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Dominic Mckenzie Cummings (born 25 November 1971) is a British political strategist who served as Chief Adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson from 24 July 2019 until Cummings resigned on 13 November 2020. From 2007 to 2014, he was a special adviser to
Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Parli ...
, including the time that Gove served as Education Secretary, leaving when Gove was made
Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...
in a cabinet reshuffle. From 2015 to 2016, Cummings was director of Vote Leave, an organisation which successfully executed the 2016 referendum campaign for Britain's exit from the European Union. After Johnson was appointed Prime Minister in July 2019, Cummings was appointed as Chief Adviser to the Prime Minister. Cummings had a contentious relationship with
Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
Sajid Javid which culminated in Javid's resignation in February 2020 after he refused to comply with Cummings's request to dismiss his special advisers. A scandal involving Cummings occurred in May 2020, after it was reported that he travelled to his parents' farm in Durham during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown while experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. 45 Conservative MPs called for his resignation and Cummings was criticised by opposition parties for noncompliance with public health restrictions. After Cummings held a press conference explaining his journey, Johnson supported his chief adviser by saying Cummings had acted "responsibly, legally and with integrity". Durham police said that they did not consider an offence was committed when Cummings travelled from London to Durham and that a minor breach might have occurred in travelling from there to Barnard Castle. The scandal negatively affected the public's trust in the government's pandemic response. After leaving Downing Street in November 2020, Cummings has criticised the government's
response Response may refer to: *Call and response (music), musical structure *Reaction (disambiguation) *Request–response **Output (computing), Output or response, the result of telecommunications input *Response (liturgy), a line answering a versicle ...
to the COVID-19 pandemic and Johnson's leadership.


Early life

Cummings was born in Durham on 25 November 1971. His father, Robert, now a farmer, had a varied career, primarily as an oil rig project manager for Laing, the construction firm. His mother, Morag, became a teacher and behavioural specialist after private schooling and university. Sir John Laws, a former
Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Justice ...
, was his maternal uncle. After attending state primary school, he was privately educated at Durham School and later attended Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied under
Norman Stone Norman Stone (8 March 1941 – 19 June 2019) was a British historian and author. He was Professor of European History in the Department of International Relations at Bilkent University, having formerly been a professor at the University of Oxf ...
, graduating in 1994 with a First in Ancient and Modern History. One of his former tutors has described him to the '' New Statesman'' as "fizzing with ideas, unconvinced by any received set of views about anything". He was "something like a
Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...
– someone determined to bring down things that don’t work." Also in his youth, he worked at Klute, a nightclub owned by his uncle in Durham. After graduating, Cummings moved to Russia and lived there until 1997. He worked for a group attempting to set up an airline connecting
Samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with ...
in southern Russia to Vienna in Austria which George Parker of the '' Financial Times'' said was "spectacularly unsuccessful". He subsequently returned to the UK.


Political career

From 1999 to 2002, Cummings was campaign director at
Business for Sterling Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separat ...
, the campaign against the UK joining the euro. He then became Director of Strategy for
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
leader Iain Duncan Smith for eight months in 2002, aiming to modernise the Conservative Party (of which he was not a member). He soon left in frustration at the introduction of what he saw as half-measures, labelling Duncan Smith "incompetent". The New Frontiers Foundation, a free-market libertarian and
Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...
think tank which grew out of Business For Sterling, was founded by Cummings in December 2003, with James Frayne as its co-founder. Cummings directed the group, and was described by Andrew Pierce in '' The Times'' as "a youthful, mercurial figure who has brought together a diverse coalition including
Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter, and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Rock music in Ireland, Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved ...
and the Labour MP Frank Field to oppose the single currency". The Foundation published articles and papers which argued against the United Kingdom having 'ever-closer union' with the European Union at the cost of defence links with the United States. It also argued for the abolition of all trade tariffs, reform of the United Nations, research into hypersonic bombers, the creation of a research body to fund high-risk scientific projects, reform of the British
civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
, and the abolition of the BBC as a public service broadcaster. The Foundation argued that the BBC was the "mortal enemy" of Conservatives, saying: "There are three structural things that the right needs to happen in terms of communications. 1) the undermining of the BBC's credibility; 2) the creation of a Fox News equivalent / talk radio shows / bloggers etc to shift the centre of gravity; 3) the end of the ban on TV political advertising". The Foundation closed in March 2005. Cummings was a key figure in North East Says No (NESNO) the successful campaign against a North-East Regional Assembly in 2004. Populist tactics used in this referendum were later seen as a precursor to ones used by Cummings during the
Brexit referendum The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...
; for example, Cummings argued against the Assembly on the basis of increased money for the NHS, and toured the region with a huge prop white elephant. After the campaign, Cummings moved to his father's farm in
County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly About North East E ...
. In 2006, while in a position of what Andrew Neil called "overall responsibility" for the website of '' The Spectator'', Cummings republished a controversial cartoon depicting Muhammed with a bomb in his turban. This was the first time the cartoon had been published by any British news organisation and was removed after interventions from the publisher of ''The Spectator''.


