Dominic Cummings spent the sunny Bank Holiday Monday answering questions from journalists in the Downing Street rose garden. After days of negative headlines and a growing backlash from Tory MPs over allegations that the Prime Minister’s senior aide broke lockdown rules, Cummings took the unusual step in order to try to explain the rationale behind his movements.
The senior No. 10 aide stopped short of apologising for his actions. Instead, he said that while he understood why people were questioning his decision to travel 260 miles to Durham after believing he could soon fall ill with coronavirus, he thought he had made the right decision given the circumstances:
I think 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 these circumstances.
When it came to the specifics of the allegations made against him, Cummings denied reports that he had travelled from London to Durham more than once during lockdown. He argued that his decision to drive to Durham was compatible with the lockdown advice on the grounds of child safety – citing potential harassment around his London property as an added motivating factor in the decision. He admitted that he had travelled to Barnard Castle while in Durham. However, he said his family had only been on the outskirts of it and not there for sightseeing – the reason being that he wanted to test his ability to drive before embarking on the long journey back to London. In the coming days, expect Cummings’s account to be dissected in the media.
When it came to the issue of any voter backlash against the government over his actions, Cummings suggested anger towards him was a consequence of inaccurate reports in the media. He admitted to making mistakes – both in his handling of coronavirus generally and in waiting so long to give a comprehensive account of his actions. Asked whether he would consider his position should his actions undermine public health guidance, Cummings said any such decision was ‘up to the Prime Minister’.
Whether Cummings’s performance today has steadied the ship will become clear in the coming days. However, the very fact Cummings gave the press conference is revealing. That he is doing so now shows that despite earlier suggestions from some Tory figures that this was a non-story, this has cut through that goes beyond the so-called Westminster bubble. Downing Street would not have taken this unusual step were they not worried about a shift in public opinion.
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