Rejoice!

One thing we can be fairly sure of is that we haven't heard the last from the Whitehall genius. Non Disclosure Agreements never seem to feature much at this rarefied level, so I suspect it won't be long before we can all revel in some scores being settled, especially as the Brexit reality hits home. It won't be long either before Mr Johnson exits No 10, but until then it looks like Carrie's in charge.        

This from the Guardian:-

PM accused Dominic Cummings of briefing against him, sources claim

Aide’s exit from No 10 reported to have followed a tense 45-minute showdown with Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson accused Dominic Cummings of briefing against him and Carrie Symonds, his fiancee, during a tense 45-minute showdown before the adviser’s departure, according to sources. The prime minister’s senior adviser left Downing Street with his belongings in a cardboard box on Friday evening. Lee Cain, Downing Street’s director of communications, was also told to leave.

Johnson held a meeting with Cummings and Cain to discuss their “general behaviour” where he is understood to have accused his aides of briefing against him and his partner. The prime minister also accused the pair of destabilising the government in the midst of Brexit negotiations ahead of a crucial phase in talks in Brussels next week, the Financial Times reported.

Government sources have denied the fractious talks took place. Cummings told the Telegraph that claims the prime minister had accused him of briefing against him as “an invention” and said: “We had a laugh together.” However, the tenor of Cummings’ dramatic ousting by Johnson will raise fears that the adviser may not display the discretion expected of a former aide.

A government insider told the FT: “I won’t be surprised if there’s an explosive stunt between now and Christmas.” A colleague of Cummings said: “It’s not Dom’s style just to quietly drift away.” Conservative officials said Cummings and Cain would continue to be employed by No 10 until mid-December but were expected to work from home. Cummings’ “work from home” project is expected to focus on Covid-19 mass testing for the next six weeks.

Cummings’ theatrical exit on Friday through the No 10 black door, having formally resigned on Thursday, came despite his office being at 70 Whitehall. Downing Street said that Cummings’ departure would not impact Brexit talks. The prime minister’s official spokesman, James Slack, insisted suggestions the government could compromise on key principles in the wake of Cummings’s decision to leave were “simply false”.

Cummings was widely perceived as the mastermind behind the victorious Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 referendum.

Sources told the Daily Telegraph that Cummings told allies that the prime minister was “indecisive” and that he and Cain had to rely on Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, for leadership. Johnson’s allies accused Cummings of “trying to blame everyone but himself”.

Guardian Editorial:-

The Guardian view on Dominic Cummings: voting to leave

A departure from Downing Street caps a week of Tory infighting that has dominated the news at a time of national emergency

Boris Johnson should have asked his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, to resign months ago when he broke the first coronavirus lockdown and showed no regret afterwards. Perhaps Mr Johnson thought he could not do without the architect of his election victory and his ally in pursuing a hardline Brexit. But the damage was done. Public confidence in the government’s handling of coronavirus fell and has not stopping falling since.

Mr Cummings walked out of Downing Street, in an act of theatrical defiance, on Friday. It is a mark of the tragicomic nature of Mr Johnson’s government that a week of infighting within No 10 dominates the news at a time of national emergency when hundreds are dying every day from a dangerous disease. Mr Cummings gets to walk away while Britain is stuck with the damage he has wrought.

He won the Brexit referendum by spreading lies, unconcerned about damaging public trust. He has snubbed parliament, weaponised populist sentiment against state institutions and played fast and loose with the constitution. He may say that unconventional times needed unconventional ideas. But he seemed to enjoy his war too much. He picked, and lost, too many fights for his own good. A swirling cast of characters was drawn in. Even Carrie Symonds, Mr Johnson’s fiancee, got involved.

Mr Cummings was edged out of power before he could flounce out. This tawdry episode demonstrates two things. One is Mr Johnson’s palpable lack of leadership in a crisis. He encouraged his chief adviser to embrace his inner Leninism — where the end justifies the means. Second is the government’s well-deserved reputation for incompetence. The prime minister over-centralised Downing Street and let Mr Cummings ride roughshod over a weak cabinet that he had hand-picked but which lacked the confidence or foresight to predict problems.

Mr Cummings’ plans have gone awry thanks to the unpredictability of politics. After the US election his ideas for a hard Brexit were going nowhere. A Biden White House would have little time for the UK if it turned its back on Europe. Mr Cummings’ departure is a clear indication that the prime minister is ready to make the compromises needed to strike a deal with the EU.

Coronavirus required bigger government. Fiscal conservatives like the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and many other Tory MPs worried that once voters understood that big spending would not bankrupt the economy they might get a taste for decent public services. Mr Sunak wanted to balance the books, Mr Cummings wanted to blow them up. He agitated for the un-Tory idea that state power could turbocharge the economy, making powerful enemies in No 11.

Resentments have built like sediment on the river bed of Conservatism and threatened to choke the flow of government. Backbench MPs see Mr Cummings’ contempt for them as symptomatic of a high-handed Downing Street and have rebelled in such numbers that it threatens the stability of a government that, paradoxically, won a landslide largely thanks to Mr Cummings.

Mr Johnson might think that, without his adviser, his ungovernable party becomes governable. But he might find that elections become unwinnable. Some of this is more about style than substance. Mr Johnson still has to make good on his promise to “level up” Britain, especially since north-south divisions have been dramatically exposed by coronavirus. The prime minister needs to up his game. Once gained, a reputation for incompetence is hard to shift. Too often with Mr Johnson the buck stops somewhere else and blame is dumped on someone else. With Mr Cummings out, there is no hiding place for Mr Johnson.