Cummings seizes chance to shake up ‘incoherent’ Cabinet Office

AN overhaul of the sprawling Cabinet Office has long been a temptation for No 10 and the Prime Minister’s most powerful aide, Dominic Cummings.

The coronavirus crisis has heaped further frustration on the department, which is at the heart of Whitehall and oversees everything from policy implementation to constitutional reform.

Sir Mark Sedwill’s departure as permanent secretary has reignited talk that Downing Street is about to bring the Cabinet Office under its control, with some sources suggesting a merger with No10 could be on the cards.

In a recent briefing with government aides, Mr Cummings reportedly detailed the shortcomings of the “incoherent” Cabinet Office.

However, he dismissed as “media inventions” reports that he wanted to centralise power in No10, instead saying the intention was to create a “smaller, more focused and more elite centre”.

One Downing Street staffer last night told The Daily Telegraph that bringing the Cabinet Office and No10 closer together had been an ambition for months.

At the start of this year, there was even some talk of knocking through the wall that separates the two period buildings, although the idea came to nothing.

Alex Thomas, the programme director at the Institute for Government think tank and a former civil servant, said there was “frustration of those at the centre in No10 over how well their support structure is set up”, along with the “levers they have got through the

Cabinet Office to drive delivery and actually make things happen in the real world”.

Mr Thomas said the Cabinet Office currently included a “series of particular units, like on delivering projects and experts on the constitution. What doesn’t exist is a powerful delivery unit that sits in the centre and holds departments to account to get things done”.

Downing Street is determined to improve the speed and the way projects are delivered, with Michael Gove seen as a “key player” in the plans to improve policy implementation.

Mr Gove will now sit on a new Domestic and Economic Strategy committee, alongside Rishi Sunak and chaired by Boris Johnson.

A Cabinet Office source pointed out the department already worked closely with Downing Street as well as the

Treasury, with Lord Agnew a minister in both departments.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Cabinet Office minister has already strengthened his grip over the department, taking on more and more responsibility.

His allies Henry de Zoete and Baroness Finn have also been appointed as non-executive directors of the Cabinet Office.

A Downing Street source yesterday said any suggestions that the Cabinet Office could merge with No 10 were “not true”.

‘What doesn’t exist is a powerful delivery unit that sits in the centre and holds departments to account’