Dominic Cummings’s Bismarck complex

‘One’s enemies one can count on — but one’s friends!’ Otto von Bismarck quotes have mostly gone out of fashion since the middle of the last century. But perhaps not as far as Dominic Cummings is concerned. 

Cummings describes Germany’s first chancellor — and the man responsible for the country’s unification in 1871 — as a ‘monster’. He says in his 2017 blog that ‘the world would have been better if one of the assassination attempts had succeeded’. But it is clear that Cummings seeks inspiration from the Iron Chancellor for his own political doings. When Cummings writes that Bismarck ‘understood fundamental questions better than others’, it’s hard not to think that he might, at least partly, also be talking about himself.

Cummings quotes Bismarck extensively in his articles, and is given to musings as to what ‘Bismarck’s advice would be’ regarding current affairs. For a political advisor in 21st century Britain to seek guidance from a Prussian aristocrat may be unconventional, but in this regard at least, the Iron Chancellor would probably approve.