go back to my point, decision. i go back to my point, dominic cummings broke the rules and the prime minister is doing anything he can to cover him public health messaging at risk, or the rules were so poorly communicated that thousands are i did buy them in a way they did not need to. both cannot be true. the way the government has handled this is appalling at a time when there are already major questions to ask about the handling, given the scale of the death toll in the uk. it cannot be batted away by saying it is political opponents. it is appalling in terms of how the government has communicated and what it means for the public health message. we are being told a news conference with dominic cummings is two minutes away. a brief answer, whatever he says in the next couple of minutes in downing street, do you think ina of minutes in downing street, do you

think in a sense a lot of political damage has been done already by this? and damage in terms of the public trust when it comes to obeying, doing what they are told in terms of public health guidance?|j think terms of public health guidance?” think those are two separate things. there is some pr damage to the government but could that be clawed back by bowing to media pressure? i'm not sure. i think a lot of the media messaging has been very confused. people talk about missing loved ones, and of course dominic cummings did as well because he stayed within his family unit, sol think there is messaging that is mixed, and people are obviously feeling aggrieved but perhaps this press c0 nfe re nce feeling aggrieved but perhaps this press conference will help clear up the fact and take the heat out of this conversation so that we can assess it with level heads because i don't think it needs to be this mob

mentality, pitchfork —type assassination that the media is trying to make it out to be right now. there are clearly more level heads that should prevail in this. but there is real anger out there by people who feel they have made huge sacrifices. million people's around the country feel they have made sacrifices and their perception is the chief adviser didn't follow suit, didn't make the same sacrifices they have made. dominic cummings made huge sacrifices. he stayed away from family, from plenty of members of family he would have loved to see, i'm sure, and stayed within his family unit. we have heard a lot of left—wing commentators when the lockdown started saying it was too liberal compared to the lockdown in continental europe, and now we are hearing left—wing commentators say that the lockdown, everyone interpreted it as being stronger

thanit interpreted it as being stronger than it was. it doesn't make sense, they are not being consistent with these accounts. so what is the case? we have had a lockdown in this country that has had exceptions, i don't think anybody would deny that at any stage. similarly i think dominic cummings today will be trying to set out, he clearly thinks he can answer these questions. last word to maya goodfellow, do you think he can repair the damage? no, because this is about the way the government has handled this, about the way the prime minister has handled this, putting himself in front of his aide. it is not a left—wing issue, and to suggest it isa left—wing issue, and to suggest it is a baying mob totally ignores the fa ct is a baying mob totally ignores the fact there are thousands of people across the country who, for them, this exemplifies something rotten in the core of britain right now within

government because they have sacrificed so much during this period because they were asked to. they put their own instinct head... behind public health, and now they are being treated with this contempt by the government and by commentators willing to defend him and it is indefensible. good to talk to both of you. thank you so much for being with us. maya goodfellow and tom harwood. i'm sure we will be talking to you soon. dominic cummings will be making a statement in downing street any minute now. it has been slightly delayed already but let's cross to our chief political correspondent, vicki young, outside downing street. as we we re young, outside downing street. as we were saying earlier, this is unprecedented, chief adviser staging his own press conference in downing street, but also i suppose as a political story that has is called

cut through. it is basically what eve ryo ne cut through. it is basically what everyone up and down the country is talking about today. that is the point about this. it's what they call a westminster bubble story, and many people watching this had never heard dominic cummings speak before ever. but coronavirus has affected every single one of us, so that is why this is important. he is at the heart of government, at the heart of number ten downing st, the prime minister's most influential and senior adviser. if there is the perception he undermined the rules he helped draw up, that is a problem. it is a problem for the prime minister's authority and in the fight against coronavirus because people adhering to the m essa 9 es because people adhering to the m essa g es of because people adhering to the messages of government, is incredibly important and relies on people complying with this. that is why he is here today in this unusual position of being in the number ten garden holding a press conference

and taking questions from journalists about the specifics of what he did, when he did it, where he went and who he saw. but also from conservative mps' point of view, they will be listening to the tone of this. they know that dominic cummings doesn't particularly like being around westminster, doesn't adhere to the normal conventions. he's never really befriended tory mps he's never really befriended tory mp5 or cabinet ministers, but they wa nt to mp5 or cabinet ministers, but they want to hear some humility, they wa nt to want to hear some humility, they want to hear some humility, they want to hear him say he understands why what he did has prompted so much angerfrom people, why what he did has prompted so much anger from people, because why what he did has prompted so much angerfrom people, because lots why what he did has prompted so much anger from people, because lots of people have done things differently. he obviously feels he has a side of the story to tell and he wants to do that and he wants to do it face—to—face. the prime minister stood up for him yesterday, i think they feel that didn't go very well and there was some real fear among conservative mps that the prime minister's own authority was damaged by doing it. cabinet ministers still being asked today about what had

gone on. he now has had to come out and speak for himself. tell us about the logistics of this news conference because we are used in the daily briefings, and there is another one later on actually wear journalists and members of the public ask questions via video call but this is with journalists present in the garden of downing street, is that right? yes, and the fact it is outside, we know restrictions have been lifted slightly on being outside because the transmission of the virus is not seem to be as bad if you are outside, so there are several journalists spaced if you are outside, so there are severaljournalists spaced apart, chairs there ready to go and dominic cummings will be at a distance from them. i think he will make a statement, thenjournalists them. i think he will make a statement, then journalists will walk up to the microphone and asked questions. i don't know if there is a restriction on how many questions are allowed to be asked. people have been doing it virtually and have been doing it virtually and have been allowed follow—ups. i think

