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===Senior Adviser to Boris Johnson (Since 2019) === |
===Senior Adviser to Boris Johnson (Since 2019) === |
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[[File:Peoples Vote March October 3959 Demonic Cummings sculpture.jpg|thumb|Effigy of Cummings as [[Boris Johnson]]'s puppet-master at the [[People's Vote]] march, in October 2019]] |
[[File:Peoples Vote March October 3959 Demonic Cummings sculpture.jpg|thumb|Effigy of Cummings ([[Demonic Cummings]]) as [[Boris Johnson]]'s puppet-master at the [[People's Vote]] march, in October 2019]] |
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On 24 July 2019, Cummings was appointed as a Senior Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.sky.com/story/controversial-ex-vote-leave-chief-dominic-cummings-to-join-boris-johnsons-team-in-number-10-11769523|title=Who is 'career psychopath' Dominic Cummings set to join Johnson's team?|last=Heffer|first=Greg|date=24 July 2019|website=Sky News|language=en|accessdate=24 July 2019}}</ref> |
On 24 July 2019, Cummings was appointed as a Senior Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.sky.com/story/controversial-ex-vote-leave-chief-dominic-cummings-to-join-boris-johnsons-team-in-number-10-11769523|title=Who is 'career psychopath' Dominic Cummings set to join Johnson's team?|last=Heffer|first=Greg|date=24 July 2019|website=Sky News|language=en|accessdate=24 July 2019}}</ref> |
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Dominic Cummings
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|---|---|
| Chief Adviser to the Prime Minister | |
| Assumed office 24 July 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Office established (Gavin BarwellasDowning Street Chief of Staff) |
| Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Education | |
| In office 2010–2014 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Education Secretary | Michael Gove |
| Preceded by | Elena Narozanski |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Dominic Mckenzie Cummings (1971-11-25) 25 November 1971 (age 52)[1] Durham, England[1] |
| Spouse | Mary Wakefield |
| Children | 1 |
| Education | Durham School |
| Alma mater | Exeter College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Political adviser |
| Known for | Special adviser to Education Secretary Michael Gove, 2010–2014; Campaign DirectorofVote Leave, 2015–2016; Senior Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 2019–present |
| Website | dominiccummings |
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Dominic Mckenzie Cummings (born 25 November 1971) is a British political strategist who was appointed a Chief AdvisertoPrime Minister Boris Johnson in July 2019.[2][3] As Johnson's chief adviser, political commentators note that Cummings has an unprecedented level of influence upon the Prime Minister himself and Her Majesty’s Government.
From 2007 to 2014, he was a special advisertoMichael Gove, including the time that Gove served as Secretary of State for Education, before leaving when Gove was demoted to the Chief Whip’s OfficebyDavid Cameron. At the Department for Education, Cummings was suspected of leading a briefing campaign against the Home Office led by then-Home Secretary Theresa May and clashed with David Cameron, then prime minister. From 2015 to 2016, Cummings was director of the successful Vote Leave campaign, an organisation opposed to continued British membership of the European Union, that took an active part in the 2016 referendum campaign for Brexit.
In May 2020, politicans and the media called for Cummings to resign after he travelled to visit his parents' farm in Durham during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The prime minister, Boris Johnson, supported Cummings saying he had acted "responsibly, legally and with integrity".
Cummings was born in Durham on 25 November 1971. His father, Robert, had a varied career, primarily as an oil rig project manager for Laing,[4] the construction firm. His mother, Morag, a university graduate, was a teacher and behavioural specialist.[5] Sir John Laws, a former Lord Justice of Appeal, was his uncle.[5]
After attending state primary school, he was privately educated at Durham School[6] and Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied under Norman Stone,[7] graduating in 1994 with a First in Ancient and Modern History.[8] One of his professors has described him to the New Statesman as "fizzing with ideas, unconvinced by any received set of views about anything". He was "something like a Robespierre – someone determined to bring down things that don’t work."[5] Also in his youth, he worked at Klute, a nightclub owned by his uncle in Durham.[9]
After university, Cummings moved to Yeltsin's post-Soviet Russia from 1994 to 1997, working on various projects at the encouragement of Stone. He worked for a group attempting to set up an airline connecting Samara in southern Russia to Vienna in Austria which was "spectacularly unsuccessful".[10] He subsequently returned to the UK.
