been a member of the public, would he have done the wrong thing?” don't have the details of all the various dates. the two dates i know clearly other first of june various dates. the two dates i know clearly other first ofjune when, from monday the first ofjune, primary schools will start opening their doors, welcoming in pupils for their doors, welcoming in pupils for the first time in over two months and the 15th of june the first time in over two months and the 15th ofjune when the

secondary schools again start reopening their doors and welcoming in year12. reopening their doors and welcoming in year 12. appreciate... crosstalk. the prime minister has had an in—depth discussion with dominic cummings about on this and has been given absolute assurance that no rules or laws have been broken but my focus is being that children are getting the benefit of going back to school. teachers are given the opportunity to be able to share their brilliance and everything they do with children and making sure that we take those first really tentative, very cautious steps back out of lockdown and on the road to recovery. this is trust in the government's advice, and if he did make that trip to barnard castle 30 miles from where he was isolating, should he resign then? the prime minister has had the discussion with dominic

cummings about all of this. dominic cummings about all of this. dominic cummings has given his absolute assurance about all the events that occurred there. the prime minister could not have been more plain, more clear, like yesterday. i'm ever so sorry, i can talk to you at great length about schools and how important the opening of schools are, but, you know, i can't really add anything further to what the prime minister was clearly absolutely plain about yesterday. as well on schools, we talked on friday to lots of different councils and schools who are very concerned about opening, being able to open, what happens to them if they can't? so, what we've instructed is our tea m so, what we've instructed is our team of regional schools commissioners, who are working very closely not just with commissioners, who are working very closely notjust with local authorities but academy trusts, which are big groups of schools,

working with them to help them ensure they can start opening from monday, the first ofjune. we do need to education provided right across the country. what happens to those schools if they can't or won't open? we do need to ski del max schools open. if schools have practical problems, they are working with us closely to fix those problems. there are 22,000 schools of different shapes and sizes in the country and there is practical problems with schools and we are working closely to try to work out those practical problems. we don't wa nt to those practical problems. we don't want to schools not opening for, you know, reasons that aren't practical reasons. if they come to us, and they work with us, we'll make sure schools are open so children and pa rents schools are open so children and parents benefit. and if they don't all they can't, what happens to those schools? -- or they can't.

i can't see a situation where a school cannot open. i understand some will have practical difficulties, in which case i would a lwa ys difficulties, in which case i would always say — our door is open to talk with them, listen to them and find solutions to those practical difficulties. but there isn't any reason why schools should not be open. the other thing we found in our survey as well, and we spoke to various head teachers, is that there isa various head teachers, is that there is a realfear various head teachers, is that there is a real fear amongst parents, various head teachers, is that there is a realfear amongst parents, a relu cta nce is a realfear amongst parents, a reluctance to send children back to school. the health message doesn't seem, as with regards to people we've spoken to, to be getting through? as we move out of lockdown, people are as we move out of lockdown, people a re naturally as we move out of lockdown, people are naturally very cautious about those steps of being in their home, very much within a small family unit. we readily accepted that this

is going to be a gradual process. when we look at other countries around the world who are quite a number of weeks ahead of us in terms of bringing schools back, what you've seen is quite small numbers of pupils in school for the first few weeks, but that is rapidly starting to increase as people realise how much their children are missing out on by not being at school. we recognise it's a cautious and steady process, and this is why it's so important to continue to work with schools, really support them and help them as they bring children back. very briefly, the other point pa rents very briefly, the other point parents make is what is the scientific evidence about reception, year1, scientific evidence about reception, year 1, children least able to self enforce a social distancing, what is the evidence that they should go back first? firstly there's two lots of evidence, firstly the number of contact points those small children have with different people are the

lowest of any age group. as children get older and older, they have a wider circle of people that their engaging with and dealing with —— they are engaging with and dealing with. they are the people least likely to transmit of any age group. the other thing is the importance of continuity of education. so actually children at that age really need to be constantly learning and co nsta ntly be constantly learning and constantly supporting in order to attain. one of the key concerns with children at that age missing out for such a long period of time — it will have a much longer—term impact in terms of those children's educational well—being. that was one of the reasons as to why we prioritised those age groups. gavin williamson, secretary of state for education, thank you for your time on breakfast. thank you for yours. let's catch up with the sport '5.

sally is with us, how is it looking? big development because change is coming, it's getting closer. the government's given permission for elite players from all sports to have some contact in training, which sees the return of things like tackling. social distancing will still be applied outside of technical training but this will help clubs prepare for their planned returned to competitive action. so far players have been restricted to small groups and have had to keep well apart. but you can't do that forever and certainly not in some sports. rugby has yet to return, but when the players do come back to training they can at least practice drills properly. la liga in spain has named a date for it's first game back — june 11th. teams can train in full squads from next week and that first match going ahead still depends on the continued decline of the virus there. everyone is looking forward, i'm looking forward. i can speak about

myself — i'm really, really looking forward to it. obviously the bundesliga is showing us the way a bit. they are the most clever ones because they've been the quickest and been really, really good doing it. obviously la liga is going to follow now and hopefully the premier league can follow soon as well. if you haven't been paying attention to the sport, maybe you've been distracted and reading the paper! stop! watch this. finally we've seen plenty of sportsmen and women trying out challenges in their home in lockdown. not sure many of them will beat this effort though from northampton town's scott pollock. watch him and the ball closely, as he kicks it up and over his house, and then brings it down with brilliant control, even on a jump up onto his lawn. don't try this at home, even scott couldn't believe he'd pulled it off safely. imight i might have to watch that again, it is amazing! ridiculous! you need to watch it a few times. have a look at that from the start. oh my goodness! who said no? that is really him!”