really dominic cummings has been forced to do this because of the response that tory mps have been getting from their own voters. they have been contacting some of them in large numbers saying this just doesn't seem to be fair. we all knew what was expected of us, we were told to stay at home, we had a letter from boris told to stay at home, we had a letterfrom borisjohnson posted told to stay at home, we had a letter from borisjohnson posted to eve ryo ne letter from borisjohnson posted to everyone saying it is a simple message, stay at home. i remember the health secretary saying this is not a request, it is an instruction. particularly during the bank holiday and easter weekend for example, people feel they did abide by the spirit of these rules as well as the law. so the idea someone else might not have done that has angered people. there have been 20 conservative mps who think dominic cummings should resign. some of them have been constant critics of dominic cummings, but some haven't. and there have been another group of tory mps saying we need to know the a nswe rs tory mps saying we need to know the a nswers to tory mps saying we need to know the answers to some of these questions before we can move on because, let's

face it, this is a massive distraction. the fact this is all focused on a government adviser when we are still in the middle of this pandemic. people have lots of other questions about for example schools are reopening next week. that was something the prime minister announced yesterday that schools could go ahead with that. many pa rents, could go ahead with that. many parents, teachers and children keen to hear about that, and the government keen to move on from this. as you say, the furore coming from across the political divide, and also bishops complaining, scientists complaining as well, it has cut across the spectrum, and it does, as we said earlier on, have cut through in terms of public opinion. yes, we have heard from those who have been defending dominic cummings because there are those people too. some think there are people out there who have always

disliked him, he has not courted popular opinion in that sense, and some still hold against him the fact he was pivotal in the brexit campaign. but it has gone beyond that, i think. campaign. but it has gone beyond that, ithink. there campaign. but it has gone beyond that, i think. there are lots of tory mps who don't feel that but they do know what their constituents think, and they are worried it is alienating people and reflecting badly on the prime minister. i think that was the concern after yesterday. there were lots of conservative mps who sat in front of the tv and they were expecting either borisjohnson to sack dominic cummings or some kind of inquiry or investigation. instead the prime minister said i have spoken to mr cummings at length, i am satisfied and you need to be too, but that hasn't worked. some newspapers including the mail came out and said they had misjudged the mood of the country. one thing dominic cummings has prided himself on is the ability to read the mood of the country. he

has spoken about the westminster elite, and that is the accusation put against him now, that he has become one of those and doesn't feel the rules apply to him. they are one of the questions he will answer today and he knows that is all he has to do. he has to say why he acted like he did to reassure people on the specifics. yes, for example, did he go and visit a castle after he had been in isolation? how many times did he go to that area? but also its important about the tone as well and whether he realises what people have felt about this and how angry people are. vicki, stay with us, we will come back to you in a moment. the latest we are hearing from durham police, they are putting out a statement which says, following significant public interest over the last few days, durham constabulary wish to add the following to a statement they put

out on saturday may 23. we can confirm that on april one an officer from durham constabulary spoke to the father of dominic cummings, mr cummings confirmed that his son, wife and child were present at the property. they were displaying symptoms of coronavirus and self isolating and part of the property. the police statement also goes on to say we can further confirm that our officer gave no specific advice on coronavirus to any members of the family, and that durham constabulary deemed no further action was required in that regard. our officer did however provide the family with advice on security issues. so a little bit more detail about the contact that durham police had with the father of dominic cummings on april the ist. let's go back to vicki young, our chief political correspondent. just the fact this is

running quite considerably late is interesting in a sense. one imagines behind the scenes in downing street they are, what, putting the finishing touching is to whatever dominic cummings is going to say? yes, it is an unusual situation for him. lots of people watching this will never have heard him speak publicly before. he is an effective campaigner, someone who works behind the scenes, and even around westminster. yes, he speaks to journalists but there are lots of mps and cabinet ministers who don't know him particularly well. since he got thejob here, he has been focusing on changing the way the government works. he has strong opinions on that and he picks fights. he likes to get things done and change things, but the criticism of him is that he does antagonise people for the sake of it. we have already seen since he came here the resignation of the then chancellor

sajid javid, when sajid javid was told he had to have a joint group of advisers with number ten and that was seen as a way of making the powerful centre in number ten downing st rather than spread around whitehall. so dominic cummings has lots of views about these kind of things, about the way government should work. he wants to get results quickly. what has changed since the general election, again he was pivotal of course in the election campaign, what has changed his coronavirus. all of those plans borisjohnson coronavirus. all of those plans boris johnson and he coronavirus. all of those plans borisjohnson and he and others have had about how they want to change the way the country works, how they wa nt to the way the country works, how they want to level up certain areas of the country, that has been swept aside for the time being at least because of this pandemic and how they fight it. of course they have come under criticism for the way some of those things have been done. it has been a position that no minister thought they were going to find themselves in when they were celebrating that victory back in

