Britain’s Prime Minister has been labelled "arrogant and offensive" by critics after defending the actions of his chief adviser, who allegedly broke lockdown rules to visit family.
After a two week absence, Boris Johnson returned to the podium at the Downing Street daily briefing and straight away responded to the mounting calls for his top aide Dominic Cummings to resign.
"I think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent. And I do not mark him down for that," Mr Johnson said.
He added that there may’ve been many other allegations about what happened when Mr Cummings 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 and with the overwhelming aim of stopping the spread of the virus and saving lives," he said.
Britain's prime minister has ditched the "stay at home" mantra as he outlined his plan to gradually ease out of lockdown.
Mr Cummings is at the centre of a political storm after it emerged he drove with his family, while his wife suffered from symptoms of Covid-19, to his parents’ home in Durham while the country was in lockdown. Durham is 418 kilometres from London. The Associated Press reports he also was infected with the coronavirus.
But a few days later, in mid-April, he was spotted back at his parent’s home on a walk with his wife.
Back at Downing Street there were awkward exchanges between the Prime Minister as journalists asked questions, but he cut them off and failed to provide any answers.
Dr Clark fronted Breakfast shortly after it was announced he’d been stripped of his Associate Finance portfolio by the Prime Minister.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeted: "This was a test of the Prime Minister and he is failed it. It is an insult to sacrifices made by the British people that Boris Johnson has chosen to take no action against Dominic Cummings."
He said the public will be forgiven for thinking there is one rule for the Prime Minister’s closest adviser and another for the British people.
Following the briefing a tweet posted by the UK Civil Service said, "arrogant and offensive. Can you imagine having to work with these truth twisters?" That tweet has now been removed.
In New Zealand, Health Minister David Clark confessed to taking a 20-kilometre drive to the beach with his family and driving his family to another walking track on a separate occasion during Level 4 lockdown. He confessed the instances after he was called out for driving over two kilometres to a mountain bike track .
The Prime Minister said that “under normal conditions” Dr Clark would’ve lost his job as Health Minister.
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