wouldn't be able to do that but i wouldn't be able to do that but i would crash into the wheelie bin if i tried! i wouldn't be able to kick it over the house! absolutely not! that is me, not you! me too! since the uk went into lockdown and gyms shut their doors, many of us have looked online for a safe fitness fix. former towie star mark wright has been helping people do just that, hosting daily workouts from his house together with celebrities and sports stars, and hejoins us now from his home in essex. looks like you are primed and ready to go as well? yes, i'm ready to go at 9am so i am set. tell us what you're doing, because this is going to be streamed on the bbc sport website and your turning yourself into a bit of a joe wicks—type character? i'm trying, he's the king! it's going to be streamed on

bbc sport, instagram, facebook, twitter account, everywhere really there is bbc sport. i will be doing a live workout every morning this week from 9am. as i always say when i'm doing the lives on my page, if you are watching and you were planning on getting involved, try it, get up. the amount of times i get messages with people saying i wasn't planning it, i've been doing it for five weeks in a row and i feel amazing. just get involved, it's worth it! what does a hit workout mean for those that don't know? a hit workout is high—intensity. a cardio workout basically but also toning, bodyweight stuff and it's a real fat burner. kind of like starjumps, jacks, press ups, high knees, sprinting on the spot, that kind of stuff. i've tried it a few times and when you watch people doing it, squatting, standing up, running on

the spot, it looks dead easy but it's not, it is absolutely wearing! it's really tough. my brother is a professional for it's really tough. my brother is a professionalfor and it's really tough. my brother is a professional for and when he's trying to get in extra strength or coming out of injury, he does hit training all the time and he swears by it and i do too. 20 to 30 minutes and honestly you burn so many calories, you get such a sweat on, it is so great because it is so intense. you've got various people who have been involved along the way, how did you get them involved and how much fun is that? it is amazing. it started because during the first two weeks of lockdown i felt a little bit negative about things, i couldn't get myself motivated, so i hadn't been to the gym into weeks and that really bothers me, because normally i like to go three or four times a week. one day i woke up and i thought if i

book an appointment to do a live workout tomorrow morning on instagram, it's going to make me get up instagram, it's going to make me get up and do it and instagram, it's going to make me get up and do itand i did instagram, it's going to make me get up and do it and i did that. then jamie redknapp text me and he said workout was great and he suggested doing one tomorrow, he did it, he enjoyed it, then i got my friend olly murs involved and then i started this thing of doing a different theme each week. a boxer week, and i had tyson fury and tony bellew, a music week, female week, comedian week. it became a thing and the people that watch it who got involved requested who they wanted and the week they wanted next, it became a trend and i've loved it. we wish you well with it, good luck and thanks for talking to us this morning. the only problem is, if you do it today, if you haven't done it before the chances are you won't be able to do it tomorrow because you will be too sore. i can say that from personal experience. you can tune in to mark's workouts on bbc sport online and across social media. 9am, in an hour's time.

here's carol with a look at this morning's weather. it is bank holiday and looks rather lovely. this is cumbria, one weather watcher sent theirs in this morning, lovely blue skies, as there is in edinburgh too. for most, a dry and sunny day. i say most because we've got weather fronts in the west, they will be introducing thicker cloud and some rain and drizzle and one lot at the isobars tells you we've got gusty winds again today. high pressure further south keeps things settled. we have fog patches in parts of south—west england, dumfries and galloway and the glasgow area but they will lift, they will brighten up they will lift, they will brighten up and the cloud will come in through the afternoon moving east from the west across scotland. these white circles indicate average wind speeds and the gusts around the western isles are likely to be around a0 mph. temperatures raging from 13 to about 21 in scotland, northern ireland and northern

england. as we come further south, we're looking at 21 to about 25. through this evening and overnight, our weather front starts its descent moving south—eastwards and as it does so, it bumps into high pressure so it starts to weaken. eventually it won't be much more than a band of cloud with some spots of rain. ahead of it and behind it, clear skies but as you can see from those temperatures, it's not going to be a cold night. hour weather front continues to push south—east as we go through tomorrow. still banging into this high pressure, so it is still going to weaken. although we may start with the odd spot of rain coming from the cloud, it won't be long before it dries up and as the cloud sinks southwards, the sunshine will turn that bit hazier but it will turn that bit hazier but it will brighten up behind it for northern england, scotland and northern ireland. temperature—wise, more or less bang on for scotland and northern ireland but further south, we are above average with temperatures getting as high as 26. that's it from me for now. the

headlines our next. good morning welcome to breakfast with rogerjohnson and louise minchin. our headlines today. boris johnson sticks by his top aide — over claims that dominic cummings broke the lockdown rules by travelling hundreds of miles. i think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent, and i do not mark him down for that. but mounting calls for mrcummings to resign, will overshadow today's cabinet discussions on lifting coronavirus restrictions. parents and teachers are told to prepare for the return

of more pupils to schools in england from next monday — as planned. tackling in training is back. from today, elite sports in england can have some contact, it means the return of proper challenges like this one. life in lockdown as documented by teenagers — we meet the young people who've captured their struggles in photos. good morning. it's monday, 25th may. bank holiday monday. our top story — there's growing pressure on the prime minister this morning to sack his key adviser dominic cummings — who's been accused of flouting lockdown rules. borisjohnson has insisted mr cummings acted "responsibly, legally and with integrity". but some scientists say he's undermined efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus. let's get the latest from our political correspondent, jessica parker, whojoins us from downing street.

jessica, if and when, i'm sure they will come a look at the papers this morning, they will find that if yesterday's press conference was intended to draw a line under this whole affair it probably hasn't. yeah, ithink whole affair it probably hasn't. yeah, i think that's right, roger. the prime minister came out to defend his chief aide last night saying some of the reports were palpably false, and as welcome as you were saying, that dominic cummings had added legally and with integrity. this all centres around the fact that dominic cummings with his family as his wife had covid—19 symptoms in late march travelled from their london home up to his family home in county durham in order to self—isolate and go there in case they needed a childcare support. the prime minister saying he's had an extensive conversation with dominic cummings and he was convinced that dominic cummings had done the right thing and that he wouldn't mark him down. but questions still remain over what has

happened and it is an issue you have been raising with the education secretary gavin williamson this morning. at every stage dominic cummings and his family followed the guidance. at no stage did dominic cummings or his family break the law. and the prime minister immediately sat down, had that discussion, wanted the absolute assurance that that had been the case and that he had received that. if you have been given that absolute assurance that the guidance has not been broken or the law has not been broken, it seems fair to support that person. boris johnson may have had this extensive conversation with dominic cummings right here on downing street yesterday afternoon, but of course, most people have not had that conversation and some questions do remain, as i was saying. did dominic cummings and his

