UK's Johnson struggles to shift attention from aide's trip

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plans to announce further lockdown-easing measures were being overshadowed Monday by an outcry over the movements of a senior aide who allegedly flouted restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic.

Conservative leader Johnson is standing by adviser Dominic Cummings, who drove 250 miles (400 kilometers) from his London home to his parents’ house in Durham, northeast England, while he was infected with the virus.

Johnson said Cummings “followed the instincts of every father and every parent,” traveling so that extended family could care for his 4-year-old son if he and his wife both fell ill.

But many Britons saw the trip as a clear breach of the government’s national “stay at home” order, introduced on March 23.

Cummings was heckled with calls of “hypocrite” as he returned to his London home Sunday after spending the day in 10 Downing St. On radio phone-ins and social media, Britons recounted how the lockdown had prevented them from visiting elderly relatives, comforting dying friends or attending the funerals of loved ones.

Durham Police and Crime Commissioner Steve White said he had asked police to “establish the facts concerning any potential breach of the law or regulations.”

Amid growing public anger and political unease, the government said Cummings would make a statement and answer questions later Monday — a rare public foray for an unelected figure who usually exerts influence behind the scenes.

A self-styled political disrupter who disdains the media and civil service, Cummings has been essential to Johnson’s rise to power. He was one of the architects of the successful campaign to take Britain out of the European Union, and orchestrated Brexit champion Johnson’s...