Boris Johnson has backed senior aide Dominic Cummings amid a row over his controversial decision to travel more than 200 miles to his parents’ home in Durham during lockdown.
The Prime Minister said Mr Cummings had acted “responsibly, legally and with integrity,” despite driving his wife and four-year-old son 260 miles from his home in London twice - the first time while displaying symptoms of coronavirus.
Mr Johnson has faced growing pressure to sack his top advisor after claims about two trips he made between London and the North East of England were made public by the Daily Mirror.
However, the PM chose to double down on his defence of Cummings, arguing he had travelled to "try to find the right kind of childcare."
Mr Johnson also claimed some of the allegations made about Mr Cummings' movements were "palpably false", though he offered no evidence for this assertion and did not specify which allegations he was referring to.
Speaking at the daily Downing Street coronavirus briefing, the Prime Minister addressed questions over whether Mr Cummings had broken the rules and "endangered lives."
He said: "I have had extensive face-to-face conversations with Dominic Cummings and I have concluded that in travelling to find the right kind of childcare, at the moment when both he and his wife were about to be incapacitated by coronavirus - and when he had no alternative - I think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent.
"And I do not mark him down for that."
He added: "I believe that in every respect he has acted responsibly and legally and with integrity."
Nicola Sturgeon was among those who called for Cummings’ resignation earlier on Sunday, drawing parallels between his case and that of Dr Catherine Calderwood, Scotland’s former chief medical officer who stood down after it emerged she had twice visited her second home in Fife while guidelines were still in place.
Posting on Twitter, the First Minister wrote: "I know it is tough to lose a trusted adviser at the height of crisis, but when it's a choice of that or integrity of vital public health advice, the latter must come first.
"That’s the judgment I and, to her credit, Catherine Calderwood reached. PM and Cummings should do likewise."
