UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been urged by concerned Tories to “get a grip” on the dysfunctional situation triggered by faction-driven infighting at Downing Street during a pivotal time for the country, writes The Guardian.
A number of Conservative MPs have reportedly deplored the sudden resignation of No 10 Communications Director Lee Cain over the purported blocking of his promotion to chief of staff by Johnson’s fiancée Carrie Symonds , a former Tory party press adviser, and people from his inner circle.
They were cited as having expressed consternation upon witnessing Symonds join the ranks of those objecting to Cain’s promotion at a time when challenges such as the coronavirus pandemic and post-Brexit negotiations demand a concerted effort from No 10.
One unnamed MP was quoted as saying:
“They’re children. Ideologues and self-obsessed fools.”
Another source added that the blame for internal rows at Downing Street and lack of liaison with MPs should be shouldered by Boris Johnson, whose government has been erratically lurching from one measure to the next amid the health crisis, characterised by one of Europe’s highest COVID-19 death tolls.
The United Kingdom on 11 November became the fifth country in the world to record more than 50,000 coronavirus-related deaths.
‘Wider Shakeup Overdue’
A statement from Downing Street on Wednesday had announced Lee Cain’s departure at the end of the year.
The decision was believed to have followed Johnson’s offer of the chief of staff role last week to Cain, unleashing a pushback from within Downing Street, purportedly involving Carrie Symonds and Munira Mirza, head of the No 10 policy unit.
The turmoil within No 10 was in part reportedly linked to the arrival of Allegra Stratton, a former adviser to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who is to present scheduled daily televised Downing Street media briefings.
Cain is believed to have opposed the pick of Stratton for the job, while previously clashing with Symonds, reported The Guardian.
This comes as Lee Cain’s departure triggered speculations that Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s chief adviser, who ran the pro-Brexit Vote Leave campaign in the EU referendum, was similarly planning to quit before Christmas.
However, dismissing the rumours, Cummings was cited by the BBC as saying that "rumours of me threatening to resign are invented", while confirming that his “position hasn’t changed since my January blog”.
At the time he had expressed the hope he would be “largely redundant” by the end of 2020. A senior Downing Street source was also reported to have said that Cummings would be "out of government" by Christmas.
However, senior backbencher Sir Roger Gale was quoted as calling for Cummings to be ditched in favour of a proper chief of staff.
According to Gale, Downing Street should be “concentrating all of its efforts on the pandemic and on the end game of Brexit”.
“Frankly, this is a distraction that cannot and should not be allowed to take place, and the Prime Minister has got to get a grip on it. For my money, Cummings is a liability and what the Prime Minister needs and deserves is a first-rate chief of staff who is a serious heavyweight. I think the expression currently in use is 'big boy pants',” said Sir Roger Gale.
Another Tory source added: “The view from a lot of colleagues today is that we are witnessing the end of hope in Boris as a second-term PM. He has left a vacuum at the centre of government and that is being filled by Cummings, who does not like the Conservative party, and his fiancee, who lives above the shop. It’s like the script from a bad soap opera.”
Downing Street was “overdue a wider shakeup” that would enable it to properly rise up to the challenge of an “unprecedented series of challenges, the scale of which we’ve not seen since the war”, suggested Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the defence select committee.
“With the new US president focusing on re-establishing Western resolve and tackling climate change, we should be also seeking to play a more active role on the global stage… The machine of government must adapt, otherwise it will be overwhelmed,” said Ellwood.
While there was no official comment from Downing Street on reports that Cummings had threatened to resign or that Johnson was is still aiming to appoint a new chief of staff, it was confirmed that the PM’s lead spokesman James Slack would take on Cain’s position.
“I’m not driven by any animosity towards Dominic Cummings. I just think it’s an operation which is failing,” You don’t put the guru in charge of management. If you throw out all these ideas, it’s for others to see if they are actually workable. We need a chief of staff who makes it their business to talk to people… If this reset doesn’t work, and we have a bad set of elections in May, it’s just going to get worse.” It was added that there was a “cabinet revolt against Dom’s reign of terror”.
A source close to a cabinet minister was quoted by the outlet as saying:
“The problem with Downing Street is they have remained in campaign mode since winning the election. They are warring with everyone in Whitehall and that’s down to Cummings. They just don’t seem to know how to govern. Eleven months in, they should be leading a united front but they are still working in the image of Vote Leave.”
Irate Tory sources were reportedly deploring No 10’s “flawed bills, requiring endless U-turns” amid the pandemic, and claiming they didn’t feel “appreciated".
The turmoil at Downing Street comes against the backdrop of alarming official figures on Thursday that showed a record 33,470 UK daily coronavirus cases.
The medical director of NHS England, Stephen Powis, revealed at a Downing Street press conference that the number of COVID-19 inpatients had more than tripled in a month to reach over 12,700. Speaking alongside Powis, Business secretary Alok Sharma sought to allay concerns.
“I can tell you that all of us in government are focused on one thing, which is protecting lives and protecting livelihoods,” he said.