[ad_1]
Politics is brutal business, but the last week has surpassed even Westminster’s savage standards.
I understand that it was Boris Johnson himself who asked Dominic cummings Y Lee Cain to get out of Downing Street. Not at Christmas. Not in the New Year, but right now.
Remember, just two days earlier, the prime minister issued a statement saying that Cain has been “a true ally and friend,” adding: “I am very happy that he will continue to be communications director until the new year.”
Cummings leaves 10 Downing Street with a box Friday night
After the toxic atmosphere of the last few days, and a bitter war of instructions between the two camps, the prime minister perhaps had no choice but to ask the two men to leave immediately.
But it’s still a very sudden outing for the two Vote Leave veterans.
Cain was the prime minister’s longest-serving aide, and stayed with him when Johnson stepped down as foreign secretary in Theresa May’s government to return to deputies.
Cummings was once seen as so irreplaceable that the prime minister expended a great deal of political capital to maintain it despite public anger over the Barnard Castle scandal. It is no longer irreplaceable.
It’s easy to dismiss this story as Westminster gossip and gossip, but this goes much deeper than that and could have real implications for the UK.
The backstage collapse leaves a power vacuum and the role of chief of staff feels more important than ever.
Johnson has appointed Sir Eddie Lister as Acting Chief of Staff, a man he trusts as he has known him for a long time and is seen as a stabilizing pair of hands.
Communications Director Lee Cain also resigned this week
But he has been working for the prime minister since he took power, and the bitter turf wars have happened anyway.
Furthermore, he is expected to leave number 10 sometime next year, which simply postpones the critical decision as to who will be the guardian of the prime minister and his right hand (or wife).
The timing of the collapse is also significant. Brexi the talks are reaching a climax.
Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign minister, said what happens next week is “crucial.”
He added: “If we don’t have an agreement sometime next week, I think we will have real problems.”
It’s amazing to step back and think that at such a critical time, a week that could have profound consequences for the future of the UK and Europe, the Prime Minister has lost two of his most important aides and been distracted by one of the fiercest Downing Street battles that Westminster watchers can remember.
What is clear is that this marks a turning point for Boris Johnson.
The battle of the last week has seen the old guard reduced to ashes, what we do not know is what will emerge from the ashes.
