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Dominic Cummings may have broken the coronavirus lockdown rules when he visited Barnard Castle with his wife and son to test his “eyesight”, an investigation by Durham police has concluded.
Durham police said on Thursday that Cummings could have been guilty of “a minor breach”, but no further action would be taken.
Boris Johnson’s top adviser has been under intense pressure from Tory MPs to quit after it was revealed he travelled to Durham from London in March.
During his time in the north of England Cummings also drove to the town of Barnard Castle.
He claimed he took the trip to see if he was fit enough to drive before returning to London for work.
Johnson has so far continued to stand by Cummings and repeatedly insisted it is time to “move on”.
In a statement, Durham police said Cummings had not committed an offence by travelling to his father’s premises.
But it said the drive to Barnard Castle “might have been a minor breach of the regulations that would have warranted police intervention”.
HuffPost UK understands that the force’s use of the word “might” in its statement relates solely to the fact that any determination of a potential breach would be decided by the courts.
Durham police said it viewed this as minor because there was no apparent breach of social distancing.
“Had a Durham Constabulary police officer stopped Mr Cummings driving to or from Barnard Castle, the officer would have spoken to him, and, having established the facts, likely advised Mr Cummings to return to the address in Durham, providing advice on the dangers of travelling during the pandemic crisis,” the statement said.
“Had this advice been accepted by Mr Cummings, no enforcement action would have been taken.”
Its statement that an officer would have “likely advised Mr Cummings to return to the address in Durham” underlined that a potential breach had occurred, one police source said.
A No.10 spokesman said: “The police have made clear they are taking no action against Mr Cummings over his self-isolation and that going to Durham did not breach the regulations.
“The prime minister has said he believes Mr Cummings behaved reasonably and legally given all the circumstances, and he regards this issue as closed.”