Special Adviser to Michael Gove (2007–2014)

Cummings worked for Conservative politician
Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Parli ...
in various roles in opposition and government from 2007 to 2014. From February 2011 to January 2014, he was special adviser (spad) and Chief of Staff to Gove at the Department for Education (DfE). His appointment was initially blocked by
Andy Coulson Andrew Edward Coulson (born 21 January 1968) is an English journalist and political strategist. Coulson was the editor of the ''News of the World'' from 2003 until his resignation in 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's repo ...
from 2010 until January 2011. Cummings was later appointed in February 2011 after Coulson's resignation. In this capacity, Cummings wrote an essay titled "Some thoughts on education and political priorities", about transforming Britain into a "meritocratic technopolis"; the essay was described by ''
Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...
'' journalist Patrick Wintour as "either mad, bad or brilliant – and probably a bit of all three". Cummings was known in the DfE for his blunt style and "not suffering fools gladly"; he and Michael Gove railed against the "blob", the informal alliance of senior civil servants and teachers who, in their opinion, sought to frustrate attempts at reform. Cummings was also outspoken regarding other senior politicians, describing Nick Clegg's proposals on free school meals as "Dreamed up on the back of a cigarette packet", and David Davis as "thick as mince" and "lazy as a toad". Patrick Wintour described the Cummings–Gove working relationship: "Gove, polite to a fault, would often feign ignorance of his adviser's methods, but knew full well the dark arts that Cummings deployed to get his master's way". In 2014, Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
, at a Policy Exchange speech in 2014 mentioned a "career psychopath", which was interpreted by several media outlets as a reference to Cummings, although the two had never met. In 2012, a senior female civil servant was awarded a payout of £25,000 in a bullying case against Cummings and a senior member of Michael Gove's team, when Cummings was a special adviser at the Department for Education. During his time as an official working for Gove, Cummings received a warning from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for use of private Gmail accounts to deal with government business, saying it should be 'actively discouraged'. The ICO uncovered an email from Cummings in which he said: . Cummings said that this referred to the Conservative party conference, not government business. In 2014, Cummings left his job as a special adviser and noted that he might endeavour to open a
free school Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procure ...
. He had previously worked for the
New Schools Network The New Schools Network (NSN) is a United Kingdom-registered charity and former think tank which formerly supported groups setting up free schools within the English state education sector. History Early years The New Schools Network was found ...
charity that advises free schools, as a volunteer from June 2009 and then as a paid freelancer from July to December 2010.


Campaign to leave the European Union (2015–2019)

