LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson's former adviser, Dominic Cummings, admitted on Wednesday his trip to northern England at the height of Britain's first coronavirus lockdown was a "major disaster" for the government's COVID-19 policy.
In May last year, Cummings defended his decision to drive 250 miles from London to access childcare after fearing he had contracted COVID-19, and a further excursion to a nearby beauty spot to test his eyesight as part of his recovery.
Apologising for what he said were his mistakes over his decision to travel when Britain was under a strict lockdown, he told a parliamentary committee: "That whole episode was definitely a major disaster for the government and the COVID policy."
Referring to his excursion to test his eyesight after contracting COVID-19 in a further breach of lockdown rules, he said: "I wish I'd never heard of Barnard Castle and I wish I'd never gone, and I wish the whole nightmare never happened."
(Reporting by Kate Holton, writing by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Michael Holden and Paul Sandle)