december of the general election. so everything has changed suddenly. i think what this does show today is the length that the prime minister is willing to go in order to back his adviser. he is a very important person within downing street and an important person for borisjohnson. there are some cabinet ministers who doubt they would have had this kind of backing if they had behaved in the same way, but i think the fact he wants to do this press conference and take questions means he feels there is another side to this story that has not yet been put in the public domain. some people into day's papers saying borisjohnson simply needs him too badly politically, but others suggesting they had a long time together in downing street yesterday, the prime minister asked him lots of questions about what he had done, and genuinely believed he hadn't done anything wrong after that interview. yes, the prime minister came out and said he didn't believe anything had gone wrong in terms of the fact

dominic cummings he said acted legally. it's interesting, wasn't it, that the language he used, the prime minister, which i don't think helped particularly when he talked about dominic cummings acting using his instincts as a father. there will be lots of people watching that who have children who will have said we all have instincts as a parent but we didn't break the rules. so that will be part of this. that's why this is a very difficult moment for someone like dominic cummings who isn't used to public attention, isn't used to giving statements like this. he's used to answering journalist‘ questions, this. he‘s used to answering journalist‘ questions, but not in the same way. this is very personal, about his family and child and why he decided to take the decisions that he did. so yes, it‘s a difficult moment and one that he will not be used to. we are now being told probably this news conference is about three minutes away also. although we were told a

while ago it is two minute so how long is a piece of string. i suppose a lot of commentators are also saying this is already doing serious political damage to the government and prime minister. yes, and that was the fear yesterday that the prime minister was not supposed to be doing the press conference yesterday, and for him to be doing that did not reflect well on him but i guess that‘s how it ends. if it‘s just a i guess that‘s how it ends. if it‘s justa —— i guess that‘s how it ends. if it‘s just a —— justified, maybe it will turn out better than people thought, but it is a problem because it‘s a distraction. the cabinet meeting was about lifting the lockdown restrictions. this is all still going on around here. there are people watching who have a lot of other questions they want to be answered, they don‘t particularly wa nt to answered, they don‘t particularly want to be listening to dominic cummings. they want to talk about schools, how businesses will get

back and how they will get back to work. so the government and the public want people to move on. we are still in the middle of the pandemic, things are not normal, and there are huge consequences still for how this pandemic is going to play out. we will see what happened that this conference. we were talking about our guests and the rights and wrongs of this affair. but it looks like from a pr point of view and the very least, it could have been handled much better? yeah, the problem was that as this emerged through the mirror and the guardian investigating all of this, there was no official response from downing street initially, which immediately makes people wonder why not. they obviously wanted to get to the bottom of all this. then there was a statement saying, we are not going to waste our time answering these

questions, because they were false. yesterday the prime minister said some of the elevations were palpably not true —— he said the allegations we re not true —— he said the allegations were not true, but he did not deny that there had been another trip by dominic cummings to barnard castle, so that left things open. the public know that if there is a story like this, you‘ll come out as quickly as you can with as many facts as you can so that it doesn‘t all drift out over time, because that makes it worse. it makes the story dominate the headlines and that is something people have talked about in the past in downing street, that if it is still going on for three or four days, you do have a problem and people get irritated by it. but this isn‘t just about how the newspapers have reported, it is about particularly conservative mps, some of whom are surprisingly coming out and being critical of all of this because some of them have had so

much feedback from their own supporters, people who do vote conservative and have been appalled by what they have heard so far. they can‘t see that there is any fairness in all of this. they feel that they knew what was expected of them during this coronavirus to stay at home, to not go out unless you have two, you only travel if it is essential. what is interesting is that lots of ministers privately say they were really surprised about how diligent people were being. they really did follow these rules incredibly carefully and did make huge sacrifices, people who haven‘t seen theirfamily, huge sacrifices, people who haven‘t seen their family, people who haven‘t been able to be with loved ones even as they have been buried, people who haven‘t seen terence as they were dying in hospital. it‘s been a huge effort —— people haven‘t seen their parents. but they were willing to that sacrifice. so if they see someone who they think has not done that, that inevitably does cause anger and tension. what we will hear from cause anger and tension. what we will hearfrom some

cause anger and tension. what we will hear from some of the government‘s scientists today, saying that they felt it was undermining the message. behavioural scientists have looked at this closely and have tried to get this message across. we have seen the slogans. we have heard it endlessly for weeks and weeks from ministers, and they feel that that has been undermined a lot by people may be not behaving in the way that they should. we saw it in scotland with the chief medical officer there, who went and visited another property with friends. it took a day for her to be forced into resignation, but she did resign. so it has happened elsewhere. people know that that message, at a moment of national crisis, has to be crystal clear. vicki, for the moment, thank you very much. we still haven‘t got that news conference. we are told to just a couple of minutes away, but we we re a couple of minutes away, but we were told that about 20 minutes ago! so we are not quite sure, but it is going to be in the garden of downing street. it is a beautiful day over

there. there are journalists present, socially distanced of course, in the garden of downing street, listening to an unprecedented news conference with the chief adviser to the prime minister dominic cummings, who is going to be making a public statement and taking questions afterwards. no doubt lots of questions about the details of his trip to county durham amid all the going calls for his resignation and the claims that he broke the government‘s own lockdown guidelines. we have heard from andrew bridgen, a conservative mp, saying that he was supporting dominic cummings and that he has not been able to give his side of the story and that the public will be surprised when they hear his side and that it will be, in his words, unprecedented. so we will wait and see. let‘s go back to alex deane, a public affairs consultant and a former adviser to david cameron.