From 1999 to 2002, Cummings was campaign director at Business for Sterling, the campaign against the UK joining the Euro.[1][8] He then became Director of Strategy for Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith for eight months in 2002, aiming to modernise the Conservative Party (of which he was not a member); however he soon left in frustration at the introduction of what he saw as half-measures, labelling Duncan Smith "incompetent".[11][12] With James Frayne, he founded the New Frontiers Foundation think-tank as its director; it launched in December 2003 and closed in March 2005.[13] Cummings was described as a "key figure" in the successful campaign against a North-East Regional Assembly in 2004,[14] after which he moved to his father's farm in County Durham.[8]
Cummings worked for Conservative politician Michael Gove from 2007 to January 2014, first in opposition and then, after Andy Coulson’s departure as a special adviser (spad) in the Department for Education (DfE). He was Gove's chief of staff,[11] an appointment blocked by Andy Coulson until his own resignation.[15][16] In this capacity, Cummings wrote an essay titled "Some thoughts on education and political priorities",[17] about transforming Britain into a "meritocratic technopolis";[11] the essay was described by Guardian journalist Patrick Wintour as "either mad, bad or brilliant – and probably a bit of all three".[16][18]
At the DfE, Cummings became known for his blunt style and "not suffering fools gladly";[8][11] he railed against the "blob", the informal alliance of senior civil servants and teachers who, in Cummings's opinion, sought to frustrate his attempts at reform.[14] Cummings was also outspoken regarding other senior politicians, describing Nick Clegg's proposals on free school meals as "Dreamed up on the back of a cigarette packet",[19] and David Davis as "thick as mince" and "lazy as a toad".[14] Patrick Wintour described the Cummings–Gove working relationship: "Gove, polite to a fault, would often feign ignorance of his adviser’s methods, but knew full well the dark arts that Cummings deployed to get his master’s way".[19] In 2014, Prime Minister David Cameron described Cummings as a "career psychopath",[20] although the two had never met.[19]
In 2012, a senior female civil servant received a payout of £25,000 in a bullying case she took against Cummings and a senior member of Michael Gove's team, when Cummings was a special adviser at the Department for Education.[21][22]
During his time as an official working for Gove, Cummings received a warning from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for use of private Gmail accounts to deal with government business, saying it should be 'actively discouraged'.[23] The ICO uncovered an email from Cummings in which he said: 'i will not answer any further emails to my official DfE account or from conservatives.com – i will only answer things that come from Gmail accounts from people who I know who they are' [sic].[24]
In 2014, Cummings left his job as a special adviser and noted that he might endeavour to open a free school.[15] He had previously worked for the New Schools Network charity that advises free schools, as a volunteer from June 2009 and then as a paid freelancer from July to December 2010.[15][25]
Cummings became campaign director of Vote Leave upon the creation of the organisation in October 2015.[18] He is credited with having created the Vote Leave slogan, "Take back control", and with being the leading strategist of the campaign.[26][27] His campaign strategy was summarised as: "Do talk about immigration";[28][29] "Do talk about business"; "Don’t make the referendum final"; "Do keep mentioning the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the over-reach of the European Union's Court of Justice". Board member of Vote Leave Bernard Jenkin tried to remove Cummings and merge Vote Leave with the other campaign, Leave.EU.[30] Cummings and Vote Leave CEO Matthew Elliott left the board in February 2016 following reported infighting.[31] The June 2016 referendum resulted in a 51.9% vote to leave the European Union. Cummings was praised alongside Elliott as being one of the masterminds of the campaign.[32] He was named as one of "Debrett's 500 2016" people of influence.[33]
He advised Babylon Health on its communications strategy and senior recruitment up to September 2018. The Labour Party opposition spokesman Jon Ashworth said the links between Cummings, the health secretary and Babylon were "increasingly murky and highly irresponsible".[34]
In March 2019, the Commons Select Committee of Privileges recommended the House issue an admonishment for contempt of Parliament after Cummings failed to appear before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee inquiry into claims of false news during the referendum campaign.[35] The resolution admonishing him was passed by resolution of the House of Commons on 2 April 2019.[36]
In July 2017, the lawyer and political commentator, David Allen Green, asked Cummings via Twitter, "Is there anything which could now happen (or not happen) which would make you now wish Leave had not won the referendum result?" Cummings replied, "Lots! I said before REF was dumb idea, other things should have been tried 1st."[37]
On 24 July 2019, Cummings was appointed as a Senior Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.[38]
