Thread by @PippaCrerar

Dominic Cummings asked about our story on him breaking lockdown rules driving 260 miles to Durham.

"That whole episode was definitely a major disaster for the Government and for the Covid policy".

Cummings says he left London over security threats. Says he made a "terrible mistake" by not explaining that to public.

"What I said was true, but I left out a crucial part of it all. The whole thing was a complete disaster. It undermined public confidence in the whole thing".

Jeremy Hunt says - rightly - that it was terrible that Cummings' family faced security threats.

But asks: "If you were moving your family out for security reasons, why did you move them back?"

DC says he felt Govt needed him - and would've left wife/ child in Durham if he cld

He admits that he later moved his wife and child out of London *again* but insists this was in discussion with police. He adds: "Hopefully this is a case study in how not to handle something like this."

Strongly refute suggestion that media asking the PM's most senior adviser - one of the architects of the Covid lockdown rules - why he broke those very same rules is in some way a 'witch-hunt'. That's exactly what our job is all about.

Cummings stands by claims he drove to Barnard Castle on his wife's bday to test his eyesight. 👀

"If I was going to make up a story I would've come up with a helluva better one than that."

He adds: "It didn't seem crazy at the time. I can only apologise for the whole debacle."

Full story on this from our @danbloom1

https://twitter.com/MirrorPolitics/status/1397543593049460736?s=20