UK's Johnson struggles to shift attention from aide's trip

25/5/2020 18:26

        British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plans to announce further lockdown-easing measures were being overshadowed Monday by an outcry over the movements of a senior aide who allegedly flouted restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic.
        
        Conservative leader Johnson is standing by adviser Dominic Cummings, who drove 250 miles (400 kms) from his London home to his parents' house while he was infected with the virus.
        
        Johnson said Cummings "followed the instincts of every father and every parent," traveling so that extended family could care for his 4-year-old son if he and his wife both fell ill.
        
        But many Britons saw the trip as a clear breach of the government's national "stay at home" order, introduced on March 23. Cummings was heckled with calls of “hypocrite” as he returned to his London home Sunday.