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Tuesday evening news briefing: Minister quits over Dominic Cummings' trip to Durham

Boris Johnson with Douglas Ross in November last year - DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/REUTERS
Boris Johnson with Douglas Ross in November last year - DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/REUTERS

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Minister quits over Dominic Cummings' Durham trip

A Scottish Tory MP has become the first Government minister to resign over the Dominic Cummings furore after Boris Johnson and the senior adviser made desperate pleas for him to stay. Douglas Ross, a junior Scotland Office Minister, has quit as more than two dozen Tory MPs have called for the aide to quit or be sacked by the Prime Minister. Mr Ross was viewed as a future Cabinet Minister and potential Scottish Tory leader, partly explaining Mr Johnson and Mr Cummings' desperation for him to stay. You can read a profile of him here. It comes as an ex-police chief said the Prime Minister's chief adviser would have "absolutely" been turned back by police officers if he had been spotted during his trip from London to Durham. Sir Peter Fahy, former Greater Manchester Police chief constable, also suggested Mr Cummings may have broken the Highway Code by driving to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight. So does coronavirus affect eyesight? Here's what you need to know. Health Secretary Matt Hancock was sent out to answer questions for this evening's Downing Street press conference. Our livelog has the latest.

The fallout from the revelations about Mr Cummings' behaviour has seen the Prime Minister's approval rating drop by 20 points. The decline comes after Mr Johnson said Mr Cummings had followed the "instincts of a father" and refused to sack his chief aide. Telegraph readers have had their say on whether the Prime Minister's special adviser should have resigned. If you look at one thing this evening, cast your eye over these amusing memes about Mr Cummings' trip to Barnard Castle, and the fake reviews that have appeared about it on TripAdviser.

Scale of working from home inequalities revealed

Inequalities linked to working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic have been revealed for the first time, with data showing regional disparities across Britain. Around one in four employees in the UK has been furloughed and, usually, the higher a person's salary the more likely they are to be able to work from home. Click here to see how the new official data has revealed fewer than one third of workers able to work from home in some areas of the country. It comes as other official statistics show the number of excess deaths recorded in the UK since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic has risen to above 60,000. Details here. It comes as Matt Hancock revealed the UK's official death toll grew by 134 to 37,048 people but said there were no new deaths in Northern Ireland.

First drug to treat Covid-19 approved for use in UK

The first drug to treat Covid-19 has been approved in the UK, the Department of Health has said. Early data from clinical trials around the world showed remdesivir could shorten the recovery time of Covid-19 patients by four days. The Government said that the allocation of the drugs would be determined by where they would have the greatest benefit, but did not say how many patients would be treated under the arrangement. Our coronavirus liveblog has the latest details.

PS: Keep up to date with the latest news on the race to find effective treatments and vaccines for Covid-19 in our daily Global Health BulletinYou can sign up for the newsletter here. To access to all of our journalism, try a subscription. Sign up for a free one-month trial - then save 50pc on your first three months to read all our articles at home.

At a glance: More coronavirus headlines

Comment and analysis

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Tom Daley interview | On swapping Tokyo 2020 training for lockdown knitting

 

Not going back | The parents whose children won't return to school until vaccine found

 

My Splendid Isolation | Robert Lindsay can't believe the level of sex in Game of Thrones

Business and money briefing

McLaren to slash jobs | Supercar and Formula 1 racing business McLaren has become the first British automaker to unveil coronavirus job cuts after announcing more than a quarter of its workforce will be axed. The Woking-based company is to slash 1,200 jobs as it reels from Covid-19, which has halted the motorsport season. Read on for details.

Video: Woman's hysteria over 'African American' man

A white woman has been placed on leave from her job after she called the New York Police Department about a man she hysterically described as "African-American" after she was asked to leash her dog in Central Park, one of the rules at the popular spot. Christian Cooper was bird watching and captured part of the exchange in a now-viral video posted by his sister. Click here to watch the bizarre incident unfold.

Also in the news today

Royal row | The Duchess of Cambridge and Duchess of Sussex had a "row" over whether the young bridesmaids at the royal wedding should wear tights, it has been claimed, as Tatler magazine publishes a profile of "Catherine the Great". The society magazine has described an "incident" ahead of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, which allegedly left Duchess of Cambridge in tears. Read on for details.

World news: The one story you must read today...

Life under 'The Crocodile' | Emmerson Mnangagwa was supposed to represent a clean break with Zimbabwe's dark past. However, the brutal treatment of female protesters is latest sign the country has not shaken off the repression of the Robert Mugabe era. Read on for more.

Tonight's TV

Snowpiercer, Netflix | Watch this TV adaptation of the Oscar-winning Bong Joon-ho's (Parasite) dystopian 2013 film about a train endlessly circumnavigating the globe and the class tensions within. Read more.

And finally... for this evening's downtime

Jason Plato interview | When Lewis Hamilton won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last December and became the British racing driver who has won the most races in his career, the man he overtook at the top of the list was not a name many might be expecting. It was Jason Plato, and the two time British Touring Car champion is still racing and determined to roar past Hamilton once again.