family go on a day trip to barnard castle while staying in durham, did they stop en route between london to durham at say a petrol station when one of them had covid—19 symptoms? yes, borisjohnson tried to close the matter down last night but those questions do remain and the whole saga rolls on to day three. we just heard from gavin williamson talking from dominic —— about dominic cummings. in that interview in the last half an hour he elaborated a bit on plans for some of the schools in england which borisjohnson touched on last night. boris johnson said they would push ahead with this plan for a phased reopening of primary schools from june the 1st although accepting not all school settings would be ready. unions have raised concerns about the safety of the plans. there will also become as pa rt the plans. there will also become as part of the plan from mid some face—to—face contact for year ten and year 12 students who have exams next year with teaching staff and the cabinet is meeting to talk about the cabinet is meeting to talk about the easing of the lockdown today,

more on social contact and more in terms of nonessential retail. but one of the concerns that critics of the government raised and some tory mp5 have raised as well is that what has happened with dominic cummings risks undermining the message the government is trying to get out as that lockdown is eased over the coming weeks. any government at any time wants to have public trust and doesn't want to appear out of touch with the public mood. but that is probably particularly the case in a national crisis. thank you very much indeed, jessica. jessica parker there. a further 118 people have died after testing positive with coronavirus in the uk — the lowest daily total since the end of march. that number includes deaths across all settings, not just in hospital. the official government figures show the total number of deaths in the uk now stands at 36,793. police in north ayrshire are searching for a gunman after a man was shot dead. detectives say the suspect opened fire at a property in the town

of ardrossan yesterday evening. a a2—year—old man was pronounced dead shortly afterwards. a a6—year—old woman was also in the house, but was not injured in the incident. 50 firefighters were needed to tackle a ‘significant‘ blaze at the bombardier factory in belfast. it took over two hours for fire crews to bring the flames under control after they were alerted last night. nobody was injured in the incident which is believed to have been an accident, though investigations are ongoing. the aerospace company is one of northern ireland's largest employers. western australia has been battered by a huge storm — ripping roofs off houses, downing trees, and leaving more than 60,000 homes without power. most were in the city of perth. the state's south was particularly hard hit, with dust storms and torrential rain as well as huge waves along the coast. officials said no injuries were reported. authorities had warned residents to prepare for a once—in—a—decade storm.

greece will today reopen its islands to domestic tourists, the latest in a series of measures, ending lockdown restrictions. the country has had just 170 deaths from coronavirus, and its tourist industry has been badly hit by the pandemic. ferries to the islands will be operating for citizens at a 50% capacity. earlier on breakfast we heard from ben hobdell—spatha who runs a bar in paxos. he told us what safety measures will be put in place. we are going to have to be wearing masks and gloves and getting the antiseptic gel on and all that kind of stuff. i mean, i think we are going to have to be really conscious and sensible on how we deal with our guests and our visitors. he also made us feel nostalgic for summer holidays in the sun. didn't he, blue skies and blue seas.

8:07am. let's return to our top story now — and borisjohnson's controversial decision to give his full backing to his chief aide, following allegations he breached lockdown rules. we'll hear from one conservative mp who says he's unconvinced by the prime minister's defence of dominic cummings injust a minute, but first let's take a look at how the story came to light. the uk went into lockdown on 23rd march — with strict limitations on travel. the government guidelines stated: "you should not be visiting family members who do not live in your home". the last time dominic cummings was seen before developing coronavirus was in london on 27th march. four days later, durham police said it was made aware of reports that an individual had travelled from london to durham on the 12th april. newspaper reports suggest mrcummings was seen in the town of barnard castle — 30 miles from his parents home. two days later, he was photographed back in downing street. on 19th april, it's

alleged mr cummings again travelled to the north east — but downing street has described that claim as "false". the allegations against mr cummings have angered some inside borisjohnson's own party. i think our strong messages about social distancing and stay at home and make sacrifices and we are all in this together have slightly become diluted over all of this. i think mr cummings is now... it's now time for him to consider his position and whether he is now useful to the government. my assessment is that he is not. i understand mr cummings' desire to protect his four—year—old son and i think any parent would understand that. but this man is a member of a team in number 10 downing st and you can't have one law for the prime minister's team and another law for absolutely everybody else. last night borisjohnson gave this response to the allegations against his chief adviser. i think he followed the instincts

of every father and every parent, and i do not mark him down for that. and though there have been many other allegations about what happened when he was in self—isolation and thereafter — some of them palpably false — i believe that, in every respect, he has acted responsibly and legally and with integrity. let's speak to the conservative mp david warburton now. hejoins us from his home in somerset. good morning. thank you forjoining us. i suspect you like money watched the prime minister at the news conference yesterday. what if you make of it? well, you know, i wasn't terribly impressed with his conclusions. —— what did you make of it? although we all understand dominic cummings' instincts, many of us are parents and we understand his wish to do the best for his family.

but we have not been offered the chance to interpret the rules. that's really not how it works, otherwise there would be complete chaos. we have all suffered under the regulations. there are parents not being able to see children, elderly people isolated and alone. people like my own father who died alone. relatives cut off from people they love. but what my constituents are seeing and what i'm hearing from hundreds and hundreds of e—mails and letters a nd hundreds and hundreds of e—mails and letters and phone calls is double standards, and that's really not a good look, particularly when it's around someone who has themselves been part of defining the rules which all the rest of us have to endure. i'm so sorry to hear about your father. that really must put it into a very stark perspective from your point of view. well, i mean, people have made sacrifices, this is a difficult time. this is a time of national crisis. but in those sacrifices there really hasn't been

the choice to use instincts. instinct hasn't really been part of it. we have been tasked with following regulations laid down by the government and it doesn't look good when the government's chief adviser is not, as it would seem to be, if he is not following those same rules and regulations. and what's happened subsequently is he's become an enormous distraction at a time when we don't need distractions, at a time when we need confidence in the government and the government needs the kind of authority and respect necessary to get us through this and out of the other side. so, what do you think should happen now? ideally, if he broke the rules, if he broke the rules, then obviously he should be subject to the same kind of consequences as anybody else who brea ks consequences as anybody else who breaks the rules. if you put up his hand and apologised and said it's a

