Dominic Cummings

Boris Johnson has denied he tried to block an official leak inquiry following a series of incendiary allegations by his former top adviser Dominic Cummings. In a furious outburst, Cummings accused the PM of seeking to halt the investigation into the leak of plans for a second lockdown after he was warned a close friend of […]

Dominic Cummings told Boris Johnson plans to have donors “secretly pay” to revamp his official Downing Street flat were “unethical, foolish” and “possibly illegal”, the ex-Number 10 aide said. The prime minister stopped speaking to his top adviser about the issue last year, Cummings said. He said he had refused to help Johnson organise payments […]

Dominic Cummings has denied being the source of a BBC story on Boris Johnson’s text communications with businessman James Dyson. In a blog post that claims that Johnson and his office has fallen “so far below the standards of competence and integrity the country deserves”, he denied leaking the messages.  The prime minister’s former aide […]

Political journalist Robert Peston has claimed that Boris Johnson is on the path to “mutually assured nuclear destruction” as Dominic Cummings is brought into the lobbying row. Cummings has been accused of being “bitter” over the government’s “great progress” since departing as the prime minister’s senior aide. It has been claimed he leaked text messages between […]

Boris Johnson’s former aide Dominic Cummings has been blamed for the leaking of the prime minister’s text messages. An internal inquiry has been launched into how messages between the prime minister and billionaire Sir James Dyson were leaked to journalists. But reports said Downing Street sources are pointing the finger at Cummings, who quit as […]

TIM WALKER on Dominic Cummings’ prospects on the after-dinner circuit. With apparently little else to do, Dominic Cummings is to try to cash in on his time in government on the after-dinner circuit – and has signed up with an outfit called Chartwell Speakers. One leading booker tells me, however, that his earnings are unlikely to make […]

Dominic Cummings was apparently “scouting out the complex” for the production of the new Novavax vaccine in the UK, Boris Johnson joked with business leaders during a meeting. Johnson decided against a Barnard Castle gag at his press conference on Monday where he announced Britain would produce the Novavax jab in the North East, saving it […]

Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings has blamed the EU for the UK’s slow coronavirus response, despite the UK leaving the bloc before the pandemic properly hit. In his first public appearance since leaving No 10 last year amid the fallout from a bitter internal power struggle, Cummings gave the damning assessment of its attempts […]

Dominic Cummings has revealed the four demands he made of Boris Johnson before joining No 10 as the prime minister’s chief adviser. Cummings told a group of MPs in his first public appearance since leaving No 10 that he persuaded the prime minister to sort of the “disaster zone” of Whitehall. Appearing before the Commons […]

Dominic Cummings is to appear before MPs for the first time since he quit as Boris Johnson’s chief aide.     Cummings be questioned by MPs over the government’s new “high-risk” scientific research agency that he championed before his dramatic departure from No 10. In his first public appearance since the dramatic departure late last year, the […]

An MP is cross-referencing constituents’ complaints about Dominic Cummings’ trip to Durham with those who complained about the Clapham Commons vigil. According to Guido Fawkes reporter Tom Harwood, an MP is sifting through his emails from people who complained about both in a bid to “point out the hypocrisy of their positions”. He tweeted: “One MP tells […]

Former Tory leader William Hague has claimed “you can smell” the improvement in the government since the departure of Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain. Hague said Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser and spin doctor, who left Downing Street last year, were “brilliant people” but that “maybe running governments wasn’t their greatest skill”. The Tory peer said […]

Dominic Cummings urged Boris Johnson to scrap the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), an inside source has revealed. Johnson was being told the disband the committee over fears some experts were leaking information to the press in order to pressure the prime minister into pursuing tougher coronavirus restrictions. A source told the Mail that matters […]

Nicola Sturgeon has criticised Downing Street after Dominic Cummings admitted he made a recommendation that led to a friend’s firm receiving government work.  Cummings made the admission after campaigners took legal action against the Cabinet Office over the payment of more than £500,000 to research firm Public First without a formal tendering process. The first minister hit out […]

Labour has written to the cabinet secretary asking him to publish details on meetings with Tory-linked firms that have secured contracts during the pandemic. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves last week revealed she had written to 10 firms with connections to the Conservative Party awarded contracts during the coronavirus crisis in a bid to […]

A High Court judge is considering whether a government decision to award a market research contract to a company whose bosses were friends of Dominic Cummings was unlawful. Campaigners took legal action against the Cabinet Office over the decision to pay more than £500,000 of taxpayers’ money to research firm Public First, following the start […]

TIM WALKER reports on the latest on a scheme to modernise Downing Street, the long wait for Paul Dacre’s TV show, and those mystery Michael Gove press briefings… Having  blown tens of thousands of pounds on new offices for his former henchman Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson is now focusing on making Downing Street a sufficiently opulent place for […]

