BORIS Johnson has come under fire south of the Border for reportedly breaching his own coronavirus lockdown rules.
The Prime Minister was spotted cycling seven miles away from Downing Street, although current guidance says people “should not travel outside [their] local area”.
Johnson also had a full security detail with him, according to reports in The Evening Standard.
He was spotted at around 2pm wearing a Transport for London hat and a mask, cycling in Olympic Park.
The paper asked if Johnson had cycled there or been driven and then gotten on his bike, but the Government declined to answer.
A Downing Street source said Johnson had been exercising. They told the Standard: “He did note how busy the park was and he commented on it at the meeting last night. “He was concerned about if people were following the rules and was concerned after his cycle ride around the park.”
READ MORE: Are the SNP 'too slow' on Covid vaccine rollout compared to England?
The meeting was to discuss coronavirus guidance and whether it should be updated.
The Mirror reported that a Downing Street source had “very firmly" rejected the idea Johnson broken any rules.
They said: "There isn't anything in the rules that says you can't drive somewhere in order to take exercise. It says is that you must exercise locally. We very deliberately never put a distance on it."
Andy Slaughter, Labour MP for Hammersmith, said: “Once again it is ‘do as I say not as I do’ from the Prime Minister.
“London has some of the highest infection rates in the country. Boris Johnson should be leading by example.”
It comes after the Prime Minister was forced to justify travelling from London to Bristol to visit a new vaccination centre.
Johnson said it was “essential that I explain to the public what we are doing to roll out the mass vaccination centres”.
He added: “Everybody should be asking themselves whether they need to be leaving home, whether they need to be doing something that could actually end up spreading the disease."
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday said the “rules are not there as boundaries to be pushed - they are the limit to what people should be doing”.
He added: "The police are right to take very seriously the rules we have brought in. We haven't brought them in because we wanted to, we've brought them in because we had to.
"Every flexibility can be fatal."
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