Filton and Bradley Stoke’s MP said politics should not be dictated by the “baying mob” after calls for the Prime Minister to sack his chief adviser for breaking the lockdown rules.
Jack Lopresti said there was room to criticise Dominic Cummings but the “media circus” had created a “distraction our country can ill-afford”.
Mr Cummings told a press conference last week he drove the 260 miles from London to his parents’ estate in Durham on March 27 because he faced a “tricky situation” with childcare after fearing he and his wife may have had Covid-19.
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At the time, the government guidance on travel said people should “avoid travelling unless it is essential” and stay at home.
Asked his views on the issue by a “disgusted” constituent, Mr Lopresti wrote: “Setting aside the party politics, and as a proud father of four myself, I understand and sympathise with Mr Cummings’ instinctive motivations to ensure that his son was looked after in the event that he and his wife were too ill to care for their child.
“The media circus which has dominated the news over the past several days has also highlighted the lack of social distancing by members of the press themselves, as they have continued to hound the family at their doorstep.
“Nevertheless, I of course recognise and completely understand the strength of feeling this has created.
“There are many people who have been in similar positions to Mr Cummings who have suffered because they believed they were not permitted to interpret the rules, which may have, with hindsight, have allowed them to do something differently and this has led to understandable confusion and anger.
“Whilst I believe there is room for fair criticism of Mr Cummings’ decisions, I am concerned at the prospect of ‘politics by the baying mob’ and it is my belief that this unedifying spectacle is a distraction our country can ill-afford.
“What is needed is a single-minded focus on how to continue our hard work to defeat Covid-19 and how to restart our economy whilst keeping people safe.
“It is a disservice to the public at large to be pontificating the actions of one man whilst there are millions desperately waiting for their lives to be able to return to normality.”
