Johnson adviser, Dominic Cummings, is now ‘in complete control’ of Conservative Party

Johnson adviser, Dominic Cummings, is now ‘in complete control’ of Conservative Party

Jack Blanchard writes:

Despite all the threats and aggressive briefings from No. 10 in lead-up, plenty of Tory MPs and aides were still gobsmacked by the unprecedented purge of the moderates we saw last night. When was the last time any major political party threw out more than 20 of its MPs for disobeying orders? Worryingly for Downing Street, even slavishly loyal Brexiteers were unnerved. “It’s like something out of North Korea,” one normally supportive No. 10 aide phoned Playbook to say. “I honestly think they’ve completely overreached. They have f***ed this up. We look bonkers. You’re trying to frame it as parliament vs. the people — and then you deselect 20-odd of your own MPs, including Winston Churchill’s grandson? I mean — deselecting Philip Hammond is one thing, but Richard bloody Benyon? Imagine what we’d be saying if Corbyn did something like this.”

Blame game: To the surprise of absolutely no one, angry fingers are being pointed at Johnson’s de-facto chief of staff Dominic Cummings. “He’s made Nick Timothy look like Mary Poppins,” Playbook’s source in Downing Street said. “This is not on Boris. Of course the PM takes responsibility — he’s the big man and the buck stops with him — but we all know this is Cummings and [director of comms] Lee Cain. They’ve cooked up this strategy and they’ve told him it’s going to work and he’s trusted them. And now we’re throwing Winston Churchill’s grandson out of the Conservative Party.” When Playbook cracked a gag about World War III kicking off in the days ahead, the source replied: “With Cummings and Cain we’ll have IV, V and VI by the end of the year.”

Also angry: A source close to the rebel camp was also furious with Cummings. “It’s more than a purge of the party — it’s a Vote Leave takeover,” the rebel source told Playbook last night. “Cummings is in complete control, and I’d be surprised if even Boris realizes it fully. This is a guy who is not even a member of the Conservative Party, pulling the strings of an operation that has just removed the whip from Winston Churchill’s grandson. When will the rest of the party wake up to what is happening?” [Continue reading…]

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