Cummings became campaign director of Vote Leave upon the creation of the organisation in October 2015. As the leading strategist of the campaign he was credited with creating the Vote Leave slogan, "Take back control" and the claim that Brexit would allow an extra £350m a week to be spent on the NHS. His campaign strategy was summarised as: "Do talk about immigration"; "Do talk about business"; "Don’t make the referendum final"; "Do keep mentioning the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the over-reach of the European Union's Court of Justice". Board member of Vote Leave
Bernard Jenkin Sir Bernard Christison Jenkin (born 9 April 1959) is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Harwich and North Essex since 2010. He also serves as chair of the Liaison Committee. He was first elected to ...
tried to remove Cummings and merge Vote Leave with the other campaign, Leave.EU. Cummings and Vote Leave CEO Matthew Elliott left the board in February 2016 following reported infighting. The June 2016 referendum resulted in a 51.9% vote to leave the European Union. Cummings was praised alongside Elliott as being one of the masterminds of the campaign. He advised Babylon Health on its communications strategy and senior recruitment up to September 2018. The Labour Party opposition spokesman Jon Ashworth said the links between Cummings, the health secretary and Babylon were "increasingly murky and highly irresponsible". In March 2019, the
Commons Select Committee of Privileges The Commons Select Committee of Privileges is appointed by the House of Commons to consider specific matters relating to privileges referred to it by the House. It came into being on 7 January 2013 as one half of the replacements for the Committ ...
recommended the House issue an admonishment for
contempt of Parliament In countries with a parliamentary system of government, contempt of Parliament is the offence of obstructing the legislature in the carrying out of its functions, or of hindering any legislator in the performance of his duties. Typology The conce ...
after Cummings failed to appear before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee inquiry into claims of false news creation during the referendum campaign. The resolution admonishing him was passed by resolution of the House of Commons on 2 April 2019. In July 2017, the lawyer and political commentator David Allen Green asked Cummings via Twitter, "Is there anything which could now happen (or not happen) which would make you now wish Leave had not won the referendum result?" Cummings replied, "Lots! I said before REF was dumb idea, other things should have been tried 1st."


Chief Adviser to Boris Johnson (2019–2020)

On 24 July 2019, Cummings was appointed as a senior adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and was described as the '' de facto''
Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...
. On his appointment, '' The Guardian'' reported that at a conference in 2017 Cummings had argued that: "People think, and by the way I think most people are right: 'The Tory party is run by people who basically don't care about people like me; and that "Tory MPs largely do not care about these poorer people. They don't care about the NHS. And the public has kind of cottoned on to that". '' The Daily Telegraph'' reported on Cummings's past rivalry with Nigel Farage from the 2016 referendum campaign, and quoted Farage as saying that: "He has never liked me. He can't stand the ERG. I can't see him coming to any accommodation with anyone. He has huge personal enmity with the true believers in Brexit". Cummings was accused by Layla Moran of hypocrisy when, not long after his appointment, it was reported that a farm that he co-owns had received €250,000 (£235,000) in EU farming subsidies. Cummings had previously described such subsidies as "absurd", complaining that some of them were handed out to "very rich landowners to do stupid things". In November 2019, a whistleblower raised questions about Cummings's interactions during his years in Russia; '' The Sunday Times'' reported that Whitehall was keeping certain government business from Cummings. As is customary, Cummings temporarily resigned his role when Parliament dissolved for the 2019 general election, along with most special advisers, but was briefly reinstated to assist the government following widespread flooding. According to '' Politico'', Cummings played a role in the Conservative Party's victory in the election, after having passed the party's running of the election campaign to
Isaac Levido Isaac Levido (born ) is an Australian political strategist who was the head of the British Conservative Party's successful campaign in the 2019 United Kingdom general election. Early life Levido was raised in Port Macquarie, New South Wales ...
. After the election, Cummings called for people interested in working in government to contact him through a private Gmail address. In a blog post, he said he wanted to recruit data scientists, software developers and economists to help improve the performance of government, making his own role "within a year largely redundant". The recruitment drive was reported to have resulted in several appointments on short-term contracts, including Baroness Wolf of Dulwich, Professor Vernon Gibson and, briefly,
Andrew Sabisky The second Johnson ministry began on 16 December 2019, three days after Boris Johnson's audience with Queen Elizabeth II where she invited him to form a new administration following the 2019 general election, in which the Conservative Party w ...
. Sabisky resigned in February 2020 following complaints about his previously expressed views on race, intelligence and eugenics. Will O'Shea, a data specialist appointed through Cummings's scheme, was dismissed in July 2020 after calling for police to shoot Black Lives Matter protesters with live ammunition. Cummings's relationship with the media has been seen as adversarial;
Jim Waterson James "Jim" Waterson (born March 1989) is an English journalist who is the media editor of ''The Guardian'' and was previously political editor of BuzzFeed UK. Early life Waterson was born in York. He graduated from Jesus College, Oxford in 2011, ...
in '' The Guardian'' argued that although Cummings attempted to go to "war with the BBC, Channel 4 News and all manner of other news outlets deemed to represent the views of the metropolitan elite and not the 52% of the country who had voted for Brexit" the "half-finished cultural revolution" of Cummings and
Lee Cain Lee Edward Cain (born 1981) is a British public relations professional and former journalist who served as Downing Street Director of Communications under Boris Johnson from July 2019 until the end of 2020. Education Cain attended Ormskirk Gr ...
had "often been more bark than bite. Proposals to decriminalise non-payment of the BBC licence fee ... have been kicked into the long grass. A boycott of overnment ministers appearing onRadio 4's ''Today'' programme was meant to last until 'they better understand the country' but was dropped after a few months. When the full scale of the coronavirus pandemic became apparent, Cain gathered journalists together and promised a more cooperative attitude to fit the times." (Conservative boycotting of the ''Today'' programme in particular was a goal of Cummings's when he was a member of the New Frontiers Foundation, before he was an adviser to Johnson.) Conversely, ITV political editor Robert Peston said in '' The Spectator'' that he was the victim of social media abuse "for reporting anything perceived to have originated anywhere near Cummings", and was accused of being Cummings's personal stenographer. He also added that "one senior Tory who thought about applying to be Beeb chair" told him that calls for the BBC's "cultural re-education", which many assumed came from Cummings, actually came from
Munira Mirza Munira Mirza (born May 1978) is a British political advisor who served as Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit under Prime Minister Boris Johnson from 2019 until she resigned on 3 February 2022, citing Johnson's claim that Labour leader Keir Sta ...
, director of the Number 10 Policy Unit.