asa as a former adviser, alex, could you ever have imagined yourself in anything like this situation where you really a re anything like this situation where you really are the story and it is not the politician you are advising that you yourself who is in the news conference? generally, no, because the advisor should never be the story. the focus should always be on one‘s political master. to be clear about these jobs, they live and die based on the continued will of the political boss. if boris wants cummings to stay, i think he will. despite this furore, he will weather it. if boris decides it is taking up too much energy, and he won‘t. but cummings must be thinking to himself, this is soaking so much of the government‘s agenda away. and frustration is that he probably imagines he is completely right and doesn‘t want to stop fighting, so the frustration will be that we need to look at the broader picture and think, is this something the

government‘s ability to go forward or not? but at the side of that is that they will not want the media to seem like they have won. they will not want the left—wing critics of the government and borisjohnson to win. i think there is a big chunk of this that is motivated by people who don‘t like dominic cummings, they don‘t like dominic cummings, they don‘t like dominic cummings, they don‘t like the brexit that he delivered, they don‘t like the prime minister and see this as an avenue to attacking him. can you allow your critics to be seen to have a victory? both sides have really dug in. number ten has dug in and made this the issue that it is. those are the thoughts that will be going through their heads. we can go to jerryjones as well, former adviser to theresa may. —— joeyjones. jerryjones as well, former adviser to theresa may. ——joeyjones. is that how you see it as well, that it isa that how you see it as well, that it is a battle and that they can‘t be seen to give in? it does feel that way and it has felt that way for a while. they have really circled the wagons. they have felt as if their enemies, there is an air of paranoia

that comes through that makes it difficult for downing street to respond to what are reasonable questions, purely because they are coming from media organisations that are viewed through the downing street prism as being hostile. the danger for dominic cummings is that even before today, there was a huge target on his back for his enemies. but i reckon, obviously you can't go out ina but i reckon, obviously you can't go out in a street and ask people questions like you would have done six months ago, but i don't think the name dominic cummings resonated up the name dominic cummings resonated up and down the country as it will do this evening and tomorrow and in the weeks subsequently. the problem is that he is not a lightning rod for the prime minister any forthe prime ministerany more. anybody want to get at boris johnson knows exactly how they can do it by trying to unravel the dominic cummings myth that he was building ever stronger before our eyes. joey and alex, stay with us. we are still

waiting for that news conference to begin in downing street with dominic cummings. it was scheduled for four o‘clock, so it is 25 minutes late. let‘s go to daniel sandford, our home affairs correspondent. we have had a new statement in from the durham constabulary. tell us what that says. yes, this new statement you read out a few minutes ago is actually quite a significant shift in the position of durham constabulary. in the statement they sent to us on saturday talking about the conversation between an officer and dominic cummings‘ father, they said in line with national policing guidelines, officers explained to the family the arrangements around self—isolation guidelines and reiterated the appropriate advice around essential travel, which was widely interpreted as the fact that the police officers had said to dominic cummings‘ father, we are not sure that this family should have travelled and they need to stay in

the house. a new statement that came out at one minute past four this afternoon says, we can further confirm that our officer gave no specific advice on coronavirus to any members of the family and that durham constabulary deemed that no further action was required in that regard. our officer did however provide the family with advice on security issues. so while downing street said on saturday that no conversation had ta ken street said on saturday that no conversation had taken place with the family, which doesn‘t seem to be exactly accurate, the position that no conversation had taken place with the family around coronavirus guidelines now does look like it may be accurate. meanwhile, durham police now have the task of trying to investigate exactly what dominic cummings and his family did while they were there. the police and crime commissioner steve whyte has firstly asked them to restore trust in the policing in durham by making sure they get to the bottom of the fa cts sure they get to the bottom of the facts of what happened and what dominic cummings‘ family did when and what the policing response to

that was. and durham police have also made it clear that they have had further complaints from the public and they are examining those complaints and deciding what action to take, all of which goes back to what they are looking up as a possible breach of the health protection guidelines, which have a maximum fine, if paid early, of £60. durham police are in a tricky position because this is an explosive political story, however you look at it. it is the prime minister‘s chief of staff. he is supposed to be doing a news conference in downing street. he is central to the government. and all of these people in s‘ inboxes are filling up with complaints from members of the public, saying, is it one rule for us and another rule for the personal adviser to the prime minister? durham constabulary don‘t wa nt to minister? durham constabulary don‘t want to be found in a position where they are also being seen as having one rule for members of the public and another rule for the by

minister‘s personal advisers. there isa minister‘s personal advisers. there is a twist on that, which is that they need to be careful that they don‘t enforce more harshly and do much more intrusive investigation against somebodyjust much more intrusive investigation against somebody just because much more intrusive investigation against somebodyjust because they area against somebodyjust because they are a close adviser to the prime minister. daniel sandford, our home affairs correspondent, with the latest on the police out of it. let‘s go back to downing street and join vicki young, our chief political correspondent. this is almost half an hour late now, vicki. i suppose some people might say the pr handling of all of this has been a bit chaotic. maybe that is continuing today. yeah, we have had this before, some of the press conferences being rather delayed. on this occasion, it is not a cabinet minister or the prime minister, but his adviser who is coming out to a nswer very his adviser who is coming out to answer very personal questions about his behaviour. so maybe not surprisingly, there is a bit of a delay, although there are jokes

