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Boris Johnson’s decision to break the dominance of Brexit advocates in Downing Street will trigger an exodus of advisers during the new year, including his most senior adviser, Dominic Cummings, according to senior officials.
The prime minister’s refusal in a tense one-on-one meeting to make Vote veteran Leave Lee Cain his chief of staff was seen by Tory MPs as a watershed moment. Mr. Cain announced his resignation shortly after.
Cummings and other Vote Leave officials are now discussing leaving number 10, possibly once Britain finally breaks its formal ties with the EU at the end of the Brexit transition period on January 1.
When asked if the “gang” was disbanding, an advisor said: “It feels like this. There are many very unhappy people. It’s a big mess. “When asked if Mr. Cummings would be leaving too, a friend said,” I think so. ”
Many Conservative MPs hope they are right, but a former cabinet minister said it might be too early to write off Cummings: “We have won a battle, but not the war.”
Johnson was furious Wednesday when Cummings and other advisers, including Brexit expert Oliver “Sonic” Lewis, threatened to stand down in solidarity with Cain as trade talks on Brexit continued.
For the moment they stay, but the division now seems inevitable; Vote Leave officials say it is a matter of time. Cummings’ attempt to insert his ally, Mr. Cain, as chief of staff was a final desperate attempt to maintain “control” of the prime minister and the people who were allowed to see him.
On the top
Carrie Symonds
Boris Johnson’s 32-year-old fiancee and mother of his son Wilfred knows Westminster and the Conservative party. She previously served as the party’s communications director and advised various cabinet ministers. Now, as an environmental activist, he is credited with bringing climate change to the top of Johnson’s agenda and improving his image. While his attorney volunteered behind the closed door of residence Number 10, his opinion that Lee Cain was unfit to be chief of staff was decisive in his resignation.
allegra stratton
Until this week, Allegra Stratton was best known as a political journalist for The Guardian, BBC and ITV News. The 39-year-old switched to politics earlier this year to provide communications advice to Chancellor Rishi Sunak and is credited with helping develop his polished image. Married to James Forsyth, political editor of the Spectator, she was chosen by Johnson to lead the new Downing Street televised press conferences beginning next year. But his appointment sparked repeated clashes with the outgoing communications director over who had the prime minister’s ear.
The boxer team Vote Leave, Johnson’s Praetorian Guard and the support mechanism at Downing Street can now see their power fading.
Allegra Stratton, a former television journalist and adviser to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, will be hired as Johnson’s new spokesperson and, beginning in January, will chair the daily televised briefings “White House style.” You have told friends that you want to encourage a less confrontational style and will respond directly to Mr. Johnson.
Meanwhile, Cummings feared that the new position of chief of staff was a direct threat to his own power, hence his attempt to install his friend Cain in the position. But Tory MPs, tired of the dysfunctional No. 10 operation, told the party whips that Johnson had to break the knot with the Vote Leave team.
There was also a wave of protests from older women in the party, including Johnson’s fiancee Carrie Symonds, resenting the “macho” atmosphere at No. 10. “Carrie and Allegra got one about the kids’ club,” said a Senior Conservative MP. .
Johnson has now struck down Cummings twice on important personnel matters: Stratton’s appointment and his refusal to make Cain chief of staff. “Boris has faced Dom’s crew twice, the trust is gone,” said a government source.
An official close to Number 10’s power struggle said Johnson was right to take a position: “It’s about decency in public, the rules and the conduct that the electorate expects of us. It’s about who runs the number 10. “
The question of who now takes over as chief of staff is crucial, and Cummings is expected to resign unless the candidate gets his approval. “Many of the errors are not communications, they are also political. They both have to fix themselves so that this government is in better condition, ”said a well-placed adviser.
Heading down
read cain
From the Vote Leave campaign, to the Foreign Office and Downing Street, Lee Cain has stood to the prime minister’s right as his most loyal and longest-serving aide in dealing with the media. The 39-year-old former tabloid journalist helped guide Johnson to the post of prime minister, yet his Downing Street communications operation has been widely criticized by ministers and parliamentarians during the coronavirus pandemic. The arrival of Allegra Stratton suggested that his days might be numbered and his failed attempt to become the 10th chief of staff ended his close relationship with the prime minister. His departure is more than personal, it marks a watershed moment for the Johnson administration.
dominic cummings
The prime minister’s top adviser, Dominic Cummings, has not been challenged since he entered number 10 in the summer of 2019, even in the face of huge public outcry over his trip to northeast England that broke government lockdown rules. The passionate 48-year-old Brexiter was head of strategy for the Vote Leave campaign in 2016 and has worked on and off as a special advisor in Westminster. Married to Mary Wakefield, a journalist for The Spectator, his time out of government was devoted to dense blog posts and voluminous volumes of physics. He has increasingly clashed with Johnson over his combative attitude toward the government. With the abrupt departure of his protégé Lee Cain, there is a growing view that his days in Downing Street are also numbered.
One expectation among Whitehall mandarins is that Cummings may leave Number 10 to become the first head of his pet project: a new high-risk, high-reward scientific research body based on the Darpa agency in the US.
There are several theories as to who Johnson turns to for a new chief of staff. The most obvious option would be for him to turn to those associated with Lynton Crosby, the Australian strategist who led Johnson’s two successful London mayoral campaigns.
David Canzini, a former party operative who works for Sir Lynton’s consultancy and has helped numerous Conservative MPs win marginal seats, has been linked to the post of chief of staff by several high-level Conservatives, including Vice President Charles Walker. Conservative Committee of 1922..
Another group proposed to fill the void are those from Cameroon: advisers who worked with former Prime Minister David Cameron, who has remained in contact with Johnson.
Some have suggested Ed Llewellyn, who was Cameron’s chief of staff, Johnson’s contemporary at Eton and now the UK’s ambassador to France, though it is unclear whether he would like to get back into the routine of running the number 10.
“Ed provided all of Boris’s staff to [London] Municipality. It was a disaster when he won in 2008, ”said a senior Tory. One potential candidate approached by the FT said: “No one in their right mind would take that job if Dom [Mr Cummings] it was still there. “
Former Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday at the FT Global Boardroom online conference that Johnson should now surround himself with people who “are not afraid to argue and say No.”
Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s chief of staff, said: “What’s happening at Issue 10 would be comical, an episode of Keystone Kops or Laurel and Hardy, if the situation in the country weren’t so dire.”
Meanwhile, David Frost, the EU’s top negotiator in Britain and a close friend of Cain, also briefly considered resigning on Wednesday night. Only just before midnight was it confirmed that he would stay.
Lord Frost’s friends said he was “very upset” by Cain’s departure, but insisted his agony on Wednesday had nothing to do with progress, or lack thereof, in talks on a trade deal between the UK. and the EU.
“It was definitely not about whether there would be a deal or not,” said an ally of Lord Frost, who has been leading talks in London with Michel Barnier, his EU counterpart. The pair is also Britain’s national security adviser.
The negotiations are scheduled to move to Brussels next week and will continue in the heightened and secretive “submarine” format that the two sides agreed to last month.
Additional reporting by Jim Brunsden in Brussels