Sonia Khan's dismissal

In August 2019, Cummings dismissed Sonia Khan, one of the Treasury's special advisers, without the permission or knowledge of
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
Sajid Javid. The dismissal occurred during preparations for suspending parliament, which Cummings had planned and which would limit the time in which MPs could block a no-deal Brexit. According to ''The Guardian'', Cummings believed that Khan had been dishonest about her recent contact with her ex-boss, previous Chancellor and no-deal opponent Philip Hammond, and, according to an unconfirmed report, dismissed her after summoning her to 10 Downing Street and viewing recent activity on her phones, and then asked an armed officer to enter the building and escort Khan off the premises. Former
attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
Dominic Grieve said that the cabinet secretary should hold an inquiry and that "it was wrong of the police to get involved". Dal Babu, former chief superintendent of the Metropolitan police, said it was "a shocking abuse of armed officers" and that the police should be asking questions of both Cummings and the Prime Minister about an abuse of process. The following month, '' The Times'' reported that Cummings had "seized new powers to sack ministers' advisers", as their new employment contracts stipulated that responsibility for disciplinary matters rested with the Prime Minister's
Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...
as well as with their respective ministers. Khan, supported by the FDA trade union, took a claim for
unfair dismissal In labour law, unfair dismissal is an act of employment termination made without good reason or contrary to the country's specific legislation. Situation per country Australia (See: '' unfair dismissal in Australia'') Australia has long-standing ...
to an employment tribunal, arguing Cummings was pivotal to a claim of sex discrimination. The hearing was scheduled for December 2020 at which Cummings was due to give evidence, but in November 2020 a "five-figure" financial settlement of the claim was agreed.


Relationship with Sajid Javid at the Treasury

Javid "voiced anger" to Johnson over the dismissal of Khan and Cummings faced the prospect of a probe by a governmental ethics watchdog following the dismissal. In November 2019, following questions of a rift between Downing Street and Javid, Johnson gave his assurance that he would retain Javid as Chancellor after the 2019 general election. In the weeks leading up to the February 2020 reshuffle, briefings in the press had suggested that a new economic ministry led by
Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (; born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party since October 2022. He previously held two Cabinet of ...
might be established, to reduce the power and political influence of the Treasury. Sunak was considered to be a Johnson loyalist, favoured by Cummings. By February 2020, it was reported that Sunak would stay on as
Chief Secretary to the Treasury The chief secretary to the Treasury is a ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom. The office is the second most senior in the Treasury, after the chancellor of the Exchequer. The office was created in 1961, to share the burden ...
, for Cummings to "keep an eye" on Javid. On 13 February 2020, the day of the reshuffle, Javid resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer, following a meeting with the Prime Minister. During the meeting, Johnson had said Javid could keep his position on the condition that he dismiss all of his advisers at the Treasury, who would be replaced with ones selected by Cummings. Upon resigning, Javid told the
Press Association PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency, and the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and re ...
that "no self-respecting minister would accept those terms". The Chancellor's resignation was unexpected, given Johnson's commitment to retain Javid within the Cabinet, and recent reports that an alternative finance ministry would not be made. Robert Shrimsley, chief political commentator of the '' Financial Times'', stated that the Prime Minister's choice of Cummings over Javid at the time risked damaging the government, that "good government often depends on senior ministers – and the Chancellor in particular – being able to fight bad ideas".


