After finishing his government work the Cabinet Minister was caught breaking the rules of the lockdown twice
Robert Jenrick, who is Tory MP for Newark in Nottinghamshire, drove 150 miles from London to go to his £1.1 million mansion in Herefordshire. This is the place where his family is staying. The Housing Secretary breaks lockdown rules again after it emerged he traveled from his London residence to his ‘second’ home just days after urging the nation to ‘stay at home’.
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Robert Jenrick breaks lockdown rules twice
The Cabinet Minister said he and his wife Michal Berkner and children consider the Grade I listed country retreat their family home.
He had moved back there only after he was no longer needed in Westminster. Last night, he was also forced to explain why he has been seen on his elderly parents’ front lawn in Shropshire at the weekend. He claimed that he was delivering medication and other supplies.
He did that after urged others to stay at home for “all bar the most essential activities”, and all travel to second homes was banned. Referring to him moving back to Herefordshire, Mr. Jenrick told that his family “were there before any restrictions on travel were announced”.
“I have been working in London on ministerial duties, putting in place the system to shield the group most vulnerable to Covid-19 and organizing the response at a local level. Once I was able to work from home it was right that I went home to do so and be with my wife and also help care for my three young children.”
He added that he would be staying at the family home until Government advice changes or he is needed in Westminster. Mr. Jenrick also said that he respected social distancing when he drove to his parents’ home are highly vulnerable to the bug. Before that, he had been spotted at the Shropshire residence, 40 miles from Herefordshire last week.
Based on the Government’s guidelines which released on March 23, state that you should not visit anyone who lives outside your own home, including elderly relatives, you are allowed to “leave your house to help them, for example by dropping shopping or medication at their door”. Otherwise, Dr. Catherine Calderwood resigned from her position as Scotland’s chief medical officer after she visited her holiday home twice during the pandemic lockdown.
Paul Cosford, Medical Director of NHS England, said there are four reasons people can leave their home which include helping the vulnerable with food or medicine. But he doesn’t want to give a comment about Jenrick’s case. Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds tody said it is up to Mr. Jenrick to explain why he drove 40 miles to visit his elderly parents.
