Cummings gambles all on victory at polls
Controversial adviser believes quick election will result in big majority, but No10 is split on strategy
IT WAS said to be the moment tensions between Boris Johnson and one of his closest aides on Brexit strategy finally spilt out into the open.
Reports of Dominic Cummings angrily banging his fist on a table during a meeting between the Prime Minister and Jeremy Corbyn surfaced soon after the pair met yesterday in an attempt to reach a compromise over the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB).
It was alleged that when Mr Johnson asked the Opposition leader how long it would take to agree a new timetable – after the programme motion calling for his Brexit deal to be passed in three days was voted down on Tuesday night
– an irate Cummings interjected: “No!”
Suddenly, it seemed as if Mr Johnson was advocating delaying his do-or-die deadline of Oct 31 in defiance of the man who advised him to declare his desire to “die in a ditch” rather than ask for an extension.
No10 described reports of Mr Johnson having to rein in his outspoken assistant as “utter nonsense”, insisting the meeting was “a total waste of time” because Labour “has no policy except more delays and planning to spend 2020 having another referendum”.
A senior government source said Mr Corbyn seemed “more like a hostage than a leader” during the powwow, which also included Stephen Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, Seumas Milne, Labour’s director of strategy and communications, Mark Spencer, the Chief Whip, and his Labour opposite number Nick Brown.
“Nobody on the other side is looking at this as a problem that can be jointly solved,” added an insider. “Labour [see it] as a way of driving down the Tories’ polling numbers – the ideal scenario for them is to keep on delaying and see us lose our 10-point lead.”
But a Labour source insisted: “They brought up the programme motion but didn’t seem to want to discuss it properly. Dominic Cummings was the one leaning on pushing the Bill through.”
Insisting that a revised timetable, lasting days not months, would be submitted to the Government, the source added: “Boris Johnson said he was confident [Emmanuel] Macron would veto [an extension] – but that seemed like he said it for public show.”
Mr Cummings, the former director of Vote Leave, was reported to have thrown his arms in the air at the suggestion that the French president was playing them for fools.
No 10 is undoubtedly split over whether an election should be held before Brexit has been delivered or after a deal has been passed through Parliament. Having been on an election footing since entering office, it is no secret Mr Johnson wants to go to the public,
but is the question of timing putting him at odds with his political Svengali?
The latest episode comes after Mr Johnson was forced to tell his cabinet that he had no knowledge of a memo Cummings sent to The Spectator magazine on Oct 7 suggesting that if the
Brexit negotiations “died … we’ll either leave with no deal on Oct 31 or there will be an election and then we will leave with no deal”.
Faced with outrage from Remain-supporting Cabinet ministers, Mr Johnson is understood to have reassured colleagues: “If you want to know what I think, listen to me.”
Yet, with Sir Eddie Lister, Mr Johnson’s chief of staff, lobbying for a strategy of deal first, election second, and even Brexiteer ministers such as Andrea Leadsom and Theresa Villiers in support, the Prime Minister is under increasing pressure to abandon the purist “people versus Parliament” campaign advocated by Cummings.
According to one well-placed source: “The PM understands the need to get MPS onside, keep Parliament together and maintain the consent of colleagues. Dom just thinks: ‘F--- ’em all.’ He is convinced that an immediate general election will result in a big majority.”
Sir Eddie, supported by John Bew, the policy chief, and David Frost, the EU “sherpa”, thinks Mr Johnson can secure 10 years in power if he first honours his slogan of “Get Brexit Done”, but as one insider put it: “Cummings is not one for compromise.”
The source added: “There are times when Dom speaks and people wince. But then they leave the room and come round to the idea that he has probably made the right call. But for those of us wanting to find consensus, it does sometimes feel rather uncomfortable.”
Moments of “discomfort” orchestrated by Mr Cummings in recent weeks include him ranting at rebels after 21 Tories were stripped of the whip, savaging the British justice system and suggesting MPS were “out of touch”. One minister likened his behaviour in meetings to that of “a small child” because he constantly asks “Why?”
In another move set to infuriate MPS, it is thought to have been Mr Cummings who advised the Prime Minister to back out of today’s meeting of the liaison committee meeting – the third time he has ducked the opportunity to
appear before the Commons scrutiny body of MPS.
Yet, according to Iain Duncan Smith, Mr Cummings never interrupts Mr Johnson: “Most of the time he sits in silence and only speaks when asked.”
Another Downing Street source said: “The PM stands up to Dom and often tells him: ‘No.’ He doesn’t mind hearing contradictory voices, but the boss takes all the decisions and no one else.
“At the moment, the public and most of the media appears to be on the PM’S side which suggests Cummings’ strategy is working. But once the papers start suggesting we’re getting our tactics wrong then it’s going to get dicey.”
The ultimate test of Mr Cummings’ strategy will be whether Mr Johnson wins an election and by what margin. Amid increasing speculation the Government intends to call a motion of no confidence in itself, in a bid to force a poll before Christmas, the man who helped Leave to win the referendum is once again gambling his own political future on the country backing Boris.