Intrigue in Downing Street

reThe firing of an employee of Prime Minister Boris Johnson has revealed a trench warfare at 10 Downing Street, which also includes private dimensions. So far, only Dominic Cummings has been known to the public among water carriers at the center of power. The prime minister’s top political adviser also plays a role in the latest affair, and it could soon be the decisive one. But so far the focus has been on a man named Lee Cain, who recently headed the communications department in Downing Street. The conflict over Cain was so harsh that not only Cummings is said to have threatened to resign, but also David Frost, Johnson’s specialist in European and international relations. There is no guarantee of threats made by Cain’s most prominent opponent: Johnson’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds.

To understand the main features of the confusing conflict, it is worth taking a look at the tabloid “Daily Mail”. It reported on Thursday a fight between the “Brexit Boys” and the “Carrie Symonds Crew.” The Brexit Boys are the people Cummings brought to Downing Street last summer. Most of them had helped him when he led the “exit campaign” for the EU referendum in 2016. Cain, a trained journalist, achieved a particularly quick promotion. He held the highest communications position in the government and had access to Johnson most of the time.

Since entering the center of power, the “Brexit Boys” have been offensive to conservative ministers and parliamentarians in particular. They resent Cummings and his friends for protecting Johnson. But they also criticize their disrespectful behavior and the fact that most of them are not members of the Conservative party to this day. The reluctance to drag the prime minister into populist adventures and to make mistakes in Corona policy, which forces Johnson and the government to engage in shameful change maneuvers, is backed by accusations. The Brexit Boys also have opponents in the Prime Minister’s own office, this is where Carrie Symonds comes in, whose influence should not be underestimated.

Before Symonds reunited with Johnson and became the mother of their allegedly sixth child, she worked as the Conservative Party’s communications chief. It has its own idea of ​​politics and also its own network. The “Symonds team” includes the head of the Political Department in Downing Street, Johnson’s longtime employee Munira Mirza, and the new special government spokesperson, Allegra Stratton. For all that is known, it was Stratton’s vocation that lit the spark in this powder keg.

The idea of ​​recruiting a female face for the public had long existed in Downing Street. The model is based on the American system, where a presidential spokeswoman holds a weekly press conference at the White House, televised. British government spokespersons traditionally remain in the background and only report to a small group of correspondents who have special access to Parliament. They are allowed to take notes, but neither film nor record, which gives the “lobby briefings” a backroom smell.