What we are seeing with the imminent departure of Lee Cain from Downing Street surely signals the beginning of the end for the notion that the creative vision of a single person can utterly dominate the output of a government. That single person, by the way, is not Communications Director Cain, nor even Boris Johnson, but Dominic Cummings. For this is largely a proxy war. The proposed elevation of Cain to the post of the PM’s Chief of Staff was only partly opposed because he was widely seen as lacking the authority and weight required for that position.
The main reason for the clamour against him among senior Tories is that he was regarded as the longest-term and most reliable ally of Cummings, in whose slipstream he had risen much further than was ever thought likely back when he was chasing after politicians while dressed as a chicken.
Had Cain become Chief of Staff then the grip of Cummings would have been further tightened, leaving him free to advance his own pet projects and consign those of others – up to and including Cabinet ministers – to waste paper baskets all over Whitehall.
Cummings has already survived several attempts by Tory parliamentarians to force him out – most memorably during the furore over his long drive to Durham – and is a very long way from being sacked by the Prime Minister.
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