British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's top aide Dominic Mr Cummings defied calls to resign on Monday over allegations that he broke coronavirus rules and undermined the government's response to the health crisis.
The Brexit campaign mastermind told reporters he had acted "reasonably and legally" when he drove across the country with his wife while she was suffering from the virus in early April.
Britain was then recording hundreds of deaths daily and following strict lockdown rules requiring people with even the slightest symptoms to stay at home for at least a week.
"I have not offered to resign. No, I did not consider it," a visibly nervous Mr Cummings said in his first press conference on the job.
"In this very complex situation, I tried to exercise my judgement the best I could. I believe that in all circumstances I behaved reasonably and legally."
Mr Cummings did not apologise for his behaviour but did express regret for not asking Mr Johnson - himself already hospitalised for COVID-19 - for permission to travel during the lockdown's most restrictive phase.
"Arguably, this was a mistake and I understand that some will say that I should have spoken to the prime minister before deciding what to do," Mr Cummings said.
Angered by Mr Cummings' behaviour, citizens who had lost family members due to COVID-19 called on the government to take action.
"My wife died of COVID-19... hospital lockdown prevented me from seeing her for two weeks before her death. On the day she died I could not be there to hold her hand, I just sat by the telephone," John Wilson wrote.
"Under severe mental and emotional stress, I, like the vast majority of the population, have complied with your government's instructions in order to protect my fellow citizens. I will spare you my opinion of the actions of the leader of your party yesterday."
Flouting rules
The scandal raging around his decision to drive to leave his baby son at his parents' house while he and his wife were sick threatens to undermine Boris Johnson in the heat of a health emergency that has claimed nearly 37,000 lives.
It is also arguably the biggest political scandal of Mr Johnson's one-year rule.
Dominic Cummings was already a lightning rod for many Britons over his role in orchestrating the 2016 Brexit campaign that eventually saw Britain pull out of the European Union after nearly 50 years on January 31.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Special Advisor, Dominic Cummings returns to his home in London. Source: EPA
But he is also a trusted adviser who first helped Mr Johnson become prime minister and then choreographed Britain's delayed exit from the European bloc.
Politicians of all stripes have been joined by scientific advisers and even some members of the clergy in condemning Mr Cummings for flouting the rules.
"If you give the impression there's one rule for them and one rule for us, you fatally undermine that sense of 'we're all in this together'," scientific adviser Stephen Reicher told ITV.
'Not a great sign'
Boris Johnson told the nation on Sunday that Dominic Cummings was following his paternal instincts by dropping off his baby son at his grandparents' house while he and his wife were sick.
But the ConservativeHome website published .
It had 20 names on Monday - still too few to challenge Johnson's 80-seat majority in parliament but growing by the day.
A woman protests outside 10 Downing Street, London, prior to Dominic Cummings giving his statement over allegations he breached lockdown restrictions. Source: Press Association
Even newspapers that traditionally back Tory governments sounded a hostile note.
The Daily Mail website said the UK lockdown "was dead in the water" because Mr Cummings was flouting its rules.
Treating people 'as mugs'
Mr Cummings is an enigmatic figure with an unconventional dress style and direct approach that has endeared him to a segment of Britons who have developed a distaste for the ruling elite.
His role in masterminding the Brexit campaign was made into a TV film that further fed the legend of his political prowess.
But the sight of Mr Cummings being heckled by his neighbours outside his home on Sunday and fighting through a crowd of reporters on his way to his car on Monday morning - "out of the way," he shouted several times - could drain Mr Johnson's credibility at a pivotal point.
Britain is just starting to emerge from its coronavirus lockdown and the government wants everyone to keep observing social distancing rules in the coming months.
Leeds bishop Nick Baines accused Mr Johnson of treating Britons "as mugs".
"The moral question is not for Cummings - it is for the PM and ministers/MPs who find this behaviour acceptable," the bishop tweeted.