COVID-19 pandemic

In March 2020, it was reported in '' The Sunday Times'' that during a private engagement the previous month, Cummings had said that the government's strategy towards COVID-19 was "herd immunity, protect the economy and if that means some pensioners die, too bad". The spokesman for
10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along wi ...
decried the article as "a highly defamatory fabrication" which "includes a series of apparent quotes from meetings which are invented". On 27 April, the ''Guardian'' website reported that Cummings sat in on meetings of the
Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) is a British Government body that advises central government in emergencies. It is usually chaired by the United Kingdom's Chief Scientific Adviser, currently Sir Patrick Vallance. Specialis ...
(SAGE), which advises the cabinet on COVID-19 response. According to two participants in a SAGE meeting of 18 March, Cummings pressed for a faster lockdown, including closure of pubs and restaurants within two days. A joint investigation by the '' Daily Mirror'' and '' The Guardian'', published on 22 May 2020, reported that, following sightings of Cummings in Durham at the end of March, the police had spoken to him about breaching lockdown rules. This report triggered criticism of Cummings at the time as the government had instructed people to remain at home unless absolutely necessary, with certain provisos. On 25 May, Cummings made a public statement in the garden of 10 Downing Street, giving the following account of his actions during the time in question. Cummings's statement was met with scepticism from the media and the public. The journey to Barnard Castle took place on his wife's birthday. There had been additional reports of the family being seen in a wood near Durham and elsewhere in the area on 19 April. Cummings said they were not there and were already in London and had not returned to Durham. The ''Mirror''/''Guardian'' investigation also alleged that police spoke to Cummings regarding a breach of lockdown rules. On 23 May,
Durham Constabulary Durham Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing ceremonial county of County Durham in North East England. The force’s area is bordered by Cumbria Constabulary to the west, Cleveland Police to the south east, North ...
said that it was Cummings's father who had contacted them, instead of them contacting and speaking to Cummings, and that they had discussed, by telephone, matters relating to security. Following publication of the reports, the
Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...
leader in Westminster, Ian Blackford and the acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, called for Cummings to resign if the allegations were to be confirmed, while
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
said 10 Downing Street needed to provide a "very swift explanation" for his actions. On 24 May, '' The Observer'' and ''
Sunday Mirror The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marke ...
'' alleged that Cummings had made a second trip to Durham during lockdown after returning to, and being photographed in, London. Cummings denied these allegations, and Downing Street said it would not waste time answering such allegations from "campaigning newspapers". Boris Johnson, as part of a televised update on the coronavirus situation on 24 May, defended Cummings and said he had acted "responsibly, legally and with integrity". On 25 May 2020, Durham's Acting Police, Crime and Victims’ Commissioner Steve White asked Durham Constabulary to investigate any potential breach of the law or regulations in relation to Cummings's Durham movements. That same day, Cummings held a press conference to give his reasoning for his actions, stating: "There is no regulation covering the situation I found myself in". On 28 May, Durham Police said that they did not consider an offence was committed by Cummings in travelling from London to Durham. They also said that a minor breach relating to lockdown rules might have occurred at Barnard Castle, but because there was no apparent breach of the social distancing rules, no action would be taken now, stating: "Had a Durham Constabulary police officer stopped Mr Cummings driving to or from Barnard Castle, the officer would have spoken to him, and, having established the facts, likely advised Mr Cummings to return to the address in Durham, providing advice on the dangers of travelling during the pandemic crisis. Had this advice been accepted by Mr Cummings, no enforcement action would have been taken." They also said there was insufficient evidence of a return to the Durham area on 19 April. On 3 June, it was reported that Durham County Council was investigating complaints it had received that the cottage Cummings stayed in did not hold the relevant planning permission. A YouGov poll conducted after his press conference of 25 May, found that 71% of the public thought that Cummings had broken the lockdown rules and 59% thought he should resign. By the following day, 61 Conservative MPs had criticised Cummings with 44 calling for him to resign or be sacked, increasing to 98 and 45 respectively by 29 May. Among Cummings's Conservative critics was Jeremy Hunt, who said that Cummings had made multiple moves that were "clearly mistakes" and risked undermining public health advice. He said that amongst these mistakes there were three apparent breaches of the advice or rules. The first was Cummings's brief return to work before they left for Durham, the second was the trip to Durham instead of staying at home and the third was the visit to Barnard Castle. In August 2020, '' the Lancet'' published a study on the degree to which these events had undermined essential public health messaging, described as the "Cummings effect".Fancourt D, Steptoe A, Wright L (2020) The Cummings effect: politics, trust, and behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic. ''The Lancet'
Published online 6 August 2020
/ref> In July 2021, ''The Guardian'' reported that Cummings had personally contacted Paul Stephenson, a former colleague from Vote Leave, to invite his company, Hanbury Strategy, to work for the government during its pandemic response. Stephenson's company was awarded a £580,000 Cabinet Office contract to conduct opinion polling without competitive tender.


