Cummings held a press conference in the garden of 10 Downing Street on Monday amid mounting calls for his resignation from across the political spectrum and the public at large.

The 48-year-old claimed that none of his usual childcare options were available and his wife had become suddenly ill. Out of worry for the safety of his family at their London home he decided to travel across England to a secluded cottage on his family’s estate in Durham.

The journey came at the height of the Covid-19 outbreak in April, while coronavirus movement restrictions that Cummings helped to draft were in place. The political strategist said that he believed that this was the safest option and he decided to take his family there before returning to London to work.

The press conference appeared to further fan the flames of public anger as socal was quickly flooded with messages attacking the adviser. A range of phrases related to Cummings’ account of his movements quickly shot to the top of the UK trending charts including ‘#Domnishambles’, ‘Barnard Castle’, and ‘#CumGate’.

However, others expressed their support for Cummings and poured scorn on the reporters questioning Johnson’s right hand man. The swell of messages prompted ‘#ScumMedia’ to climb to fifth in the trending charts.