52 The last word
THE WEEK1February 2020WhenBorisJohnsonwalked
throughthefrontdoorofNo. 10 on (^2) 6July (^2) 019,the
Britishpoliticalsystemwas
inastateofBrexit-induced
paralysis.Butinasmallroom
upstairs,arguablythesecond
mostpowerfulmaninBritain
wasalreadyissuingnew
instructionstodemoralised
staffers:“Don’tbeshit,”he
toldthem.
Adishevelledfigurewitha
softvoiceandtheappearance
ofaneccentricscientist,
DominicCummingsexplained
tohispoliticalteam–largely
inherited fromabroken
Theresa May –thatfromnow
on,No. 10 wouldberunlike
Nasa,withhimatMission
Control.Therewasone
singleobjective:delivering
Brexit.It wasan“astonishing
meeting”,notedtheadviser
JasonStein,who wasthere.
“Hesaysthelastgovernment
madeatotalmess ofthisandwewon’tmessitupagain.He says
unlike inthelastgovernment,decisions aregoingto berapidand
final.It’s absoluteDarwinismin there.Titlesdon’tmatter.”At
times,inwhatone personcalled a90-minute diatribe, Cummings
wavedhispenaroundso
frantically,somefeared hewould
deface the oilpaintingbehind
him.“Theoverriding sensewas
thatwehadwastedthe last three
years,” recallsanotherwitness.
“Hesaidbadperformance
wouldn’tbetolerated.Thenhe invitedeveryone fordrinks–it
wassodifferentto theoldregime.Itwasquiteinspiring.”
Sixmonthslater,Cummings is stillinDowning Street,presiding
over thenew political landscape thathe helped shape.Theman
whodirected the 2016 campaign totake Britain out of the EU is
chiefadviser to Johnson,aPMwhosepromiseto“GetBrexit
Done” securedan 80-strong majority. This week,Britain formally
left the EU–but thechallengeofagreeingatradedeal with the
bloc is justbeginning.Cummings,the manwhogave us Brexit, is
leavingthe tricky detailsofdelivery to others. The 48-year-old is
movingontoanewagenda–hoping to remakethe civil service,
invest in “left-behind” regions, andput the country at the cutting
edge of artificialintelli gence, roboticsand climate science.Last
month, he publishedablogpostthat went viral, inviting “weirdos
andmisfits” to join him attheheartof government.
Thosewho see himinNo. 10meetings with Johnsondetect no
deferencetowards thePrime Minister.“He sits there, leaning
back in hischair–asthough they areequals,” says one insider.
Fornow, Johnson embraces Cummings,who friendscalla
“Renaissance man” withskillsspanningcampaigning, policy,
communicationsand projectdelivery. To his enemies,he is vicious
and unscrupulous–an
intellectual showboaterriding
forafall.For allhis election
success,thepressureisnow
on todeliver hisambitious
agenda.One government
insider says:“He’sall-
powerfuland he’srunningthe
country. Butnobodyeverdies
inaditchforanadviser. Of
course he’s expendable.”
For hispart, Cummingstells
people hewillquitbeforehe
is fired–thathecouldwalk
awayatanytimeandreturn
tohis“bunker”athisparents’
farminCountyDurham.On
this,hehasform.Whenhe
joinedVoteLeave in 2015 ,he
insisted hewouldonlybe the
“acting” campaigndirector,
but wenton toleaditto
victory.Similarly,he
predicted inNovember 2019
thathewouldsoon quit
No.10: “As youknow, I
stronglydislike Westminster,”
he told colleagues. But CummingsdidcomebackafterJohnson’s
victoryin December,andsoon announcedplanstocreate his
dreamDowningStreetoperation–inhabitedby data scientists,
policy experts,projectmanagersandpeopl ewith“oddskills”.
EvenCummings’appearanceis
seenby some asanoutwardsign
of hiscontemptforWhitehall
tradition.Although heinsists
he has“always been ascruffy
bastard”,hisstylehas
grownmore idiosyncratic over theyears.His“low-riding”,
loose-fittingtrousersareusuallyaccompaniedby threadbare
shirts, oftenopentothe chest, covered in biromarks andset off
withabulldogclipattached to thefront. Freddy Gray,deputy
editor ofTheSpectator andafri endofCummings and his wife
MaryWakefield,anotherseniorjournalistonthemagazine,says:
“On occasions, Dom hascomeintothe office with twopairs of
tracksuit bottoms on, and Mary’s lookedupandthoughtthathe
wasone of thehomelesspeople shehelpsto look after.”
Cummings wasbornin Durhamin 1971. Hisfather wasa
construction manageronoil rigs and hismotheraspecial
needsteacher.Although he grew upfarfrom the gilded world of
Eton-educated Johnson and David Cameron, Cummings attended
DurhamSchool,aprestigiousprivateschool, andExeter College,
Oxford. In spite of railing in thismonth’s unorthodox Downing
Street jobad against“Oxbridgehumanities graduates”,hestudied
ancient andmodern history. Robin LaneFox,his ancient history
tutor, says: “He gotaverygoodFirst in both parts in three years,”
adding that he was“a whole class better”thanJohnson,whohad
earlier studied classics at Oxford.CriticsarguethatCummingsis
aposeur, name-dropping Thucydides to claimintellectual
superiority.But LaneFoxdisagrees: “Dominic is notapseud.”
Man on amission: aportrait of
Dominic Cummings
Cummings: immersed in the art of campaigning
ThePrimeMinister’scontroversialchiefadviserisadmiredandloathedinequalmeasure–buthaving
gotBrexit“done”,heisnowhell-bentonshakinguptheWhitehallmachine.GeorgeParkerreports
“Cummings is all-powerful and he’s running
the country. But nobody ever dies inaditch
for an adviser. Of course he’s expendable”