Departure from Downing Street

The BBC reported on 13 November 2020 that following the decision of Cummings's long-time ally
Lee Cain Lee Edward Cain (born 1981) is a British public relations professional and former journalist who served as Downing Street Director of Communications under Boris Johnson from July 2019 until the end of 2020. Education Cain attended Ormskirk Gr ...
,
Downing Street Director of Communications The Downing Street director of communications is the post of director of communications for the prime minister of the United Kingdom. The position is held by an appointed special adviser. In September 2022, as part of the incoming Truss minis ...
, to stand down, Cummings was expected to leave Downing Street by the end of 2020. The BBC cited a "senior Downing Street source". Cummings responded by saying that he had not threatened to resign over Cain's resignation, and pointed out that he had said in a January 2020 blog post that he planned to make himself "largely redundant" by the end of the year and that his position on that had not changed. On 14 November, '' The Times'' reported that Cummings had been told to leave Downing Street by Johnson, but also said that he was on garden leave and was working from home on Johnson's plan for mass COVID-19 testing. He was photographed leaving Number 10 with a storage box. ''The Times'' said that
Edward Lister Edward Julian Udny-Lister, Baron Udny-Lister, (born 25 October 1949) is a British special adviser, political strategist and former politician who served as Downing Street Chief of Staff from 2019 to 2021. He originally solely advised on strat ...
would be promoted to replace him for an interim period, but that Lister was also due to leave in January. Andrew Rawnsley, '' The Observer''s chief political reporter, recorded one former cabinet minister as saying that Cummings had exited "without leaving much trace," while '' The Economist'' stated that Cummings had "wasted the greatest opportunity of his life."


Reflection on the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic

On 26 May 2021 Cummings gave seven hours of testimony to the Commons Health and Social Care Committee and Science and Technology Committee on the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cummings apologised for officials, including himself, falling "disastrously short of the standards that the public has a right to expect", and said that the "government failed". Criticising government leadership, Cummings said that Health Secretary Matt Hancock should have been fired for lying, and that frontline workers and civil servants were "lions led by donkeys". Boris Johnson faced criticism, with Cummings saying that there were "thousands" of people better suited to run the country than him, and that he was not a "fit and proper person" to get the UK through the pandemic. On the calling of lockdowns, Cummings said that Johnson had disagreed with the first national lockdown, and was against the "circuit breaker" lockdown in autumn 2020 for economic reasons. Cummings said that he heard Johnson say he would rather see " bodies pile high" than take the country into a third lockdown, which Johnson denies. Cummings also said that Johnson did not take advice and did not involve or ask the cabinet. On 20 July 2021 the BBC broadcast an hour-long programme of Cummings being interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg. Cummings presented his perspective on events during his time at the Vote Leave campaign and during his appointment as Boris Johnson's chief aide, and commented disparagingly on the competency of government and Johnson in particular. On 7 January 2022 Cummings said that a drinks event took place in the garden of 10 Downing Street on 20 May 2020, when certain COVID-19 restrictions were still in place. He rejected claims that a photo taken five days earlier, showing him with Johnson and his wife, along with several other people with wine glasses and bottles, showed evidence of an after-work party, and said it was common practice at the time for meetings to be held in the garden.