On his appointment, The Guardian reported that at a conference in 2017 Cummings had argued that: "People think, and by the way I think most people are right: 'The Tory party is run by people who basically don't care about people like me'"; and that "Tory MPs largely do not care about these poorer people. They don't care about the NHS. And the public has kind of cottoned on to that".[39]
The Daily Telegraph reported on Cummings's past rivalry with Nigel Farage from the 2016 referendum campaign, and quoted Farage as saying that: "He has never liked me. He can't stand the ERG. I can't see him coming to any accommodation with anyone. He has huge personal enmity with the true believers in Brexit".[40]
Cummings was accused by Layla Moran of hypocrisy when, not long after his appointment, it was reported that a farm that he co-owns had received €250,000 (£235,000) in EU farming subsidies. Cummings had previously described such subsidies as "absurd", complaining that some of them were handed out to "very rich landowners to do stupid things".[41]
In November 2019, a whistleblower raised questions about Cummings' interactions during his years in Russia; The Sunday Times reported that Whitehall was keeping certain government business from Cummings.[42]
As is customary procedure, Cummings temporarily resigned his role when Parliament dissolved for the 2019 general election, along with most special advisers, but was briefly reinstated to assist the government following widespread flooding.[43]
According to Politico, Cummings played a role in the Conservative Party's victory in the election,[44] despite having passed the party's running of the election campaign to Isaac Levido. After the election, Cummings called for people interested in working in government to contact him through a private Gmail address. In a blog post, he said he wanted to recruit data scientists, software developers and economists to help improve the performance of government, making his own role "within a year largely redundant".[45] The recruitment drive was reported to have resulted in several appointments on short-term contracts, including Baroness Wolf of Dulwich, Professor Vernon Gibson and, briefly, Andrew Sabisky.[46] Sabisky resigned in February 2020 following complaints about his previously expressed views on race, intelligence and eugenics.[47]
In August 2019 Cummings dismissed Sonia Khan, one of the Treasury's special advisors, without the permission or knowledge of Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid. The dismissal occurred during preparations for suspending parliament, which Cummings had planned and which would limit the time in which MPs could block a no-deal Brexit. Cummings believed that Khan had been dishonest about her recent contact with her ex-boss, previous Chancellor and no-deal opponent Philip Hammond, and, according to an unconfirmed report, fired her after summoning her to 10 Downing Street and viewing recent activity on her phones, and then asked an armed officer to enter the building and escort Khan off the premises. Former attorney general Dominic Grieve said that the cabinet secretary should hold an inquiry and that "it was wrong of the police to get involved". Dal Babu, former chief superintendent of the Metropolitan police, said it was "a shocking abuse of armed officers" and that the police should be asking questions of both Cummings and the Prime Minister about an abuse of process.[48] The following month, The Times reported that Cummings had "seized new powers to sack ministers' advisers", as their new employment contracts stipulated that responsibility for disciplinary matters rested with the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff as well as with their respective ministers.[49]
In March 2020, it was reported in The Sunday Times that during a private engagement the previous month, Cummings had claimed that the government's strategy towards the coronavirus was "herd immunity, protect the economy and if that means some pensioners die, too bad". The spokesman for 10 Downing Street decried the article as "a highly defamatory fabrication" which "includes a series of apparent quotes from meetings which are invented".[50] On 30 March, Cummings displayed symptoms of COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic and was reported to be self-isolating. This was three days after Johnson tested positive for the virus.[51] On 27 April, it emerged that Cummings sat in on meetings of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), which advises the cabinet on coronavirus response.[52] Cummings urged a faster lockdown and encouraged the scientists to support the closure of pubs and restaurants.[53]