going around about how he might be choosing which shirt to wear, given that he has a unique style of dressing, people would say. we presume he is going to come out and defend his actions, rather than resign. i don‘t think he would normally call a press conference and ta ke normally call a press conference and take questions in this way if you we re take questions in this way if you were not going to give your side of the story. he obviously now feels that he does have to do that and it isa that he does have to do that and it is a real shift from where we were a couple of days ago. this of course broke friday night into saturday with the mirror and the guardian having a joint investigation about all of this. at that time, there wasn‘t much officially coming from number ten downing street about what had gone on. the next day, they talked about not wanting to waste their time answering these allegations because they said they we re allegations because they said they were false. that has changed. they now realise they do have to. in the end, borisjohnson was forced to come in front of the cameras yesterday when he wasn‘t supposed to and try and answer some of these

questions. but he kept away from the detail, just saying that he had had a long conversation, over a couple of hours or more, in downing street, asking dominic cummings what he had done and why he had done it. and the prime minister concluded in his words that he wasn‘t going to mark him down for following the instincts ofa him down for following the instincts of a parent by wanting to do the right thing. and it comes down to childcare, dominic cummings and his wife was ill with coronavirus. he feared that he would get ill as well and they would not be able to look after their son, so they decided to drive more than 250 miles to durham because that is where dominic cummings‘ extended family is. initially, it seemed that it was his pa rents initially, it seemed that it was his parents he was going to ask to maybe step in, but then it was his sister who offered to help. in the end, he says that help was not needed, so he didn‘t mix with the wider family and the prime minister yesterday said that that two weeks of isolation... vicki, thank you. here is dominic cummings, the prime minister‘s chief

adviser. he is coming into the downing street garden now to make that statement and to take questions. hi, there. sorry i‘m late. good afternoon, thank you for coming. yesterday i gave a full account of the prime minister of my actions between 27th of march and 14th of april, of what i thought i did. he has asked me to repeat that account directly to you. i know millions of people in this country have been suffering, thousands have died, many are angry about what they have seen in the media about my actions. i

wa nt to in the media about my actions. i want to clear up the confusions and misunderstandings. in retrospect i should have made the statement earlier. it‘s many years since i have said anything on television but i will do my best to answer questions after i have explained what happened. i also should clarify i‘m not here to speak on behalf of the government or the prime minister. i‘m explaining my own thinking. the prime minister is giving a press conference later and he will answer questions concerning government policy. around midnight on 26th of march i spoke to the prime minister, he told me he had tested positive for covid. we discussed the national emergency arrangements for number ten given his isolation and what i would do in number ten the next day. the next morning i went to work as usual. i was ina morning i went to work as usual. i was in a succession of meetings about this emergency. i suddenly got about this emergency. i suddenly got a call from my wife who was at home looking after our four—year—old child. she told me she felt badly ill, she had vomited and felt she

might pass out and there will be nobody to look after our child. none of our usual childcare options were available, they were alone in the house. after briefly telling some officials in number ten what had happened, i immediately left the building, ran to my car and drove home. this was reported by the media at the time who saw me run out of number ten. after a couple of hours my wife felt a little better. there we re my wife felt a little better. there were many critical things at work and she urged me to return in the afternoon, and i did. that evening i returned home and discussed the situation with my wife. she was ill, she might have covid, though she did not have a cough or a fever. at this point most of those i work with most closely, including the prime minister himself, either had had symptoms and returned to work or absent with symptoms. i thought there was a distinct possibility i had already caught the disease. i

had already caught the disease. i had already caught the disease. i had a few conflicting thoughts in my mind. first! had a few conflicting thoughts in my mind. first i was worried that if my wife and i were both seriously ill, possibly hospitalised, there was nobody in london we could reasonably ask to look after our child. my wife had felt on the edge of not being able to look after him safely a few hours earlier. i thought what if the same or worse happens to me because there is no one i can ask to help. the regulations may clear the risks to the health of a small child are an exception. second, i thought that ifi an exception. second, i thought that if i did not develop symptoms that i might be able to return to work to help deal with the crisis. there we re help deal with the crisis. there were ongoing discussions about testing government staff in order to keep people like me working rather than isolating. at this point on the friday advisers such as myself had not been included in a list of who we re not been included in a list of who were tested. but it was possible

this might change the following week. therefore i thought that after testing negative i could continue working. in fact this did not change and special advisers were not tested, and i have never been tested. third, there have been numerous false stories in the media about my actions and statements regarding covid, in particular story suggesting i had opposed lockdown and even then i do not care about many deaths. for years i have warned about the dangers of pandemics, last yeari about the dangers of pandemics, last year i wrote about the possible threat of coronaviruses and the urgent need for planning. the truth isi urgent need for planning. the truth is i had argued for lockdown, i did not oppose it. these stories have created a bad atmosphere around my home. i was subjected to threats of violence, there were posts on social media encouraging attacks, many media encouraging attacks, many media reports on television showing pictures of my house. i was also worried that given the severity of this emergency, the situation would get worse and i was worried about the possibility of leaving my wife

