Covid: I left London during lockdown due to security threat - Cummings

Dominic Cummings' controversial trip to County Durham during lockdown was due to security threats, not just childcare reasons, the ex-No 10 aide has said.

Speaking to MPs, Mr Cummings said he moved his family out of London after his wife received death threats from a gang of people outside his home.

He said not explaining this at the time was "a terrible, terrible mistake".

He described the episode as "a major disaster for the government" which had "undermined public confidence".

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Mr Cummings faced considerable criticism when it emerged he had travelled from his London home to his family's farm on the outskirts of the City of Durham, during the coronavirus lockdown in spring 2020.

At the time he defended his actions, explaining he left to ensure his son could be looked after when he and his wife caught Covid.

However, appearing before the Health and Science committee on Wednesday, Mr Cummings said he had first moved his family out of the home for six weeks in autumn 2019 following security threats.

He then said that on 25 February he received a call from his wife who told him "there was a gang outside the family home saying 'they're going to break into the house and kill everybody inside'."

He continued, saying that on 22 March a "fake quote" appeared in a news story "saying I was happy for everyone to die".

"After that weekend I then said to my wife...we've got to get out here by Friday - it had already been decided that I was going to move my family out of London regardless of Covid rules."

When, in May, the story emerged that Mr Cummings had left London, he said "the prime minister and I agreed that because of the security things, we would basically just stonewall the story and not say anything about it."

However, he later gave a press conference in Downing Street's rose garden to defend his actions.

Recalling the event he said: "What I said was true but we left out a kind of crucial part of it all.

"The whole thing was a complete disaster and the truth is... if I just basically sent my family back out of London and said here's the truth to the public, I think people would have understood the situation.

"It was a terrible misjudgement not to do that - the prime minister got that wrong, I got that wrong."

Barnard Castle trip

During the press conference, Mr Cummings also defended making a 30 mile journey from his family's home in County Durham to Barnard Castle, explaining he wanted to test his eyesight before returning to London.

Asked by committee chair Jeremy Hunt if the trip was actually a birthday celebration for his wife rather than to test his eyesight, Mr Cummings replied: "If I was going to make up a story I would come up with a better one than that."

"If you're going to drive 300 miles to go back to work, popping down the road for 30 miles and back to see how you feel... it didn't seem crazy."

Mr Hunt asked if it seemed "crazy to do the trip with your wife and son", Mr Cummings said no.

"I wish I'd never heard of Barnard Castle... I can only apologise for the whole debacle," he added.