faircop, igot hand and apologised and said it's a fair cop, i got it wrong, i'm sorry, it might have all washed away, or if he had resigned, as advisers used to do, then great. better still, if the prime minister had drawn a sort of public line in the sand and sacked himi public line in the sand and sacked him i think the vast majority of the public would have been both reassured by that sort of handling and also would have had the seriousness of the covid—19 situation impressed upon them. but to me, enough is really enough and i think he is damaging the government and the country that he is supposed to be serving. what you make of some people saying trial by social media may not be the right thing? absolutely, trial by social media is abhorrent, and i think social media is pretty much entirely poisonous. but it's about his own actions. i'm no fan of social media. i'm certainly no fan of the hordes of photographers and so on outside his

house and hounding him and his family. this isn't helpful. but again, this means that he has become the story, that the adviser has become the story, and people from my correspondence with so many people, hundreds of people in the last few days, rightly or wrongly, feel like it isa days, rightly or wrongly, feel like it is a bit ofa days, rightly or wrongly, feel like it is a bit of a kick in the teeth and that downing street is wearing the boot. david warburton, just to be clear, you would like to see him either resign or be moved on. also, to that public health message, people have, top scientists have real concerns that it has an impact on that very important message which so many millions of people have been abiding by. that's it. these are simple messages that we have been given. the initial lockdown messages we re given. the initial lockdown messages were pretty simple and straightforward. stay home, save lives. if you find that you yourself are infected, stay at home for 1a

days, self—isolate. and clearly in this case that hasn't happened. and scientists and... you know, there is pretty universal condemnation of this, and! pretty universal condemnation of this, and i think with good reason. to my mind, that we haven't had a sensible justification. david warburton, conservative mp, thank you for your time on breakfast this morning. let's hear from some conservative commentators now. we'rejoined by tim montgomerie, who's a former socialjustice adviser to borisjohnson, and tom harwood, from the guido fawkes website. thank you forjoining us. i guess to both of you, and i will start with you tim, if that's ok, is a former adviser, to pick up on a point that david warburton just made, when the adviser becomes the story, normally it is time to go. why does that rule seemingly not apply in this case?” think part of the reason is is the centrality of dominic cummings to the downing street operation that

borisjohnson has the downing street operation that boris johnson has run the downing street operation that borisjohnson has run since he became prime minister. the two got to know each other very well during the brexit campaign when dominic cummings wasa the brexit campaign when dominic cummings was a key strategist for taking us out of the european union, and then of course there was all the drama before last summer's general election. a lot of the aggression that dominic cummings brought to the table helped the tories get through that period and win the general election. borisjohnson relies on dominic cummings to a great extent, andi dominic cummings to a great extent, and i think it would take a lot to separate the two now. so, tom, following on from tim's point, is it the case that borisjohnson is fea rful of the case that borisjohnson is fearful of being without dominic cummings, orthat he fearful of being without dominic cummings, or that he feels dominic cummings, or that he feels dominic cummings has so much to offer that he has to keep him? i don't think we can deny how central dominic

cummings is within the downing street machine and how ludicrous it would be to almost rip apart the process of reform that was overwhelmingly backed by the country just a few months ago, a higher share of the vote than even tony blair achieved in 1997, and to throw away the man that was masterminding the sort of public service reform that we are going to need if we are going to recover from the horrible coronavirus crisis we are in right now. to throw all of that away for the sake of a carjourney, if we ta ke the sake of a carjourney, if we take the heat out of this conversation, it looks ludicrous. so to some extent that is a part of it. there is also the other half of this, we don't live in a country run whereby the media isjudge, jury and executioner. we shouldn't have trial by media in this country and i think the witchhunt that is going on right now is a lot of personal vendettas and a lot of almost sort of game playing by the media in terms of delivering that scalp they want to see, and! delivering that scalp they want to see, and i think that is pretty

unedifying. it is notjust the media, is it? many people have been in touch with bbc breakfast who are genuinely upset, tom, and confused and worried by what he has allegedly done, and the impact that has with the very important public health message. for that reason, the very important public health message. forthat reason, do the very important public health message. for that reason, do you think they should be looking at whether he stays or goes? well, i don't think that dominic cummings would accept that by any stretch. there are clear exemptions within those guidelines that were set out not only in the text of the guidelines online but also by doctor jenny harries in a press conference on the 24th of march before dominic cummings made that trip up to durham. she was saying the specific exemptions that lie around safeguarding of children, so no, this isn't a clear—cut case. i think that anyone who is trying to say that anyone who is trying to say that absolutely indefatigably he broke the rules is not being honest with people. and ultimately there

are cases in this country of politicians who have indefatigably broken the rules, like the labour welsh health secretary who took a picnic against the rules of his government, like stephen kinnock who drove hundreds of miles to see his parents, like tahirali, the labour mp who went to a funeral with 100 other people, like kevanjones, the labourmp other people, like kevanjones, the labour mp who went to a birthday party. these are clear breaches of the rules. and yet keir starmer is not called for them to go. and yet dominic cummings' case is not a clear breach of the rules. they might be some ambiguity to do with how it looks, and i will certainly agree with you it is not a good look and it has taken up media time, but is it really the case that is something that is within the letter of the law but doesn't look very goodis of the law but doesn't look very good is worth a resignation? and yet those four labour politicians who have done far more than dominic cummings to break and really make a mockery out of the rules, they stay and they keep theirjobs? i think

thatis and they keep theirjobs? i think that is outrageous double standard perpetuated by a media that was outside dominic cummings' house yesterday standing shoulder to shoulder, packed in like sardines, making the most horrendous mockery out of those restrictions and calling him a hypocrite. i think that the double standards here are extraordinary and need to be exposed. ok, tom, just for balance, picked up on something you said about vaughan gething, he didn't actually break any rules. what he did was went on a local walk and stopped to eat with his family and then continued their daily exercise to get home. he says he broke no rules. to be clear, picnics in the park were outlawed in wales. he says he didn't break any rules, just as dominic cummings said he didn't break any rules. tim, can we ask you the same question as well? the advises on the front page of newspapers. what do you think should happen? labour has been calling for an enquiry. dominic