In late March 2020, Cummings made a journey to Durham with his wife and four-year old son to his parents' estate, 264 miles (425 km) from his usual residence in London. This trip was controversial as, at this time, the government had instructed people to remain at home. A joint investigation by the Daily Mirror and The Guardian published on 22 May alleged that police spoke to Cummings.[54][55] On 23 May, Durham Constabulary said that it was Cummings's father who had contacted them, instead of them contacting and speaking to Cummings, and that they had discussed, by telephone, matters relating to security.[56] Following publication of the reports, the SNP leader in Westminster, Ian Blackford and the acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, called for Cummings to resign if the allegations were to be confirmed, while Labour said 10 Downing Street needed to provide a "very swift explanation" for his actions.[57][58] On 24 May, The Observer and Sunday Mirror alleged that Cummings had made a second trip to Durham during lockdown after returning to, and being photographed in, London.[59] Cummings denied these allegations, and Downing Street said it would not waste time answering such allegations from "campaigning newspapers".[60] Boris Johnson, as part of a televised update on the coronavirus situation on 24 May, defended Cummings and said he had acted "responsibly, legally and with integrity".[61][62] On 25 May 2020, Durham's Acting Police, Crime and Victims’ Commissioner Steve White asked Durham Constabulary to investigate any potential breach of the law or regulations in relation to Cummings's Durham movements.[63][64] That same day, Cummings held a press conference defending his actions, stating: "There is no regulation covering the situation I found myself in". Cummings said he made a 30-minute trip by car to the town of Barnard Castle, and said that it was to check that, after recovering from the illness which had temporarily affected his eyesight, he felt fit enough for the long drive back to London.[65]
Cummings has described his political views as "not Tory (Conservative), libertarian, 'populist' or anything else".[66]
In January 2016, five months prior to the 2016 European Union referendum in the United Kingdom, Cummings said:
"Extremists are on the rise in Europe and are being fuelled unfortunately by the Euro project and by the centralisation of power in Brussels. It is increasingly important that Britain offers an example of civilised, democratic, liberal self-government."[67]
At an Ogilvy conference in 2017, Cummings stated his belief that the EU, rather than solving issues, was fuelling radicalism and extremism due to a perceived lack of control over issues such as economy and immigration:
"For me ... the worst-case scenario for Europe is a return to 1930s-style protectionism and extremism. And to me the EU project, the Eurozone project, are driving the growth of extremism. The single most important reason, really, for why I wanted to get out of the EU is I think that it will drain the poison of a lot of political debates ... UKIP and Nigel Farage would be finished. Once there’s democratic control of immigration policy, immigration will go back to being a second- or third-order issue."[68]
Cummings has frequently criticised what he sees as a London-centred political system that failed to countenance the UK's voting to leave the European Union.[69] He has expressed his dismay that many voters' concerns, particularly in Northern England and the Midlands, have been ignored by both the Conservatives and Labour and 'taken for granted'.[69] He criticised New Labour's attempt at re-balancing inherent structural deficiencies within the British economy following de-industrialisation with a system of tax credits.[69]
Cummings has said he has never been a member of a political party.[70] Despite this, he was second in a list by LBC of the 'Top 100 Most Influential Conservatives of 2019'.[71] Although frequently portrayed as on the right of the political spectrum, he has expressed dismay for the European Research Group led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, describing the group as "useful idiots" for the argument to remain in the EU and that they "should be treated like a metastasising tumour and excised from the UK body politic."[72] He sought to isolate Nigel Farage from the official Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 referendum believing his presence to not be helpful in winning over undecided voters.[73]
In December 2011, Cummings married Mary Wakefield, sister of his friend Jack Wakefield,[74] former director of the Firtash Foundation.[75] Mary Wakefield has worked at the weekly magazine The Spectator for decades, since Boris Johnson was editor, and is now commissioning editor. She is the daughter of Sir Humphry Wakefield, 2nd Baronet, of Chillingham CastleinNorthumberland.[12] Her mother is Katherine Wakefield, née Baring, elder daughter of Evelyn Baring, 1st Baron Howick of Glendale.[76]
In 2016, they had a son,[77][78] Alexander Cedd, named after an Anglo-Saxon saint.[74]
Cummings is reportedly an admirer of Otto von Bismarck, Richard Feynman, Sun Tzu,[68] and U.S. fighter pilot and military strategist John Boyd.[79] Journalist Owen Bennett claimed that Cummings "is a Russophile, speaks Russian, and is passionately interested in Dostoyevsky",[1] while Patrick WintourinThe Guardian reported that "Anna Karenina, maths and Bismarck are his three obsessions."[19]
Cummings was portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in the 2019 Channel 4 drama Brexit: The Uncivil War.[80][81]
Cummings is registered as a director of the non-trading company Klute Ltd, which formerly owned the Klute nightclub in Durham,[82][83] and Dynamic Maps Ltd, an information technology consultancy.[84] He runs another company called North Wood that "tries to solve problems" related to management, politics and communications.[85]
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Screenwriter James Graham has turned the campaign into a compelling story – and nailed my mannerisms
Media related to Dominic Cummings at Wikimedia Commons
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