OPINION Vital to stop destructive Cummings in his tracks

It is a sad reality that too often the wrong people end up in positions of power

Perhaps not a bully, but certainly guilty of using their one mouth more than their two ears. And not always before engaging the brain.

Unfortunately, we don’t all have a colleague like Lynn Davidson.

The Daily Record journalist turned political adviser put herself in the firing line by standing up to Cummings on behalf of younger colleagues.

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that while Cummings tried to ride roughshod across Whitehall, it was a Scottish woman who was the first to make a decent attempt to stop him in his tracks.

If Davidson v Cummings was to be judged on decency alone, the Edinburgh spin doctor would be a clear winner.

Unfortunately, it will instead come down to who wields the more power.

So there is every chance Davidson will find she suffers for her admirable actions. It is a sad reality that it is too often exactly the wrong people who end up in positions of power in the workplace.

The ideal management candidate is a firm but fair team player who takes decisions based on what is best for the greater good.

All too often, however, it is self-serving egotists with psychopathic tendencies who claw their way to the top in a quest to further their own ends and nothing else.

The deva s tat ing impact these people can have on those around them can be profound. People who can be dealing with serious issues at home – perhaps the death of a loved one or a diagnosis of serious illness – end up also having to endure torment at work.

Just last month, a report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that a quarter of employees think their company turns a blind eye to workplace bullying and harassment.

A shocking 15 per cent of those surveyed admitted to having experienced bullying in the past three years.

But more than half did not report it to their employer, with “fear” the biggest reason.

Many of those spoken to said they suffered from stress, anxiety, insomnia, heart palpitations and suicidal thoughts – with some ending up on antidepressants.

Nobody is saying Cummings has been responsible for creating this sort of environment.

But there is clear evidence he is an out- of- control ego whose philosophy of “creative destruction” is leading to way more destruction than creativity.