has put up a good defence of the situation. dominic cummings' white wrote a piece in the spectator talking about the difficulties that they have faced as both had gone through the coronavirus themselves. there was not one mention in that article of the trip to durham. why was there no mention in that article of the trip to durham? i think it's because they knew if they did mention it they would be all of this row and they knew that what they had done was at the very least a bending of the rules. back to your question specifically, louise, they have now been other allegations that not only did they go up as covid—19 carriers up did they go up as covid—19 carriers up to durham to be close to people in the age group that were a high risk, that they perhaps went around the region in various ways as well. and so i think the enquiry, should

there be one, and i think there is a strong case for there to be an enquiry, should investigate these claims. that's in the interest of dominic cummings if he will continue to be the prime minister's advisor just so that the air can be clear. we can know one way or the other whether some of the allegations that have been in the press this bank holiday weekend are true or not. tim montgomerie, thank you very much indeed forjoining us at tom harwood as well, thank you both for bringing your point of view on bbc breakfast this morning. let's get a view from somebody who used to be the chief co nsta ble of somebody who used to be the chief constable of durham police, mike barton. i wonder what you think about it all, mike. if this had happened a year or so ago it would be falling under you to investigate. the that's right, roger. good morning, louise. this is clearly now a case of do as i say and not as i do. policing the lockdown has probably been one of

the toughest assignments ever given to the british police and they have risen to the challenge. but what the prime ministers did yesterday has made it exponentially tougher for all those people on the front line, the pcsos and cops on the front line enforcing the lockdown. the police couldn't have done this without the in your innumerable sacrifices by the great british public who acted for the public good, some of them through financial hardship, some of them through family hardship to act collectively, not instinctively. remember, we are in the middle of a national emergency and the people who make the rules can't break the rules, otherwise we are going to have chaos. the trip to barnard

castle has been something that has been talked about. police complaint has been made to the police about that. i'm not impugning the person that. i'm not impugning the person that has made the complaint and i don't know when the complaint was lodged, although it has only come to light this morning, which might lead some people to wonder why it wasn't made at the time, if that indeed is the case. but how far will the police go in looking into that? even the high—profile nature, will they go through cctv and things like that, or actually, is itjust a case of speaking to someone and saying if you went there you shouldn't have done it, wrap on the knuckles and end of? i know durham and i know a lot of other police forces have acted with quite significant sophistication throughout the lockdown because they haven't instinctively gone to the book, wrote the book, there is your ticket, now clear off and pay your fine, because that doesn't have the lockdown has been policed. the

lockdown has been policed. the lockdown has been policed. the lockdown has been pleased with innumerable, countless sophisticated negotiations with people. you can't do that, move a bit further away from them, you can't sit in the park that long, or whatever it is. so, from them, you can't sit in the park that long, orwhatever it is. so, i think it's dreadfully unhelpful... i understand your question, i'm going to a nswer understand your question, i'm going to answer it, roger, dreadfully unhelpful that we are talking about investigations and prosecutions because the legislation was entirely designed to stop infection. so the reason why these rules were there we re reason why these rules were there were so that people didn't travel from london whilst infected, to the north—east that wasn't infected as badly. and now the north—east is infected and one of the hotspots and hundreds of people are dying. that's why the legislation was put in place so people didn't die. now, what's going to happen with the investigation? well, the offences that we are talking about are not hugely heinous, you are not going to

go to prison for ten years by doing this. but, of course, we have seen people who cough at other people when they say that they are infected going to prison for a year. so this is pretty serious. now, at the moment, it strikes me from reading all the media that the honesty and the integrity of durham constabulary is being impugned. ifi the integrity of durham constabulary is being impugned. if i was the chief constable i would want to defend that because the only thing that organisations have whether it is the bbc, or durham constabulary, or the police, or the government, is their credibility. sorry to interrupt you, mike. does that mean to the extent of going through hours and hours of cctv to find out if that trip was made or not? well, that trip was made or not? well, thatis that trip was made or not? well, that is a matter for durham constabulary. if i thought that the

entire edifice of durham co nsta bula ry entire edifice of durham constabulary was at risk then i would make sure that we got to the truth. i mean, obviously, if you're going to expend hundreds of hours and that's going to put other people at risk then you wouldn't do it but the sort of thing you have just suggested to me, going through cctv, anpr cameras and things like that, thatis anpr cameras and things like that, that is a pretty straightforward thing to do that a computer can do, somebody can set it running and then we will have a look. but i think the public willjudge we will have a look. but i think the public will judge whether or we will have a look. but i think the public willjudge whether or not it is important, whether cabinet ministers, the government, or advisers might tell the truth or not. it strikes me that we have got here really selfish acts that are undermining the efforts of the british public and the british police to make us all safe. and if an inquiry by durham constabulary we re an inquiry by durham constabulary were to assist us in that then i would commend it. mike barton,

thanks very much indeed for talking to us. mike barton is the forum no former chief constable of durham constabulary. it is coming up to 8:28am, it is a bank holiday monday and carol kirkwood is here to tell us about the weather. we have seen a lot of beautiful weather watchers pictures this morning, rather like this one of blue skies. we have had some fog this morning and most of it will lift, most in western areas. as we move lift, most in western areas. as we m ove over lift, most in western areas. as we move over to lincolnshire, it is a hazy start but you will also see a lot of sunshine through the day. most of us well and it's going to feel pleasantly warm. the exception to that is in the west where we have a couple of weather fronts introducing thicker cloud through the day and also then some patchy rain and drizzle, and it's also going to be pretty windy, not as windy as the weekend but the western isles could have gusts of wind up to 14 isles could have gusts of wind up to 1a mph. a lot of dry weather, a fair bit of sunshine, thicker cloud arrives introducing the rain. temperature wise today the highest

temperatures will be in the south, but we just have gentle breezes as denoted by those circles. these are average wind speeds so the gusts are higher as i mentioned in the western isles and across scotland generally will stop and here we have temperatures 19, may be 21 across north—east scotland, 2a in hull and 19 in belfast. through this evening and overnight, the weatherfront continues to sink steadily southwards bumping into high—pressure meaning it is going to weaken, so it will arrive in parts of northern england, the midlands, wales and south—west as a band of cloud with the odd spot of rain. clearer skies on either side of it, and as you can telljust by looking at those temperatures it's not going to bea at those temperatures it's not going to be a cold night. as we head through tuesday, high pressure is still in charge of our weather, here comes this weather front into it. still weakening as it pushes south. although we might start with a few spots of rain, it will tend to dry up spots of rain, it will tend to dry up through the day as the front sinks south taking the cloud,