and child at home all day and often into the night while i worked in number ten. i thought the best thing to do in all the circumstances was to do in all the circumstances was to drive to an isolated cottage on my father‘s farm. at this farm, my pa rents my father‘s farm. at this farm, my parents live in one house, my sister and her children live in another house and there was a separate cottage from either of them. my tentative conclusion was this, if we are both unable to look after my child, my sister and nieces can look after him. my nieces are 17 and 20, old enough to look after him but in the safe category and had volunteered to do so if needed. but i thought, if i do not develop symptoms and there is a testing regime in place at work, i could return to work if i tested negative. in that situation i could leave my wife and child behind in a safe place, with support from family, safe in the sense of being away from our home which had become a target,

and say from everybody else because they were isolated on the farm and could not infect anybody. there are no neighbours, contrary to some media reports, the nearest homes are roughly half a mile away so in this scenario i thought they could stay there for a few weeks, and everybody including the general public would be safe. i did not ask the prime minister about this decision. he was ill himself and he had huge problems to deal with. every day i have to exercise myjudgment to deal with. every day i have to exercise my judgment about things like this and decide what to discuss with him. i thought i would speak to him in the situation clarified over the coming days, including whether i had symptoms and if they were tests available. arguably this was a mistake and i understand some would say i should have spoken to the prime minister before deciding what to do. so i drove the three of us up to do. so i drove the three of us up to durham that night, arriving roughly at midnight. i did not stop

on the way. when i woke the next morning, saturday 28th of march, i was in pain and clearly had covid symptoms including a bad headache and fever. clearly i could not return to work any time soon. for a day or two we were both ill, i was in bed, my wife was ill but not so ill she needed emergency help. i got worse, she got better. during the night of the 2nd of april, my son woke up with a bag fever and threw up. he was very distressed. an ambulance was sent, they assessed my child and said he was going to hospital. i could barely stand up, my wife went with him in the ambulance, he stayed the night in the hospital. in the morning my wife called to say he seemed back to normal, doctors had tested him for covid and said they should return home. there were no taxis... i drove

to the hospital, picked them up and returned home. i did not leave the car or have any contact with anybody at any point on this short trip. the hospital is roughly five miles away, two miles, three miles, four miles, something like that. a few days later the hospital said he had tested negative. after i started recover, one day in the second week i tried to walk outside the house. at one point the three others walked into wood owned by my father next to the cottage i was staying in. some people saw us in the distance but we had no interaction with them. we we re had no interaction with them. we were on private land. by saturday 11th of april i was still feeling wea k 11th of april i was still feeling weak and exhausted but other than that i had no covid symptoms. i thought i would be able to return to work the following week possibly part—time. it was obvious the situation was extremely serious. the prime minister was extremely ill,

many were ill and self isolating. i thought i should return to work as soon as possible in order to relieve the intense strain at number ten. on the intense strain at number ten. on the saturday, i saw expert medical advice. they explained ourfamily‘s symptoms and all the timings and askedif symptoms and all the timings and asked if it was safe to return to work on monday, tuesday, seek child ca re work on monday, tuesday, seek child care and so on. i work on monday, tuesday, seek child care and so on. i was work on monday, tuesday, seek child care and so on. i was told it was safe and i could return to work and seek child care. on sunday 12th of april, 15 days after i first displayed symptoms, i decided to return to work. my wife was very worried, particularly since my eyesight seem to have been affected by the disease. she did not want to risk the nearly 300 mile drive with our child given how ill i had been. we agreed we should go for a short drive to see if i could drive safely. we drove our roughly half an hour and ended up on the outskirts

of barnard castle town. we did not visit the castle or the town. we parked by a river, wife and i discussed the situation, we agreed we should turn around and go home. i felt sick. we walked ten to 15 metres to the river bank nearby, we sat there for about 15 minutes, we had no interactions with anybody. i felt better, we returned to the car. an elderly gentleman walking nearby appeared to recognise me. my wife wished him happy easterfrom a distance but we had no other interaction. we headed home. on the way home our child needed the toilet, he was in the back—seat of the car. we pulled over to the side of the road, my wife and child jumped into the woods by the side of the road. i brieflyjoined them, they played for a little bit and then i got out of the car, went outside, we were briefly in the woods. we saw some people at a distance but at no point did we break any social distancing rules.

we then got back in the car and went home. we agreed that if i continue to improve, the next day we should return to london and i would go back to work. we returned to london on easter monday, april 13, iwent to work. we returned to london on easter monday, april 13, i went back to number ten the next morning. at no point did any of the three of us went to my parent‘ house or my sister‘s house. our only exchanges we re sister‘s house. our only exchanges were shouted conversations at a distance. my sister shopped for us and left everything outside. in the last few days there have been many media reports i returned to durham after the 13th of april, all the stories are false. there is a particular report i returned on the 19th of april. photos and data on my phone prove this to be false, and local cctv if it exists will also prove i‘m telling the truth i was in london that day, not in durham.

