Boris Johnson has stuck by his top aide Dominic Cummings, saying he “followed the instincts of every father and every parent” and “I do not mark him down for that”.
The prime minister insisted his special adviser had “acted responsibly and legally and with integrity” after facing criticism for travelling from London to Durham during lockdown.
Mr Cummings was called into 10 Downing Street earlier on Sunday following reports he went into self-isolation at his family’s farm 260 miles away with his child and wife, who had COVID-19 symptoms.
Several Tory MPs called for him to be sacked for the journey that came while Britons were being told to “stay at home” to stop the virus spreading at the end of March.
But at the daily Downing Street coronavirus briefing, Mr Johnson said after “extensive face-to-face conversations” with Mr Cummings, he concluded the former Vote Leave boss “had no alternative” but to make the trip.
He added that Mr Cummings had been “travelling to find the right kind of childcare, at the moment when both he and his wife were about to be incapacitated by coronavirus”.
Mr Johnson acknowledged the damage the allegations had the potential to do.
He said the “big question” being asked was “is this government asking you – the people, the public – to do one thing, while senior people here in government do something else?”
“Have we been asking you to make sacrifices, to obey social distancing – stay at home – while some people have been basically flouting those rules and endangering lives?”
The prime minister added his conversations with his top adviser over the weekend were “because I take this matter so seriously”.
Questions still loom over Mr Cummings’ movements after a witness claimed to have spotted him 30 miles from his family’s farm walking by the River Tees near Barnard Castle on 12 April, during the period he was believed to be self-isolating.
Robin Lees, a retired chemistry teacher, told Sky News he spotted Mr Cummings on that occasion and wrote down a “distinctive” number plate.
Mr Cummings was also reportedly spotted by another member of public in Houghall Woods near Durham home on 19 April.
Mr Johnson did not directly dispute the two other allegations about Mr Cummings when they were put to him by a journalist at the news conference.
The prime minister said he had “looked at them carefully” and was “content that at all times throughout his period in isolation… he behaved responsibly and correctly and with a view to defeating the virus”.
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