Political views

Cummings has described his political views as "not Tory (Conservative), libertarian, 'populist' or anything else". In January 2016, five months prior to the 2016 European Union referendum in the United Kingdom, Cummings said: At an Ogilvy conference in 2017, Cummings stated his belief that the EU, rather than solving issues, was fuelling radicalism and extremism due to a perceived lack of control over issues such as economy and immigration: Cummings has frequently criticised what he sees as a London-centred political system that failed to countenance the UK's voting to leave the European Union. He has expressed his dismay that many voters' concerns, particularly in Northern England and the Midlands, have been ignored by both the Conservatives and Labour and 'taken for granted'. He criticised New Labour's attempt at re-balancing inherent structural deficiencies within the British economy following de-industrialisation with a system of tax credits. Cummings has said he has never been a member of a political party. He came second in a list by LBC of the 'Top 100 Most Influential Conservatives of 2019'. Although frequently portrayed as on the right of the political spectrum, he has expressed dismay for the
European Research Group The European Research Group (ERG) is a research support group and caucus of Eurosceptic Conservative Members of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The journalist Sebastian Payne described it in the ''Financial Times'' as "the most influential e ...
led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, describing the group as "useful idiots" for the argument to remain in the EU and that they "should be treated like a metastasising tumour and excised from the UK body politic." He sought to isolate Nigel Farage from the official Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 referendum believing his presence to not be helpful in winning over undecided voters. Cummings has criticised former United States President Donald Trump for having "demonstrated no interest in actually controlling the government" and his inability to "execute at scale and speed", and has encouraged the
Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...
to nominate an alternative to Trump as their candidate for the 2024 US presidential election. He has cited Curtis Yarvin,
Andrew Sullivan Andrew Michael Sullivan (born 10 August 1963) is a British-American author, editor, and blogger. Sullivan is a political commentator, a former editor of ''The New Republic'', and the author or editor of six books. He started a political blog, ' ...
and
David Shor David Shor (born 1991) is an American data scientist and political consultant known for analyzing political polls. He serves as head of data science with Blue Rose Research in New York City, and is a senior fellow with the Center for American Prog ...
, amongst others, as "people I have found interesting" in US politics.


Personal life

In December 2011, Cummings married
Mary Wakefield Mary Wakefield (born August 12, 1954) is an American nurse and health care administrator, who served in the Obama administration as acting United States Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2015 to 2017, and as head of the Health ...
, the sister of his friend Jack Wakefield, former director of the Firtash Foundation. Mary Wakefield has worked at the weekly magazine '' The Spectator'' for decades, since Boris Johnson was editor, and is now commissioning editor. She is the daughter of Sir Humphry Wakefield, 2nd Baronet, of Chillingham Castle in Northumberland. Her mother is Katherine Wakefield, née Baring, elder daughter of Evelyn Baring, 1st Baron Howick of Glendale. In 2016, they had a son, (Alexander) Cedd (named after an Anglo-Saxon saint). Cummings is reportedly an admirer of
Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...
, Richard Feynman, Sun Tzu, and US fighter pilot and military strategist John Boyd. Journalist
Owen Bennett Owen J. Bennett (born 1985) is a British former journalist. He served as head of politics at the London newspaper ''City A.M.'' and Whitehall editor at ''The Daily Telegraph''. He wrote for ''The Spectator'' and the ''New Statesman'' and was a ...
wrote that Cummings "is a
Russophile Russophilia (literally love of Russia or Russians) is admiration and fondness of Russia (including the era of the Soviet Union and/or the Russian Empire), History of Russia, Russian history and Russian culture. The antonym is Anti-Russian se ...
, speaks Russian, and is passionately interested in Dostoyevsky", while Patrick Wintour in '' The Guardian'' reported that " Anna Karenina, maths and Bismarck are his three obsessions."


Depictions

Cummings was portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in the 2019 Channel 4 drama '' Brexit: The Uncivil War''. In the 2020 revival of '' Spitting Image'', Cummings's puppet was portrayed "as a creepy alien with a pulsating head who drools at the prospect of eating
Johnson's Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...
baby". He was voiced by Daniel Barker. In September 2022, Cummings was portrayed by Simon Paisley Day in Michael Winterbottom's miniseries '' This England''.


Notes


References


Further reading

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cummings, Dominic 1971 births Living people Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford British Eurosceptics British special advisers People educated at Durham School People from Durham, England British bloggers Clan Comyn