Boris Johnson now has a chance to get his Government back on track
sir – As an active member of the Conservative Party, I am sure I was not alone in my concerns about Dominic Cummings’s overbearing influence on Boris Johnson and others in Downing Street.
The most caustic element in the Government, he created a culture of fear, sacking individuals on the spot. In my view, and indeed that of many others I have spoken to, the damage he inflicted on the credibility of Downing Street’s operations was obvious. He should have been sacked long ago.
However, I am confident that, with a like-minded team behind him, Mr Johnson can now focus on the key issues: Covid-19, the revitalisation of the economy and Brexit.
Simon Lever
Winchester, Hampshire
sir – Mr Cummings should be remembered for taking us out of the EU, or helping the Tories win an 80-seat majority.
Sadly, the lasting memory will be of his trip to Durham, and his pitiful defence of his actions, during the first lockdown. For someone who professes to be so bright, he treated people with so much disdain and arrogance.
Tony Howarth
London SW3
sir – Now that Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain have left, Boris Johnson needs to appoint as deputy prime minister a seasoned adviser – someone who is respected by Conservative MPS, is accountable to both Parliament and the electorate, and can take some of the pressure off the PM. The individual probably needs to be strongly proBrexit, but under no circumstances should it be Michael Gove.
Kim Potter
Lambourn, Berkshire
sir – Mr Cummings’s exit is but a symptom of wider problems. Clearly Boris Johnson is not up to the job, as his strategies for both Brexit and Covid-19 appear not to be working.
Rather than searching around for a chief of staff to prop Mr Johnson up, it would be better if he followed Mr Cummings out of the door of No 10. Geoff Bantock
Christchurch, Dorset
sir – Had I voted Labour a year ago, I’d have expected dithering, confusion, ineptitude and heroic economic mismanagement. But also free broadband.
Bob Vass
Bollington, Cheshire
sir – The photograph of Mr Cummings leaving No 10 is too perfect. As a former film editor of 45 years, I detect a set-up.
The frame looks directly into the house – very rare at No 10. No uniformed policemen – even rarer.
Mr Cummings, immaculately dressed and perfectly framed in the hallway, is beautifully backlit by unrealistic lighting. And he is carrying a brand-new box with such apparent ease that it must be empty. Bryan Oates
London SW18