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Dominic Cummings, the British Prime Minister’s closest adviser, is leaving office, effective immediately. Boris Johnson thus loses the second closest employee after his communications chief.
It happened faster than expected: In the wee hours of the night, Dominic Cummings left the British Prime Minister’s seat at 10 Downing Street with a cardboard box in his arms. For years, Boris Johnson, now 48, had been a political adviser and close confidant.
That Cummings would leave his post had already been known during the day. At the time, however, the media had speculated that he would continue to work for the government until the middle of next month. The BBC has now announced that Cummings will resign from his post with immediate effect. However, BBC reporter Laura Kuenssberg reported that Cummings would still be involved in individual projects until mid-December, but from home. This was also officially confirmed by Johnson’s office, the Reuters news agency reported.
Brexiteer resolved
Cummings is one of the most controversial figures in British politics. He was the chief strategist for Johnson’s successful 2016 Brexit campaign and 2019 election campaign, which gave the head of government a solid majority in the lower house.
But Cummings has also come under fire several times, most recently in May: In the middle of the lockdown, he first drove hundreds of miles across the country with his family to take his son to his grandparents, and then again for half an hour from there. to Barnard Castle – to see if his corona infection had affected his eyesight.
Communications Chief Cain is also leaving
It’s not the only change to Johnson’s team: Communications chief Lee Cain announced his retirement Thursday. Cain and Cummings had worked closely together, especially around the time of the Brexit campaign.
Cain’s personality may also have played a role in the breakup with Cummings. Several British media had reported in recent days that Cummings had campaigned for Cain to be appointed as the new chief of staff. But the proposal met with massive headwinds from the ranks of Johnson’s Conservative Party. According to Reuters, Johnson allegedly asked Edward Lister to temporarily fill the position of chief of staff. Lister had previously worked with Johnson when he was Mayor of London.
Some conservatives now hope for a realignment
Cummings himself presents his retirement from the government team as his own long-term goal: He referred to a blog he had written to journalists in which he had already expressed the hope in January that it would be “largely superfluous” in order to year.
News of Cummings’ firing was met with positive reactions from several conservatives. He is betting on a realignment of the government under Prime Minister Johnson. “This is an opportunity to restart the work of the government. A lot has been broken, especially in the relations between the government and the parliament,” said Deputy Bernard Jenkin.
With information from Thomas Spickhofen, ARD-Studio London
