I personally have driven a short distance to be sure I was fit to drive so I get that..
This is sensible. Undertaking a sixty mile round trip with your wife and young son in the car following two weeks of severe illness that resulted in eyesight problems, just to confirm you are safe to operate a vehicle isn’t sensible. If true, it endangered not only his family, who he was apparently acting to protect, but all other road users. This is the most problematic part of his explanation, and I can’t believe that no one asked why his wife, who by all accounts suffered much less severe symptoms, couldn’t drive back to London instead.
It also wasn’t sensible to park up at a local beauty spot at the half-way point of this apparently experimental journey and exit the vehicle to sit on the riverbank, when the govt advice specifically prohibited such activity. He wasn’t exercising, therefore this specific action was in breach of the guidance.
I agree that the published guidance did provide an exception that explains - and to a degree justifies - the relocation to Durham for self-isolation purposes. It does not explain, excuse or justify the above.
Also, the main point of the guidance re not relocating to second homes was to prevent community spread. Cummings stated today that a few days after both he and his wife became ill and relocated to Durham their son became ill - so his wife took him to the local A&E department. Whilst still suffering with Covid-19 symptoms herself. It isn’t a good look.
The biggest problem here though is the optics of the situation. People are angry, and they rightly or wrongly feel that this is a ‘do as we say, not as we do’ situation given that Boris is standing by Cummings. Yes, the caveat re young children was mentioned in the published guidance, but the core message that 99% of the population received was to self-isolate with symptoms at all cost, as this is how it was presented during the govt briefings. The sad reality is that many will use this situation as justification for breaking the current and future guidance, which is why he should go regardless - purely for the greater good by way of maintaining the perceived legitimacy of govt instruction. No SPAD is worth keeping at the cost of further lives being lost.