‘Beginning of the end’ in No 10 for Cummings
PM’S supporters urge him to ‘take back control’ after Downing Street battle
DOMINIC CUMMINGS is at “the beginning of the end” of his time in Downing Street after he and a close ally lost a bitter power struggle within No 10, sources said last night.
The Prime Minister’s chief adviser signalled he could be gone by Christmas as he said his plan had always been to make himself “largely redundant” by the end of the year.
Mr Cummings was left hugely weakened after Boris Johnson effectively called his bluff over the resignation of Lee Cain as director of communications.
Mr Cummings had allegedly threatened to walk out immediately if Mr Cain was allowed to go, and had said up to half a dozen staff would follow him, but he failed to carry out the threat leaving him diminished after the bruising civil war.
Asked about rumours he would be gone by Christmas, Mr Cummings told the BBC: “My position hasn’t changed since my January blog,” when he wrote that he intended to make improvements to the Downing Street operation that would mean he was no longer needed by the end of 2020.
Mr Cummings wrote the blog before the coronavirus pandemic took over the political agenda, meaning the plans he outlined in January were left in disarray. But instead of staying on in No 10 to see his ideas through, he appears just weeks away from quitting, ending the grip of former Vote Leave activists on the Prime Minister’s office.
Mr Johnson’s supporters last night urged him to “take back control” of No 10 by installing trusted party members in key roles instead of the former Vote Leave cabal headed by Mr Cummings.
Yesterday in the House of Commons a senior Tory MP linked Mr Cain’s resignation to the leaking of details of a second lockdown to the media last month, in an apparent attempt to further undermine “Team Cummings”. Mr Cain denies being behind the leak and No 10 sources said he had been cleared by an ongoing Cabinet Office investigation.
Mr Johnson’s Brexit policy adviser Oliver Lewis, who is in lockstep with Mr Cummings, was said to be “close to the brink” and colleagues fear he will resign when Brexit trade talks are concluded.
One associate of Mr Cain said: “This is the beginning of the end for Dom. Lee is the person who has been covering Dom’s flank 24 hours a day and he will soon be gone. Oliver Lewis is utterly loyal to Dom and it looks as though he will soon be on his way as well.”
Mr Cummings is also due to be a respondent at a potentially damaging tribunal being brought next month by Sonia Khan, a former Treasury special adviser, who is claiming sex discrimination and unfair dismissal after she was sacked by Mr Cummings last year.
Colleagues have speculated that Mr Cummings will wait until the Brexit transition period is over and the Government has turned the corner on coronavirus before leaving in the new year.
One Whitehall source said: “Dom has emerged from this a diminished force.
“The balance of power has shifted because we now know Dom is in No 10 because he wants to be and not because he is indispensable.”
After Mr Cummings’s threat to resign, Mr Johnson ordered Ben Gascoigne, his political secretary, to phone Mr Cummings’s closest allies to find out if they were set to follow him. Among those on resignation watch late on Wednesday were Mr Lewis, Cleo Watson, the head of priorities and campaigns, and Ben Warner, a data scientist.
Mr Cummings is understood to have lost his power play when it became apparent none of them was about to
‘This is the beginning of the end for Dom. Lee has been covering Dom’s flank and he will soon be gone’
quit, and returned to work yesterday. The toxic briefing battle continued yesterday, with allies of Carrie Symonds, the Prime Minister’s fiancée, and those loyal to Mr Cummings continuing to sling mud at each other.
Mr Cain quit after Ms Symonds and Allegra Stratton objected to him being promoted to chief of staff. Friends of Mr Cain claimed Ms Stratton, who began her new job as Mr Johnson’s press secretary last month and is close to Ms Symonds, was “not the best choice if you want a harmonious team”.
Allies of Mr Cain and Mr Cummings were also accused of spreading rumours that Henry Newman, a Cabinet Office special adviser liked by Ms Symonds, is to be appointed chief of staff, believing it will rile Vote Leave veterans in No 10.
Meanwhile, supporters of Ms Stratton and Ms Symonds suggested Mr Cain would not serve out his notice period, which runs until Christmas, because he had become a “lame duck”.
Tory MPS are furious that a power struggle has spilt into the open at a time when the public expects the Government to be devoting its energies to fighting coronavirus and getting a Brexit trade deal. In the Commons, Peter Bone, the veteran Tory, demanded a statement on the Cabinet Office inquiry into the leak of the second lockdown.
‘There’s a big bust-up going on at No 10. Cummings is holding the Prime Minister to ransom’
‘This is a fabulous chance for [Johnson] to make a great hire that puts him back in party affections’
IT WAS a damage limitation exercise like no other. Shortly after 10pm on Wednesday, Downing Street aides were frantically trying to contact other colleagues to persuade them not to resign.
There was a very real fear that as many as half a dozen advisers could walk out after the resignation of Lee Cain, Downing Street’s director of communications, just an hour earlier.
Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s chief adviser, had made it clear some weeks earlier that if Mr Cain resigned, he would go too, and would take others with him.
When staff left work at 9pm, shortly after Mr Cain’s resignation, they believed that Oliver Lewis, Mr Johnson’s deputy Brexit adviser, and possibly Mr Cummings, who are considered to be “of one mind” by colleagues, had made up their minds to go.
