Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Martin Surl has waded into the Dominic Cummings controversy, as he says the incident 'looks and feels wrong'.

Martin Surl said Mr Cummings’ actions made a “mockery” of police enforcement earlier in the lockdown.

Mr Cummings travelled to County Durham in March to self-isolate with his family – apparently because he feared that he and his wife would be left unable to care for their son – while official guidelines warned against long-distance journeys.

Further reports also suggested he took a second trip to the North East in April, having already returned to London following his recovery from Covid-19 – a disease which has seen more than 36,000 people in the UK die after contracting it.

Several Conservative backbenchers have joined calls from opposition parties for Mr Cummings to quit or be sacked, amid warnings that his actions have “undermined” efforts to fight coronavirus.

However, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, said he could “not mark down” Mr Cummings for the way he acted, and told the Downing Street press conference on Sunday that, following “extensive” talks with his aide, he concluded “he followed the instincts of every father and every parent”.

He said Mr Cummings had “acted responsibly, legally and with integrity”.

PCC Surl tweeted on Sunday: "I’m reluctant to comment on what Cummings did or didn’t do, but I’m not going to sit on the fence and wait for the outcome.

"It looks and feels wrong and I’m not convinced you or I would have been defended so vigorously.

"Please stay at home."

Gloucestershire’s independent police and crime commissioner then appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme adding: “I think it makes it much harder for the police going forward – this will be quoted back at them time and time again when they try to enforce the new rules.

“But I think more importantly it makes something of a mockery of the police action going back when the message was very, very clear: stay at home.”