Dominic Cummings travelled to Durham during lockdown 'on two occasions', new report claims

Boris Johnson’s adviser Dominic Cummings is facing increased pressure to resign after a further report emerged that claimed he travelled to from London to Durham twice during lockdown.

Cummings has faced criticism and calls to resign after a joint investigation by The Mirror and The Guardian revealed that he’d driven to Durham from London at the beginning of April.

Cummings responded by saying he didn’t break the lockdown rules and cited childcare concerns as his primary reason for leaving London and travelling to Durham.

But now a further report by The Mirrorsuggests Cummings went back to Durham after he returned to London.

Having been seen in London working on April 14, a local couple claim they spotted him walking in Houghall Woods in Durham on April 19.

One member of the couple, who didn’t want to be named, told The Mirror:

We were shocked and surprised to see him because the last time we did was earlier in the week in Downing Street.

We thought ‘He’s not supposed to be here during the lockdown’. We thought ‘What double standards, one rule for him as a senior adviser to the Prime Minister and another for the rest of us’.

Since the news broke of Cummings’ trip to Durham, ministers have repeatedly emphasised that he stayed put in a separate property from the rest of his family. But there was also an alleged sighting of him out walking on April 12, supposedly during his first trip to Durham, if he did indeed travel there more than once.

Robin Lees, 70, a retired chemistry teacher from Barnard Castle, claims he saw Cummings and his family walking by the River Tees in the town, before getting into a car. He said he was “gobsmacked” to see the adviser so far from London when the public were being ordered to “stay home”.

Cummings has denied that he’s done anything wrong and Downing Street have insisted his 265-mile round trip didn’t breach “stay at home” guidelines. Cummings also denies the police spoke to him or anyone in his family, but Durham Police say they visited the property on March 31.

Senior cabinet ministers have thrown their support behind Cummings, such as Dominic Raab, Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove. But a YouGov poll found that 52 per cent of people think he should resign, including 40 per cent of Tories.

Labour and the SNP are also calling for an urgent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the 265-mile trip.

Meanwhile, before the allegations of a second trip to Durham emerged, Cummings told reporters earlier today that he has no plans to resign.

Shortly after this article was published, Downing Street said in a statement that The Mirror's new report contained "false allegations".