turning the sunshine hazy. behind it, for northern england, northern ireland and scotland you will see a return to sunshine with temperatures more or less bang on for the stage in may, temperatures higher than we'd expected to be pushed to the south at 25, so feeling quite warm once again and getting warmer across the board towards the end of the week. thank you, carol, we will see you later. this is breakfast with roger johnson and louise minchin. let's get you up to day with the news. the cabinet will discuss the further easing of lockdown measures this morning — but any announcements are likely to be overshadowed by accusations the prime minister's most senior adviser broke lockdown rules. borisjohnson has insisted dominic cummings acted "responsibly, legally and with integrity". however, some scientists say he's undermined efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus. parents and teachers have been told to prepare for the phased reopening

of schools in england from next monday. borisjohnson said the government intended to reopen for pupils in reception, year1 and year 6. that's despite resistance from some teaching unions and councils. schools have been closed since the 20th of march, except for key workers' children and those who are vulnerable. earlier, the education secretary gavin williamson told us he recognised that reopening could cause problems for some schools. if schools have got practical problems, we are working with them very closely to work around those problems. we recognise there are over 22,000 schools in this country, many different shapes and sizes, and we recognise there are practical problems in certain schools, working closely to try and work out those practical problems. but, you know, we don't want to see schools not opening for, you know, reasons that aren't practical reasons.

and if they come to us, they work with us, we will make sure schools are open so children benefit and parents benefit, but, also, school benefits. let's get reaction now from peter cansell, from the national association for primary education, an organisation which represents teachers, parents and children. good morning. we heard from the prime minister yesterday and they are set to open as much as they can schools on the 1st ofjune in england. the primary teachers, head teachers, you have spoken to, are they ready? i think in school we are a lwa ys they ready? i think in school we are always ready and always do our best to cope with circumstances presented, but it has not been very fairto presented, but it has not been very fair to present it in the way as schools are not open and schools will not be able to cope, or that schools aren't being presented with a situation that is difficult for them. i saw in the interview with

gavin williamson and i was not reassured any planning had gone on and that schools have been properly prepared for the situation. he reiterated and you saw the interview, he said schools should be working with the government. is that happening? quite clearly, the government are not working with any educators that are well respected because it seems the advice of people who work in schools will clearly not be... the first children to start with our nursery, year one and so on. you could do this with those children who know what social distancing is and could cope with sitting two metres apart, although it is not an educational experience, because their education includes collaborative learning which is part

of primary school children's way of learning. so perhaps you could work with children in secondary schools. it isa with children in secondary schools. it is a confused approach that is just perhaps panic measures, it seems, so people can get back to school. perhaps it is economic rather than educational. a couple of weeks ago they indicated the 1st of june would be the date and i asked him that point about reception and year one and he said it was to do with they had fewer contacts outside school. yes. spurious, iwould say. what is the difference? my children are older than that but my observation is that very young children have just as observation is that very young children havejust as many observation is that very young children have just as many contacts with lots of other children and pa rents. with lots of other children and parents. five—year—old childrenjust the same as six—year—olds and seven—year—olds and eight—year—old

children. i cannot quite see the logic. there are a lot of assertions and very little educational evidence for this. gavin williamson said they we re for this. gavin williamson said they were being cautious. at this point, it starts on the 1st ofjune in england and some pupils hopefully going back to school. will that help the return for example in september, when presumably everybody will need to go back? it would be better if the situation was normal. the situation is not normal and we have to cope best we can. there has not been any educational evidence shown that the education that children are receiving in their homes at the moment has seriously been detrimental to their education. it isa detrimental to their education. it is a different form of education but for some children it has been better. i spoke to colleagues working with special needs children who said it has been good because they have had contact with the child

every day. my group of five or six children i work with normally, i normally see them once a week and i have seen them every day. it might be half an hour and online, working together, tailoring programmes for that child. having undivided attention for that time has been beneficial. there are other people offering concerns over perhaps people from different socioeconomic backgrounds being disadvantaged because they are not in school and do not have the facilities and technology, for example. schools are open. one of my serious difficulties with this assertion about what should happen is that schools have remained open all the way through. those children you mentioned should be in school. all the time they should have been in school. they could have been in school, most of them, 90% of them i understand have not been in school and perhaps this

is where the government should focus. they are focusing on young children, for spurious reasons in my view, they should focus on vulnerable children and key workers, getting them into school. it probably would be a smaller number. they could bring in year six because they are sensible and know about obeying rules. iwonder... it is they are sensible and know about obeying rules. i wonder... it is an almost cynical approach of adding this story to the other story going on today. peter, ok. i appreciate your point of view. from the national association for primary education. i have to stop you there because we have other interviews to fit in. let's go back to our top story now and the growing pressure on the prime minister to sack his chief adviser after he flouted lockdown rules. one of those calling for dominic cummings to go is scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon. shejoins us now.

