How Tory MPs are reacting to Dominic Cummings' departure

With Boris Johnson’s senior aides Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain both working from home until they officially leave their roles, attention is turning to what will follow the Downing Street Vote Leave era. Up until now, aides from the Vote Leave campaign have held the balance of power in No. 10. This has seen Johnson successfully re-establish the Tories as a party of Brexit and adopt a more combative approach on a range of issues. As I say in the i paper, the departure of the pair marks a new chapter for Johnson’s government.

One place where this is broadly being viewed positively is the Tory backbenches. ‘It’s good news that Vote Leave are weakening their grip,’ one Conservative MP from the 2015 intake says of this week’s events. ‘A lot of us have never met these people in the whole time they have been in charge. That tells you a lot’. Their hope is that the departure of Vote Leave aides will usher in a new chapter for Mr Johnson’s government – one in which the parliamentary party is consulted more and treated with more respect.