A PETITION to have Dominic Cummings sacked for breaching lockdown on two occasions has nearly hit one million signatures.

Hundreds of thousands have added their names after it emerged Cummings had travelled from London to Durham in April to be close to potential childcare and then to nearby town Barnard Castle.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing sustained pressure to sack his top aide after backing him at the Downing Street briefing last week.

Johnson said Cummings had “acted responsibly, legally and with integrity” and that “any parent would frankly understand what he did”.

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.

The number of people who had signed the petition on Change.org – called "Dominic Cummings must be sacked” – stood at around 997,881 on Friday evening.

Support for the Conservatives has fallen by four percentage points since the incident, according to a YouGov poll released on May 26.