good morning. you were in a similar situation albeit with a different outcome, but do you have sympathy for the position the prime minister finds himself in? i have a particular insight given the situation in scotland some weeks ago with ourformer chief situation in scotland some weeks ago with our former chief medical officer, who breached rules and what happens there. she admitted that. i did not try to defend it. she apologised. i made an argument to the public initially she made a mistake and apologise, but given the importance of her advice in what she was dealing when she should remain in post. but it became clear the public would not wear that. i put the integrity of the public health message first. and to catherine calderwood's credit so did she. when we had a discussion leading to her resignation she did not try to save

her own skin at the risk of the public message and i think this has to happen with dominic cummings. i see with a heavy heart borisjohnson is putting political interests ahead of public interest and when public health advice is as important, the consequences of that could be serious, so i hope the prime minister will reflect further and perhaps come to a different conclusion than yesterday. he had a long meeting with dominic cummings yesterday and is presumably in possession of the facts and has come toa possession of the facts and has come to a decision and he has to lead. he has made the decision and the noise around it from anyone else, is that pa rt around it from anyone else, is that part of leadership, to shut it out and makea part of leadership, to shut it out and make a decision and stand by a? we all get things wrong, me included, but the responsibility of leadership is to try to do the right thing, even if it is difficult for your political interests. he thinks he is doing the right thing. he has

to be thejudge he is doing the right thing. he has to be the judge of that, but you say he is in possession of the facts. i watched his press conference yesterday and i thought on the detailed questions about what happened and what he knew, he was less tha n happened and what he knew, he was less than forthcoming. these are questions he has to answer and i agree that ultimately he has to come toa agree that ultimately he has to come to a judgment and he is the prime minister, just as i had to come to a judgment in a similar situation here. i have tried very hard to see this and will continue to do keep party politics out of the handling of the health crisis, but i think he has come to the wrong judgment and the reason i think that matters is the reason i think that matters is the consequences are potentially so serious. as we go into the next phases of dealing with the crisis and start to live lockdown restrictions and rely less on the letter of the and appeal to good judgment, then trust the advice we are giving and the reasons why it is

important and if people get any senseit important and if people get any sense it is one rule for them and another rule for people in positions of authority, that will become difficult. the sacrifices people have made are immense, from not seeing dying relatives, to not going toa seeing dying relatives, to not going to a funeral, to making difficult decisions about childcare and looking after children when you might fall ill. everybody has made sacrifices. an important part of persuading the public to do that is to say it is for the protection of all of us and for all of our loved ones and a key part is people feeling it applies regardless of position and who we are and that i think is the key principle of equity thatis think is the key principle of equity that is potentially being jeopardised here. as you mention the easing of lockdown measures, the message behind you stay at home is clear. different parts of the uk have relaxed the lockdown at different speeds. it will be relaxed

a little in scotland in the week ahead. what can people there expect? the law requires us to make a formal assessment on thursday and we will ta ke assessment on thursday and we will take account of the data then but right now i expect on thursday we will move into phase one of the four phase route map back to a degree of normality where we keep the virus suppressed, which it is important to do carefully. on thursday i hope to say to people they can take part in more outdoor activity, meet up with another household, as long as it is outdoors with social distancing applied, that we will start to allow garden centres to open and some non—contact sport like golf and fishing to take place again, and we will start in a careful way to open up will start in a careful way to open up aspects of economy as well, so an important first step. we want to get back to as much normality as

possible but the virus has not gone away so when we eased restrictions we must keep it suppressed and test, trace and isolate, which we are calling test and protecting scotland, will be a key part. at the end of this month, we will be in a position to launch the test and protect programme in every health board area of the country. elaborate on schools in scotland. in england, a phased return begins on the 1st of junein a phased return begins on the 1st of june in some schools. you will leave ita june in some schools. you will leave it a bit later. what is your latest thinking? practically, the school terms are different in scotland and summer holidays are due at the end ofjune and summer holidays are due at the end of june and schools summer holidays are due at the end ofjune and schools go back about mid august. term times are different and that is not the only consideration but it does have a bearing. we hope to see teachers and staff going back injune to prepare for the new term and we will aim to

increase the numbers of children that can access critical childcare through arrangements in place for key worker children and vulnerable children throughout the crisis, and we intend schools to be open subject to health advice and evidence on the 11th of august. it will initially be a blended model of childcare with children in school sometime and learning at home the rest of the time so we can make sure physical distancing and appropriate health measures in place. i really want to see children back at school as quickly as possible, but it must be safe and we must do it in a way that persuades parents and teachers it is safe so building confidence and doing it collaboratively as we have done throughout with the education recovery group that is important to get the position we hope to be in. you began by talking about catherine

calderwood and comparisons with the dominic cummings situation. he went to self—isolate and she went on two leisure trips for a weekend. the two are not necessarily comp —— comparable. she was open she made a mistake. it was a mistake i regretted and she regretted. i am not talking to dominic cummings but looking at this from the outside in, there are unanswered questions about what really went on with dominic cummings and! what really went on with dominic cummings and i think that is for the prime minister to satisfy himself around. the difference is neither i nor catherine calderwood tried to retrofit the guidance to make what she did acceptable. she accepted she made a mistake and she paid a heavy price. the point i am making, it is to her credit she recognised what had to come first was the integrity of the public health message. i think with every day that passes,

the prime minister and dominic cummings, putting his position ahead of public health, that reflects badly on them. i am sorry to say. i would make the point she was a medical adviser. he is a political adviser and again i think some of the considerations there might be different. thank you. sally has news there might be contact in sport soon. good morning. the government's given permission for elite players from all sports to have some contact in training, which sees the return of things like tackling. this will allow clubs to prepare for competitive fixtures. joe wilson reports. under lockdown so far, this is what professional training has looked like — individuals practising their skills. coaches can watch from a distance, but, essentially, it's a solitary.

well, the two—metre barrier no longer applies. remember the old days? well, training won't look like this again straightaway. initially, clusters ofjust two or three individuals will be allowed but the government accepts that practice has to be realistic. the dcms statement reads: well, imagine rugby, for example, without physical contact. there has, thus far, been no return to training in premiership rugby at all. sports in this stage two will still have to adhere to guidelines and limitations. for example, changing rooms should still be closed, equipment can't be shared, positive covid—19 tests must immediately reported, and it is still the individual‘s right to opt out. remember, even in the first stage, in separated sessions, some have chosen not to return

to training grounds. this is a new directive, it's not an order. joe wilson, bbc news. it would have been the championship play—off final today, but those clubs are just staring their return to training. most are in favour of restarting their season, with leeds and west brom currently on course for promotion. but one league chairman says that with no vaccine and therefore no crowds expected until perhaps next year, up to 60 clubs could go bust. the discussion now has to be — in tandem with completing the season, which should happen when safe — what is football going to do to ensure that the entire pyramid survives this? because they've got no income. you're going to have no season ticket sales, no match day income, sponsors, and there is a real probability that if something isn't done now and agreed, i think you'd be looking at 50,

