LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday came out in full support for his embattled top aide, Dominic Cummings, over an alleged breach of the country's strict coronavirus lockdown rules, as he confirmed moving the UK on to the next stage of opening up the economy, with schools set to open from June 1.
Addressing the daily Downing Street briefing, Johnson opened by addressing the escalating row around his Chief Strategy Adviser's 260-mile journey from London to his parents' home in Durham in north-east England at the end of March and stressed that his aide had acted "responsibly, legally and with integrity, and with the overall aim of stopping the spread of the virus and saving lives".
"I can tell you today I have had extensive face to face conversations with Dominic Cummings, I have concluded that in travelling to find the right kind of care 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. I do not mark him down for that," said Johnson.
He had to field a barrage of questions from the media about the issue that has led to numerous calls from within the PM's own Conservative Party for Cummings to resign or be sacked.
"As far as I can see, he stuck to the rules. His objective was to prevent the spread of the virus," stressed Johnson, standing by his closest adviser.
Johnson's central announcement was around the opening up of primary school classes from June 1, with secondary schools to provide "some contact" for students to help them prepare for exams from June 15.
"In line with the approach being taken in many other countries, we want to start getting our children back into the classroom," he said, adding that the government would remain in consultation with unions and headteachers over this planned easing up of the coronavirus lockdown.
"While of course, we realise social distancing may not be possible, especially when teaching young children, government guidance has been published that gives advice to teachers," he said.
What has been branded as stage two of the UK's move out of social distancing norms, will also involve some steps towards opening up non-essential retail and more social contacts and details for that will be unveiled in coming days.
"We are making progress but that progress is conditional, provisional. The UK must keep the R rate [rate of infection] below one. We are beating this thing," Johnson said.
According to the latest data unveiled by him, the UK's death toll from COVID-19 across hospitals and all other settings in society has now hit 36,793 with a rise of 118 over the previous day.
The rate of hospitalisations with the disease has maintained a downward trend, registering an 11 per cent decline from this time last week.