A FORMER Conservative MP has denied breaching lockdown rules by travelling between Nottinghamshire and Skye.

Patrick Mercer admits he and his wife Cait have each made the 500-mile road trip twice in recent weeks. Three of these happened after Scottish leaders urged travellers not to go to the Highlands and Islands for fear of spreading coronavirus and overwhelming local services, while two occurred after Boris Johnson’s televised lockdown address on March 23.

But Mercer says all travel was in accordance with government guidelines and has refuted second home claims. He told The National false information had been spread about him and his wife. He said: “I can’t say this too strongly – there was nothing in what I did that was outside government directions.”

The author and columnist represented England’s Newark constituency for 13 years after a distinguished Army career which saw him reach the rank of colonel. He served out the final part of his parliamentary career as an independent MP after resigning from the Tories after a watchdog ruled he had failed to declare cash payments from fake lobbyists.

The row emerged after a joint sting by the BBC and the Daily Telegraph.

The Commons Standards Committee found he had allowed “payment to influence his actions in parliamentary proceedings” and said he had used “racially offensive language” while recounting a visit to Israel.

At the time, Mercer said he would “not argue” with the findings and apologised to his constituents.

Yesterday he told The National he was the victim of smears after claims arose that he had twice broken lockdown rules by making 500-mile journeys between his Nottinghamshire home and a Skye. The croft property in the northern Trotternish peninsula is owned by his wife and has been in her family for generations.

A source told The National the alleged rule breach was “the talk of the north end of Skye”.

He claimed that Mercer had driven there two days after Johnson’s March 23 announcement, with the couple leaving again in separate journeys at the end of April and start of May.

The source, who did not want to be named, accused the couple of showing “blatant disregard” amidst warnings against visits to second homes and Scottish Government directives against travel to the Highlands and Islands.

On March 20, Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, the MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, tweeted: “If you live elsewhere, please don’t use the Highlands as your means of self-isolation. People live here who are trying to follow government guidance and the continuing flow of campervans and other traffic who appear to be escaping the cities is not helping.”

The next day, Rural Economy and Tourism Secretary Fergus Ewing said: “People should not be travelling to rural and island communities, full stop. They are endangering lives. Do not travel.”

A second Skye source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said concern over the Mercers’ movements “has caused a lot of bad feeling locally”. Referring to the fatal coronavirus outbreak at the Home Farm care home, in which six people have died, they said: “People are talking about it. A lot of people won’t say anything publicly.

“We have got finite health resources here and we have had a few deaths. If people are driving in and out, it’s potentially lethal.”

But Mercer said the couple’s journeys between their properties had been within the lockdown rules, stating that he “wouldn’t have done it” after Johnson’s announcement.

Slamming second home claims, he said that while he lives in England, the Skye house is his wife’s “primary residence” and she spends much of her time there.

He said she is undergoing ongoing medical treatment in England and had travelled to Skye without him on March 13 while he self-isolated at home. Mercer said he arrived on the island to support his wife hours before Johnson’s televised lockdown address and left again “to attend to important business arrangements” on April 29, with his wife departing one week ago on May 5 for medical care.

Describing lockdown breach claims as “just not true”, he said: “I’m completely clear that my movements north and our movements south are within the government’s guidelines.

“My wife is in a medical condition and I had not been with her for some time and self-isolating and didn’t want her to be alone.”