60 clubs in the football league ceasing to exist. the bundesliga is carrying on with no hitches so far in germany. rb leipzig won 5—0 against mainz, with timo werner scoring a hat—trick, celebrating it not with hugs and high—fives, but with elbow taps. i think we will have to get used to that. absolutely. thank you. lovely to see you on a bank holiday. the pandemic has left many teenagers missing their friends and school, but some have been using the time to capture snapshots of this moment in history. it's all part of a photography project to show what lockdown has meant for young people. our reporter graham satchell has been to meet some of them. it almost helps me to understand my feelings, by taking pictures of what's going on.

ithink, before, i kind of would just take pictures a bit almost carelessly, just snap it, but now i actually look at the composition of it. i think, like, roads can be like metaphors for life almost. it's a long road, but there'sjust no end to it almost, itjust seems so, like, isolated. i can't bear this waiting one minute, i'm so impatient! i'll start. an online class led by award—winning photographer carolyn mendelsohn. these teenagers being encouraged to document their life in lockdown. it's a project funded by bradford council. what has life been like in lockdown? incredibly boring most of the time. i miss my friends, i normally see my friends way more, obviously. i definitely prefer

documentary photography. sitting around, just sort of waiting for something to do, like waiting for lunchtime, then tea—time and then bed. so i'm in year 11 and i wasjust about to take my gcses, obviously, some time around now, and due to the coronavirus, they were cancelled. i've had a lot of down days over, obviously, the lockdown, and i think many other people have as well, especially teenagers because we're so stressed about, obviously, education. i feel like time's really strange right now and my mind has been going over what time means to me. the pocket watch is my grandfather's, who passed away a couple of years ago. everybody's frozen right now.

everybody's wondering what's going to happen next, so, for me, that was a symbol of like frozen time and how we can try and make the most out of it. was everyone blown away by this picture that harry took? because i certainly was. people always talk about a work—life balance and how you have to separate work and school from your life at home. but we're in this strange position where those things have beenjoined together. i wanted to portray that stressful feeling of it being quite all—encompassing, surrounding you. i think everyone wants life to go back to normal really, and even if it isjust a tiny, tiny glimmer of what we view as normal, i'll take it.

i think she has a good point about life. everybody wishing life might go back to normal. it isa go back to normal. it is a time in their lives they will never forget. you will remember that summer... the summer of lockdown. if you've been struggling to get your children to bed on time for the past few weeks, how about tempting them with a classic roald dahl story read by a hollywood film star? meryl streep and ryan reynolds are just two of the big names who've signed up to read james and the giant peach to raise money in the fight against covid—19. we'll speak to the author's grandson about the project in just a minute, but first let's take a look. hi, guys. when i say i've been joined by friends, i think i just mean celebrities. 0k. here we go. just do your own thing. don't do your own accents, make an effort. it's a peach! a what? cliffhanger.

correct you when you struggle with the word. well, last time... wrong. you interrupted him. that's eddie redmayne! do you know how many oscars he is won? how many have you won? i forgot to highlight this line. so i didn't know it was my turn to speak. are you guys enjoying this, so far? luke kellyjoins us now. you can tell us a little bit about the project. you are the grandson of roald dahl. what an amazing project. how did you get them involved? as you can imagine, i am lucky to have a group like this. they are a combination of people who grew up loving the stories. and people passionate about the charity we are raising money for through the project. the clip we played probably shows some of the bits chatting

between takes, but is it a normal bedtime story you have them breeding in sections? how does it work? the story is read in ten parts, available on our youtube channels and it is like a normal bedtime story, if you could have people like meryl streep and benedict cumberbatch coming into do the voices for you. tiger hosts it and people pop into do surprise line so you have benedict playing sponge and eddie redmayne the ladybird.” you have benedict playing sponge and eddie redmayne the ladybird. i used to do voices in bedtime stories but iam to do voices in bedtime stories but i am seriously under qualified compared to those actors. why choose james and the giant peach? with so many brilliant stories to choose. james and the giant peach? with so many brilliant stories to choosem has the perfect theme for this moment. it is about notjudging people for how they look, working together. it starts with a kid who

is an orphan facing tough times are manages through imagination and resilience to find a happy ending. because this is a partnership, it seemed like it was good to do a story that focuses on individuals working together. you put an emphasis on working in partnership in countries they work, those working in health, and we brought together an amazing partnership and people so it felt like the perfect combination. explain how the fundraising works. i would emphasise we understand... indistinct. we are matching donations towards a commitment to give over £1 million to covid impacted charities. if you go to the

youtube channel, and you can see from the clip that brings a lot of iby. you from the clip that brings a lot of joy, you can click and donate. i wa nt to joy, you can click and donate. i want to stress that while things are difficult in this time in this country and we are stretched here, to be ina country and we are stretched here, to be in a country like malawi, which has 17 ventilators for million people, or in haiti with few i see you beds. you can see the need. firstly bringing joy but then raising money. —— i see you beds. people are turning to reading as an opportunity to have escapism from reality. i think that stories have proven themselves as a great distraction and comfort and nurtured people through this time and somewhat for the celebrities involved. it was a great distraction for them. that is why they wanted to

do it. as the grandson of roald dahl, which is yourfavourite book? i personally love the witches. at the end the boy does not turn back into a boy, he stays a mouse, feels like a dark truth. the idea we will not have disney happy ending is when theice not have disney happy ending is when the ice receives, we have individual people facing a tough world but finding joy. james and the giant peach does a similar thing which is why i hope people will tune in and watch. danny champion of the world is my favourite. where i grew up, we had the old gypsy caravan in the garden which is danny's garden. and the tree under which the fantastic mr fox lived. you can find more on the youtube channel. that's all from breakfast today, but we'll be back tomorrow

from 6:00. enjoy your day. goodbye.

good morning. this is bbc news with the latest headlines. boris johnson sticks by his top aide — over claims dominic cummings broke the lockdown rules by travelling hundreds of miles. i think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent, and i do not mark him down for that. but mounting calls for mrcummings to resign will overshadow today's cabinet discussions on lifting coronavirus restrictions. parents and teachers are told to prepare for the return of more pupils to schools in england from next monday — as planned. away from uk politics — police and protestors in hong kong clash over china's plans to impose a new security law on the territory.