| A 260-mile drive to one's parents in the U.K. countryside would normally be the most innocuous of activities—except in the middle of a pandemic lockdown. But that was exactly when Dominic Cummings, one of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's top aides, hit the road with his family to travel from London to his parents' farm in northern England. Cummings and his wife had begun experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 in late March and feared neither of them would be well enough to care for their child. Their concerns may have been shared by many, but few dared to take similar action. The lockdown rules promulgated by Johnson made clear that Britons were to leave home only for exercise, work, essential shopping and medical appointments. Now Johnson's government has been plunged into scandal, with a 20-point dive in his approval rating and dozens of his Tory party members of Parliament calling for Cummings to step down.  Dominic Cummings defends the circumstances of his trip during a press conference. Photographer: Jonathan Brady/PA Pool Johnson has stood behind his adviser, a key strategist of the 2016 Brexit campaign. Cummings has dismissed the criticism as overreaction, saying he believes he "behaved reasonably and legally.'' "Caring for your wife and child is not a crime," tweeted Michael Gove, the minister for the Cabinet Office. But the British like fair play, and most heeded the government's call to stay put. The Queen invoked the spirit of wartime with a call for collective sacrifice to defeat the pandemic. Now ordinary citizens are wondering whose rules Cummings was following. "I have constituents who didn't get to say goodbye to loved ones; families who could not mourn together; people who didn't visit sick relatives because they followed the guidance of the government," said Douglas Ross, a junior minister from Scotland who resigned over the controversy. "I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior adviser to the government was right." Cummings made it back safely from his parents' farm, but the U.K. isn't out of the woods yet: The country with the highest coronavirus death toll in Europe is still recording more new cases than its neighbors, and a partial lockdown remains in effect. Johnson's actions in the next few days may determine whether anyone continues to pay attention.—John Lauerman | 
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