during this two week period, my mother‘s brother died with covid. there are media reports this had some influence on my behaviour, these reports are false. this private matter did not affect my movements. none of us saw him or attended his funeral. in this complex situation, i decided to exercise myjudgment complex situation, i decided to exercise my judgment the complex situation, i decided to exercise myjudgment the best i could. i believe in also comes dances i behaved reasonably and legally, balancing the safety of my family and the extreme situation at number ten and the public interest of government to which i could contribute. i thought i should try to help as much as i could do. i can understand some people will argue i should have stayed at my home in london throughout. i understand these views, i know the intense hardship and sacrifice the entire country has had to go through. however i respectfully disagree. the legal rules inevitably do not cover all circumstances, including those i found myself in. i thought and i

think today the rules, including those regarding small children and extreme circumstances, allowed me to exercise theirjudgment extreme circumstances, allowed me to exercise their judgment about the situation i found myself in, including the way my london home had become a target and the complexity of the situation. i accept of course there is room for reasonable disagreement about this. i can also understand some people think i should not have driven at all anywhere, but i had taken expert medical advice. it was 15 days after symptoms. i had been told i could return to work and employ childcare. i think it was reasonable and sensible to make a shortjourney before embarking on a five hour drive to see if i was in a fit state to do this. the alternative was to stay in durham rather than going back to work and contributing to the government‘s efforts. i believe i made the right judgment, government‘s efforts. i believe i made the rightjudgment, though others may disagree with that. i explained all of the above to the prime minister. at some point during the first week when we were both

sick and in bed, i mentioned to him what i had done and unsurprisingly, given the condition we were in, neither of us remember the conversation in any detail. i did not make my movements public at the time because my london home was already a target, i do not believe i was obliged to make my parents and sisters home a target as well. i understand people have seen media coverage of this issue and millions have enjoyed personal tragedies over the last few months, and people are suffering every day. i know the british people hate the idea of unfairness. i wanted to explain what i thought, what i did and why over this period because i think people like me who helped to make the rules should be accountable for their actions. i am should be accountable for their actions. lam happy should be accountable for their actions. i am happy to answer questions from the media, who are here. sorry, i have got a list and i

was told to ask the people in this order. laura. do you regret what you did? because many people in this country have made heartbreaking sacrifices in the last couple of months in order to stick to the rules that you are part of putting together, and many people will think you made your own interpretation. do you made your own interpretation. do you understand for some people, it seems there was one version of the rules for you and another version for everyone else. thank you, laura. no, i don‘t regret what i did. as i said, reasonable people may well disagree about how i thought about what to do in these circumstances, but i think that what i did was actually reasonable in the circumstances. in terms of the rules, i think the rules made clear

that if you are dealing with small children then that can be exceptional circumstances, and i think the situation i was in was exceptional circumstances, and i think the way i dealt with it was the least risk to everybody concerned if my wife and i had both been unable to look after our four—year—old. been unable to look after our four-year-old. it may sound to many people this afternoon though that you are using a loophole that was in com plete you are using a loophole that was in complete contrast to the message people heard every day from number ten of stay at home, stay at home. do we understand why some people are really angry about this? not just respectfully disagree, they are furious. i certainly do. respectfully disagree, they are furious. icertainly do. i have respectfully disagree, they are furious. i certainly do. i have seen some of the media over the last couple of days and i‘m not surprised a lot of people are very angry and lots of people... if you are someone sitting at home watching the media over the last three days, then i

think lots of people would be very angry and! think lots of people would be very angry and i completely understand that, but i think, i hope and think that, but i think, i hope and think that today, when i have actually explained the circumstances about it, i think people will realise it was a complicated situation and i was a complicated situation and i was weighing up a lot of things. some people might have behaved differently in some ways. as i said, arguably it was a mistake that i didn‘t call the prime minister on the friday night and ijust did what i thought was the right thing to do but i have to make decisions like that every day. i understand that people watching the media could be upset about what has happened, but i have explained why. do you offer any regret or apology to people who didn‘t have the ability to make the decisions that you did and didn‘t have the resources to do what you did? um, as isaid,! resources to do what you did? um, as i said, i have obviously thought about what i did over this period and what things i could have done

letter and what i could have done better in general in dealing with the whole crisis. there are definitely a lot of things i could have done better over the last few months, but i think what i did in these 1a days, i think i behaved reasonably. thank you. is there anything else you would like to ask? no. robert. so just anything else you would like to ask? no. robert. sojust to be absolutely clear, in this 1a day period and subsequently, apart from one visit to durham and back and a trip to barnard castle, neither you nor mary had been anywhere else at all? also, millions of people haven‘t seen their parents for months now. can you just tell us a bit more about the nature of your contact with your

pa rents ? the nature of your contact with your parents? finally, your own scientists are worried. they said this last night, that by introducing an element of personal discretion into the interpretation of the rules, you are putting lives at risk. what would you say to them and what would you say to us to reassure us? thanks, robert e. you asked whether it was true that over this 14 whether it was true that over this 1a day period, that we didn‘t go anywhere else apart from in the car on day 15. there was the trip to hospital and then there was the drive on day 15. but apart from that, neither of us left. and nothing since then? in terms of

trips that break the rules? no. i am not sure where the boundaries of london are, but as far as i am aware, the only time i left london since tuesday the 14th was to get a checkis since tuesday the 14th was to get a check is for meetings with the prime minister. and that was with mary as well, because you are a household? yes. mary and i have been together since we returned. and then on this issue of contact with your parents? obviously, neither mary nor i had been tested, so neither of us could been tested, so neither of us could be definitively sure about what our situation was. mary had been ill and then recovered, but she had a cough and fever. i clearly seemed to have covid but i wasn‘t tested. but our default mode was, assuming or three of us had got it. so i was in a

