The 10th press officer and former voting license official is in talks to be Boris Johnson’s chief of staff.

A former Vote Leave press officer is in talks with Boris Johnson to become his chief of staff.

Lee Cain, Downing Street communications director, is said to be in “advanced discussions” about the new position.

The promotion would crown a stellar promotion for the former journalist who used to dress up as a hen from the Daily Mirror elections, going after David Cameron and other prominent conservatives during the 2010 campaign.

The chief of staff will function as the prime minister’s “fixer” at the heart of government, with the power to give orders to public officials throughout Whitehall.

And the measure would fill a “hole” in the center of Johnson’s administration. Neither Dominic Cummings nor the prime minister’s other senior adviser, Lord Lister, wants the job.

Lee Cain (pictured with Boris Johnson), Downing Street communications director, is said to be in “advanced discussions” about the new position.

Conservative MPs have urged Johnson to appoint a heavyweight chief of staff to provide more “grip” on a government that has made a series of U-turns.

The prime minister is reported to have approached former Conservative President Lord Feldman about the job, only to be rejected.

Some MPs believe that the creation of the post could help control the controversial senior adviser, Mr. Cummings. But Cain served as Cummings’ loyal lieutenant on Vote Leave and remains one of his closest allies.

A Whitehall source said: ‘The prime minister desperately needs a chief of staff. Dom (Cummings) doesn’t operate that way and he knows it. He has always said that he does not want the title, but that it will not work with anyone who has it. But he could work with Lee, because he knows he’s an ally, not a threat.

Mr. Cain was invited to comment, but did not respond last night.

The promotion would crown a stellar promotion for the former journalist who used to dress like the chicken of the Daily Mirror elections, going after David Cameron and other prominent conservatives during the 2010 campaign.

He is one of Johnson’s most trusted advisers, and has been by his side since 2017 when he left Theresa May’s Downing Street operation to work with him at the Foreign Office. When Johnson resigned from May’s cabinet over Brexit in 2018, Cain continued to work with him.

He then helped run his leadership campaign before joining his government as director of communications. The two men also worked together during the Brexit referendum in 2016, when Cain was a press officer on the Cummings-led Vote Leave campaign led by Johnson and Michael Gove.

The chief of staff will operate as the prime minister’s ‘fixer’ at the heart of government, with the power to give orders to public officials throughout Whitehall.

His promotion to chief of staff would raise concerns among some Conservative MPs that Operation Vote Leave is tightening its grip on the heart of government.

It would also be controversial with some elements of the media that have been hit by Cain’s uncompromising style.

Last year he ordered ministers to boycott BBC Radio 4’s Today program due to perceived bias. The ban was only lifted when the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Cain has also imposed a boycott of ITV’s Good Morning Britain that has lasted for more than six months.

This year it sparked a strike by political journalists after it banned media reporters deemed hostile from attending a 10th briefing with officials.

Cain has earned a reputation as a fervent Brexitist and helped shape Johnson’s tough stance last year, which saw him controversially prorogue parliament in a bid to prevent pro-permanency MPs from blocking a no-deal exit. .

But this year it emerged that he viewed the Vote Leave job as a route to politics rather than a vocation.

A former colleague from his time as a journalist told PR Week: “He told me, ‘I just want to get into politics. I applied for two jobs and I have one of them.

“I have applied for the position of Head of Broadcast for Stay and Director of Broadcast for Leave. If this comes out, I’ll get in a lot of trouble. ‘