BORIS Johnson has said Dominic Cummings has not done anything to "undermine" his Government's messaging during lockdown.

When asked at the daily Downing Street briefing if he was prepared to revisit his decision to support Dominic Cummings, Johnson said that he could not give anyone “unconditional backing”.

But he stressed that he did not believe that his any of his staff in Downing Street had done anything to undermine the lockdown messaging.

He added: “I cannot give unconditional backing to anybody, but I do not believe anybody in Number 10 has done anything to undermine our messaging.”

Boris Johnson said his own eyesight had been affected by coronavirus as he faced questions about why Cummings went for a drive to test his own vision.

He said: “I’m finding that I have to wear spectacles for the first time in years – I think because of the effects of this thing – so I’m inclined to think there’s some … I think that’s very, very plausible that eyesight can be a problem associated with coronavirus.”

Johnson said he regretted the “confusion and anger” caused by the Dominic Cummings row.

He added: “Do I regret what has happened? Yes, of course I do regret the confusion and the anger and the pain that people feel.

“This is a country that has been going through the most tremendous difficulties and suffering in the course of the last 10 weeks and that’s why I really did want people to understand exactly what had happened.”

The PM said he had been told about Cummings’ decision to drive to Durham to isolate while he was himself ill and “had a lot on my plate”.

“I didn’t know about any of the arrangements in advance,” he said.

“What I think did happen was while I was ill and about to get a lot sicker we had a brief conversation in which I think Dominic Cuimmings mentioned where he was.

“But I have to tell you, at that particular stage I had a lot on my plate and really didn’t focus on the matter until these stories started to emerge in the last few days.”

Cummings said he had to drive for half an hour on Easter Sunday to test his eyesight before making the long trip back to London.

Johnson was asked why the Government had not laid on a car for Cummings to return to the capital.

The PM said: “To the best of my knowledge, Mr Cummings has just subjected himself to your interrogation for quite a long time now about these very detailed matters and has produced quite a substantial chunk of autobiography about what happened in the period from March 27 to April 14.

“I really feel that it would be wrong of me to try to comment further. I think people will have to make their minds up. I think he spoke at great length. To me, he came across as somebody who cared very much about his family and who was doing the best for his family.

“I think, as he said himself, reasonable people may disagree about some of the decisions that he took, but I don’t think reasonable people can disagree about what was going through his head at the time and the motivations for those decisions.”