cottage 50 metres or so away from everybody else. obviously, we kept very far away from them was that there are various reports that i visited them, i was staying with them. that is all completely untrue. my them. that is all completely untrue. my parents are in their seventies. obviously, i do not want to give them this disease. so we stayed very far away. we did have some conversations, but we were on a farm and they were shouted conversations ata and they were shouted conversations at a distance. they were not some of the things that have been reported. in terms of the question of discretion, i am in terms of the question of discretion, lam not in terms of the question of discretion, i am not seeking to introduce any element of discretion. to me, the rules are there. they talk about exceptional circumstances and small children. i was trying to weigh up, and that friday night, conflicting things between what happens if we are both ill, who is going to look after him, what is the

safest way of doing that? is there a way i might be able to go back to work the following week if the testing system changes, which was being discussed but did not in fact happen. i was trying to weigh all of those things up. given that, i don‘t believe i broke the rules. the s pin numbers last night —— the spim members last night introduced the idea that if there circumstances allow that you can do something different from what they will say, they are worried that that will make it harder to contain the spread of the disease. they are right to be worried that the coverage from the last couple of days could encourage people to behave in certain ways. but with respect to them, they made those comments without knowing what had happened. that is why it would

have been better to have made this statement earlier. but as it was, i didn‘t. it would have been better to do it earlierfor sure, and that would also have stopped some of those guys being confused by what they read. beth. thank you. thousands of people watching as ordinary families have put up with all kinds of restrictions and hardships, regardless of their medical orfamily hardships, regardless of their medical or family requirements, people are not going to funerals, people are not going to funerals, people not even going into hospital when their kids have been having cancer treatment. why are you so different? what those people see here is that there is one rule for you, one of the most powerful people in this country, and there is another rule for them. don‘t you think you, at the very least, other

than an apology? —— you owe them an apology. i don't think! am than an apology? —— you owe them an apology. i don't think i am so different and i don‘t think there is one rule for me and one rule for other people. as i said, i knew what the guidance was. it talks about exceptional circumstances with small children, and i think that i behaved reasonably and legally, as i said. but people will be listening to this. the days, government ministers have obfuscated about whether you went to barnard castle, no information put out. this is meant to bea information put out. this is meant to be a people‘s government, but you have badly misjudged public mood on this. this has damaged the prime minister. it has undermined your policy and it has undermined public confidence in the government. it could even now threaten public

health if people decide that the rules don‘t matter. how can you even countenance, at the moment, staying on and not resigning? well, as i said, there is understandable anger but a lot of that anger is based on reports in the media that have not been true. it is extremely reg retta ble, been true. it is extremely regrettable, but the media that were reporting some of these things were told that they were wrong, but they reported them anyway. and that has caused a lot of anger. a lot of people have shouted at me in the street, why did you go back to see your parents just because you wanted to? i did not do that. let me ask one more thing. you went 260 miles. you didn‘t stop, but you didn‘t think that you ought to check with the prime minister, knowing how that

might look when we were at the height of lockdown and we were all being told not to go anywhere and to stay at home and to self—isolate if we had covid? i know you had circumstances, but how could you not even check with your boss? well, as isaid, even check with your boss? well, as i said, that is a reasonable question and i think a lot of people would say that i ought to have called the prime minister about it. all i can say is about what my state of mind was at the time. he had just tested positive hours earlier. he was ill, he was upstairs in number ten in bed. he had a million things on his plate. we all had a million things on our plates. we were trying to do lots of things. one of the things i have to decide every day is what to bother with the prime minister with and whatnot what to bother with the prime minister with and what not to bother the prime minister with. the honest

truth about myjob is that there are endless problems all day long and i can‘t go to him all day asking him, what do you think about this or that, otherwise what is the point of having people like me around? i have to get on with things and make decisions. sometimes i do the right thing and sometimes i make mistakes. i should stop but in retrospect, do you wish you had checked with him first? i don't know, is the honest truth about that. maybe i should have done, but i have to protect his time. there are lots of really big issues. the prime minister‘s time is just about the most valuable commodity that exist in the government, so you have to be careful about what you go to him with and what you don‘t go to him with, and i have to make that judgment literally dozens of times a day. and i made thatjudgment in a very short period of time in very extreme circumstances. and as i

said, i thought at the time it was the right thing to do, but i understand if people think it was a mistake and that i should have spoken to him about it. i did speak to him about it a few days later, but neither of us can remember exactly what i said because we were both in pretty bad shape. thanks very much. gary gibbon. cani can ijust can i just be can ijust be clear about that? yesterday, you had a face—to—face conversation with the prime minister about all the circumstances around this trip and those key two or so weeks. but he is known about your excursion north for about a month and a half? and he didn‘t ask you anything until yesterday? and a half? and he didn‘t ask you anything untilyesterday? so, regarding the first part of your question, yes, and essentially, what i‘ve just told you guys is what i told the prime minister yesterday. i went through it all. yes, he asked me about it all on, was it friday night, that the story broke?”