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Boris Johnson’s key aide, Lee Cain, is LEFT following claims that the prime minister’s fiancee Carrie Symonds was trying to stop him from becoming the new 10th chief of staff.
- Johnson’s longtime aide was promoted for a promotion yesterday
- The move appeared to have been blocked by the prime minister’s fiancee.
- Mister Cain revealed that he had been offered the powerful position before resigning
Boris Johnson’s communications director, Lee Cain, dramatically announced tonight that he will resign amid signs of a bitter power struggle within Number 10.
Johnson’s former assistant and loyalist to Dominic Cummings had just been promoted to the role of prime minister yesterday. Major State Boss.
In his resignation statement tonight, Mr. Cain revealed that he had been offered the powerful Downing Street post, but was leaving the government at the end of the year.
Recent speculation about your promotion stimulated a flurry of Hostile briefings, in which critics criticized the “chaotic” form of the government media on the pandemic and called it a takeover of Downing Street’s Vote Leave faction.
The move was also believed to have run counter to the prime minister’s fiancée, Ms Symonds, with whom Mr Cain had previously had a troubled relationship.
The former journalist will serve until the end of the year when he will reportedly be replaced by the prime minister’s official spokesman, James Slack.
Boris Johnson’s top aide, Lee Cain (pictured today), announced that he will resign amid rumors that Carrie Symonds was trying to block his promotion to Chief of Staff of Number 10.
Cain, a veteran of the Vote Leave campaign who has served Johnson since his stint in the Foreign Office, will be replaced as communications director by James Slack, the prime minister’s official spokesman.
Carrie Symonds – Former CCHQ media chief who has previously had a troubled relationship with Mr. Cain
In a statement tonight, he said: ‘After careful consideration, tonight I have resigned as the 10th communications director and will step down at the end of the year.
“ It has been a privilege to serve as an advisor to Mr. Johnson for the past three years, to be part of a team that helped him win the Conservative leadership contest, to secure the largest Conservative majority for three decades, and it was an honor to be asked. serve as chief of staff to the prime minister.
‘I would like to thank the entire team at # 10, including the many anonymous and incredibly talented public servants, for their hard work and support over the past 18 months.
And above all, I would like to thank the prime minister for his loyalty and leadership.
“I have no doubt that under his tenure as prime minister, the country will deliver on the promises made in the 2019 election campaign and will better rebuild from the coronavirus pandemic.”
Cain is a former journalist who used to dress like the Daily Mirror election chicken, hunting down David Cameron and other prominent conservatives during the 2010 campaign.
In response to the resignation, Johnson said: ‘I want to thank Lee for his extraordinary service to the government over the past four years.
‘He has been a true ally and friend and I am very happy that he will continue as communications director until the new year and that he will help restructure the operation. We will miss him very much. ”
Cain is one of Johnson’s most trusted advisers, having 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.
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. ‘
