No 10 defends PM’s trips between London and Chequers in March 2020

Armed police outside Chequers in 2020. The spokesperson pointed out that by the time the guidance not to travel to second homes came on 22 March, ‘the prime minister and his wife were already based in Chequers’. Photograph: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images

Downing Street has said Boris and Carrie Johnson followed Covid guidance when the prime minister was “commuting” from Chequers to No 10 during the first lockdown in 2020 – but declined to answer further questions, including whether the pair held social events.

It emerged last week that the prime minister and his then-fiancee travelled between No 10 and the spacious Buckinghamshire mansion between 16 and 27 March 2020, around the start of the first lockdown.