Boris Johnson’s controversy-stoking chief aide Dominic Cummings has left Downing Street, with the former Vote Leave tactician’s departure raising suggestions of a less combative UK approach to Brexit trade talks as they enter their final stages.
No10 has insisted the adviser is to work for the prime minister until mid-December, despite reports suggesting the PM told him to “get out and never return” in a blazing row one official supposedly likened to the “last days of Rome”, before Mr Cummings publicly left via Downing Street’s front door holding a speculation-fuelling cardboard box of items.
With Mr Johnson reportedly keen to “clear the air and move on”, Tory MPs and peers voiced their hopes for a more “unifying” and “harmonious” leadership, with one accusing No10 of having “sidelined” both parliament and the Cabinet. However, Brexiteers hoped a softer approach would not extend to the EU, with Nigel Farage quick to claim the events herald a “Brexit sell-out”.
Cummings relationship with PM ‘fell off a cliff’, Tory MP says
Former Brexit secretary David Davis is not holding back on BBC Breakfast.
Asked why Dominic Cummings left Downing Street, he cited reports of Carrie Symonds and new spokesperson Allegra Stratton as having “turned against him”, adding: “The relationship with the Prime Minister fell off a cliff. And once that’s gone, it’s gone.”
“I am probably the wrong person to ask about the, sort of, Byzantine-style inwardness of Downing Street, but, I think in essence, Mr Cummings has a very confrontational style.
“He has a very centralising style, and, whilst there are things he is right about, a clash with other people eventually turned against him, it is said.”
He added: “The whole attitude to Parliament has been pushed, has been side-lined, and similarly, it is said, and I am not in a position to know, but, it is said that Cabinet has been side-lined too.
“Now, all those things need to be put right.
Following Lee Cain’s departure, Mr Davis said the PM “needs a good chief of staff” – who he clarified would be “somebody who will be fiercely efficient, but not fiercely political, and that’s a difficult combination”.
David Davis
(Jack Taylor/Getty Images)
Andy Gregory14 November 2020 10:27
Image of Cummings’ exit helps PM ‘reset’ the government, as ‘Kim Kardashian’ departure scrutinised
Here are former Brexit secretary David Davis’s thoughts on the image of Dominic Cummings leaving Downing Street:
“Boris will want to reset government and in a sense, that photograph does part of the resetting for him.”
The Financial Times’ Whitehall correspondent has heard a slightly different take on the image:
And former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell offers this context:
Andy Gregory14 November 2020 10:08
Nigel Farage screams ‘sell-out’
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has wasted no time in seizing upon the Vote Leave exodus from Downing Street as a threat to Brexit.
He expanded upon these remarks this morning, suggesting a rumoured “grace period” to help Northern Ireland businesses – rejected as unlikely by Ireland’s foreign affairs minister – could be extended to the rest of the UK.
Andy Gregory14 November 2020 09:58
‘The politics of it absolutely stank’: First Tory MP admits he was wrong to support Cummings during Durham fiasco
Crispin Blunt has become the first of likely numerous Conservatives to publicly retract their support for Dominic Cummings’ lockdown trip, admitting it “gravely undermined” trust in the rules.
Asked by Times Radio if he was right to back the adviser, Mr Blunt said: “With the benefit of hindsight, no. However, you’ve got to make a call about what is seen to be fair and proper in the circumstances and Boris made a call on that.”
He added: “I happened to agree with him because I saw his behaviour as being consistent with what we were trying to do and what he was trying to do for his family was consistent with trying to protect the wider public and doing the right thing for his family. That is an individual issue.
“The politics of it obviously absolutely stank and once it had been alighted upon by people it was a very bad example and it gravely undermined, obviously because of the huge attention it received, trust in the government’s policy.”
Andy Gregory14 November 2020 09:40
Dominic Cummings leaves Downing Street after losing power battle with PM
Carrying a box of belongings, the controversial aide marched out of No 10, briefing allies that he was gone for good – although it is understood that he will actually carry on working for another month.
The bizarre photo-op was staged after a week of turmoil and bitter infighting that saw the prime minister’s confidence in Mr Cummings apparently drain away.
For those just waking up to the news of Dominic Cummings’ departure, here’s our full report on the events of last night in Whitehall, from Rob Merrick and Samuel Osborne.
Andy Gregory14 November 2020 09:32
Good morning, and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of events in Westminster, following Dominic Cummings’ departure from Downing Street.
Andy Gregory14 November 2020 09:32