Television and radio presenter Graham Norton has criticised home secretary Priti Patel – claiming “it’s extraordinary she’s in charge of anything”. The chat show host and Eurovision commentator lambasted the Tory minister, along with Boris Johnson, comparing Patel to a lunch monitor. Asked by the Sunday Times to give three words to sum up Boris Johnson, […]

A lawyer who took on Dominic Cummings over his lockdown breach has claimed he has been forced to move home because his campaign for an investigation sparked attacks on his property. Nazir Afzal has revealed after launching his legal campaign to prosecute the former Number 10 adviser he had a brick thrown through the window […]

Dominic Cummings has threatened to expose Remainer civil servants who ‘sabotaged Brexit’ in his latest attack on Whitehall. Boris Johnson’s former senior adviser used Twitter to hint at naming and shaming civil servants he clashed with during his time in government. Cummings left Downing Street in November after falling out with the prime minister. He has used his […]

A former pro-Brexit Conservative aide marched out of Downing Street by armed police after being sacked by Dominic Cummings has said she was “never given a reason” for her dismissal. Sonia Khan, who was fired as a special adviser to then chancellor Sajid Javid in August 2019 over the alleged leaking of secrets surrounding no-deal […]

Dominic Cummings sat on the Cabinet Office salary advisory committee which decided which personnel received the eye-watering pay rises in Downing Street. Government special advisers were paid almost £10 million last year with former chief adviser Cummings paid the equivalent of £140,000-£144,999 – up from £95,000 – £99,999 last year – an increase of 40% on […]

Dominic Cummings has used a column in The Spectator‘s magazine Christmas special to launch a veiled attack on Boris Johnson and his fiancée Carrie Symonds. Cummings used a slot in a publication where his wife works to say politicians had become “more focused on Twitter and gossip-column stories about their dogs”. Johnson’s former top aide is set to […]

Downing Street has defended Dominic Cummings being handed a pay rise of around £45,000 as taking the senior aide to the “correct level of salary” for his role. The prime minister’s press secretary Allegra Stratton said: “This was a matter for the Cabinet Office special adviser pay committee, that’s where the decisions are taken. “It’s […]

The TV broadcasting watchdog is looking into the comments Emily Maitlis made about Dominic Cummings after he broke lockdown earlier this year. The Newsnight coverage centred on the former senior adviser to Boris Johnson’s trip from London to Durham during the first lockdown. The BBC previously ruled that the presenter’s comments about Dominic Cummings, breached impartiality rules.  […]

No 10 has spent £2.7 million of taxpayer’s cash in one year to pay out sacked advisers, a government report has revealed. The sum includes severance pay-outs to advisers who left between April 2019 and March 2020, the Cabinet Office has confirmed. An annual report on Special Advisers shows staff turnover in 2019 was unusually high due to […]

A minister has defended the £40,000 pay rise given to Dominic Cummings – which was part of the £10 million pay for Boris Johnson’s advisers in the last year. Former chief adviser Cummings, who is in the process of leaving his government post, was paid the equivalent of £140,000-£144,999 – up from £95,000-£99,999 last year. […]

Dominic Cummings has been heavily criticised for “quietly receiving” a 40% pay rise while he was Boris Johnson’s adviser in Downing Street. Government special advisers were paid almost £10 million last year, new figures have revealed, with former chief adviser Cummings paid the equivalent of £140,000-£144,999 – up from £95,000-£99,999 last year. Dominic Cummings quietly received […]

A cabinet minister has admitted that Dominic Cummings’ trip to Barnard Castle undermined the government’s coronavirus response. Appearing on Question Time,  justice secretary Robert Buckland branded the episode “deeply unfortunate” when he was asked if he thought the prime minister’s former chief adviser had broken the rules over lockdown. Although he said that Cummings was […]

A joke about Boris Johnson’s former aide Dominic Cummings has topped the list of the top Christmas cracker jokes in the UK. TV channel Gold’s eight annual rankings – chosen by a panel chaired by critic Bruce Dessau – saw 2,000 voters choose a gag about the Vote Leave mastermind. “What is Dominic Cummings’ favourite Christmas song? […]

Donald MacIntyre on how Britain’s reputation is changing in the eyes of the world Although he was one of the most celebrated British diplomats of the era, few now remember how explosive was the leaking of the farewell telegram the UK ambassador to Paris Sir Nicholas (Nico) Henderson wrote about Britain’s international standing for his […]

Michael Gove has inflamed tensions with Piers Morgan after he said he received “good advice” from colleagues to boycott Good Morning Britain (GMB). Morgan accused Gove of “suppressing free speech” after the minister admitted he he had been “told” to avoid the show. Referencing a Scottish anecdote, Gove said: “When you get good advice from your colleagues, […]