Between “five or six” aides would have walked out if Mr Cummings had resigned, according to sources.
They included Mr Lewis, Cleo Watson, head of priorities and campaigns who is often pictured arriving at work with Mr Cummings, Ben Warner, a data scientist, and Claire King, a special adviser on operations and events.
Mr Johnson led the way in preventing the walk- out by picking up the phone to Mr Cummings who was at home. His long-standing political secretary Ben Gascoigne – who worked for Mr Johnson in City Hall for six years – started to ring round other aides “to make sure there wasn’t going to be a walkout”, sources said.
One aide texted a friend around the same time saying that it was “50-50” whether Mr Cummings was going to stay in Government.
A Tory MP, who was receiving live updates, said: “There is a big bust-up going on in No 10. Cummings is saying ‘if I go these people are going with me’. He is basically holding the Prime Minister to ransom.”
Mr Cummings last night denied threatening to resign and asking others to do so.
He and Mr Cain are understood to have grown close since Mr Cain’s father died last year. Mr Cain is understood to have told friends that he sees Mr Cummings as a father figure, and considered him to be far more than just a colleague.
By 11pm it was confirmed that Lord Udny-lister, 71 – who as Sir Eddie Lister was a close adviser to Mr Johnson at City Hall – was also leaving No 10, although his decision had been expected. But as the calls went out over the next hour it became clear that a mass resignation had been averted. Mr Johnson is understood to have asked his chief adviser to sleep on any decision.
It emerged that Lord Frost – currently neck-deep in Brexit trade negotiations – was staying put. Then, just before midnight, the BBC reported that Mr Cummings was not resigning either.
A question mark still hung over the future of Mr Lewis who was said to be still “close to the brink” yesterday morning. Colleagues now think he might walk away after the Brexit negotiations are over.
The Prime Minister had been on the hunt for a new chief of staff for weeks to give him a better grip on his Government and learn from mistakes made in the handling of the pandemic.
Mr Johnson had offered Mr Cain the role of chief of staff on Monday after he tendered his resignation last week.
Mr Cain was understood to have wanted a change after his exhausting stint by the Prime Minister’s side so he could see more of his young son. He was also unhappy with the appointment of Allegra Stratton as Mr Johnson’s new press secretary for televised press conferences.
For days he had also had to deny claims from MPS that he was the “chatty rat”, who leaked details of the second national lockdown in England.
Mr Cain told the Prime Minister on Monday that he wanted some time to think about the new role. Allies claim he was shocked to see it plastered over the front page of a newspaper 48 hours later. One said: “Lee was offered the job on Monday and by Tuesday night it was
in the first editions of the papers before he had even given his answer. It wasn’t him or anyone close to him that leaked it – it was someone who didn’t want him to get the job. Why would Lee try to bounce the Prime Minister into giving him a job that was already on the table?”
This meant that just as Mr Johnson should have been preparing for his weekly joust with Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, at Prime Minister’s Questions he was instead preoccupied with the leaked job offer.
MPS were incensed as they digested the news. Whips were contacted. One MP said: “The lunatic will have literally taken over the asylum. He is Dom Cummings’ puppet and Dom Cummings is an advocate for lockdowns.”
Mr Johnson called in Mr Cummings to discuss the leak which appeared to some to be an attempt to force the Prime Minister to confirm Mr Cain’s appointment as his chief of staff. By lunchtime Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC’S political editor, reported that Mr Cain’s promotion was being opposed by Carrie Symonds, Mr Johnson’s fiancée and a former head of communications for the Tory Party.
Allies of Miss Symonds said she felt “uncomfortable” about the role going to Mr Cain. She was joined in her concern by Miss Stratton who Mr Cain had helped to recruit to be the new press spokesman.
Both women made it clear that they were uneasy about Mr Cain’s somewhat abrasive manner while also questioning his communications strategy. Some sources said this led to Mr Johnson withdrawing the job offer.
At about 8pm Mr Johnson met Mr Cain when he reportedly told the Prime Minister that he wanted the chief of staff role or he would resign. An hour later – at 9pm – No 10 released a resignation statement from Mr Cain in which he said it was “an honour” to be asked to serve as the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.
Mr Johnson replied. “I want to thank Lee for his extraordinary service to the Government over the last four years. He has been a true ally and friend and I am very glad that he will remain director of communications until the new year. He will be much missed.”
As a clear morning broke over Westminster yesterday, there was some sympathy for Mr Cain. One friend said: “Lee was very close to a lot of people in 10 Downing St. He brought them on and supported him.”
The briefing war continued to rage, with friends of Mr Cain claiming Ms Stratton was “not the right person for a harmonious team” and her allies suggesting Mr Cain should leave his post immediately as he is now a “lame duck”.
The long-term position of Mr Cummings also looks less sure. Some said he wanted to stay to focus on the Prime Minister’s “moonshot” mass Covid-19 vaccination programme and building a UK version of the US’S Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) “to lock in his gains”.
But Tory MPS are sensing a chance for Mr Johnson to appoint a heavyweight political figure to be chief of staff who is sympathetic to their demands.
Sir Charles Walker, vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbench MPS, said: “This is a fabulous opportunity for the Prime Minister to make a great hire that puts himself firmly back at the centre of the Parliamentary party’s affections. This is too good an opportunity to waste.”