Attempts by Dominic Cummings to justify the trips he made during lockdown while infectious have failed to quell anger within the government,triggering the resignation of a junior minister over the affair.
Douglas Ross,Under Secretary of State for Scotland,tendered his resignation on Tuesday morning,saying in a letter he accepted Cummings took actions"he felt were the best interests of his family. However,these were decisions many others felt were not available to them".
"I have constituents who didn't get to say goodbye to loved ones,families who could not mourn together,people who didn't visit sick relatives because they followed the guidance of the government. I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior adviser to the government was right."
Nearly two dozen Tory MPs have publicly demanded Cummings stand down and Durham police have pledged to investigate his movements in the region.
The Prime Minister's powerful chief adviser refused to apologise for driving 400 kilometres from London to Durham even though he and his wife had coronavirus,and dismissed warnings from the government's own scientific advisers that the saga undermined social distancing rules by creating a perception that government officials could circumvent the rules with no consequences.
Boris Johnson,who worked with Cummings on the campaign to leave the European Union,has stood by his adviser,saying at the weekend that the aide had followed the"instincts of every father"when he travelled with his wife for help with childcare.
A Downing Street spokesman said:"The prime minister would like to thank Douglas Ross for his service to government and regrets his decision to stand down as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland."
The resignation follows Cummings'press conference the day before,wherein he detailed all his reasons for breaking the government's lockdown rules,and even volunteered that he had taken a separate trip on Easter Sunday in which he,his wife and son undertook a 100-kilometre round trip from his parents'farm to the small town of Barnard Castle.