James O'Brien caller: Dominic Cummings is leaving because of Covid impact

13 November 2020, 14:22

This James O'Brien caller has suggested Dominic Cummings is set to leave his Downing Street position because of the impact Covid has had on the UK.

Mr Cummings, who is Boris Johnson's most senior adviser, is expected to leave his position by the end of this year.

He has previously said that "rumours of me threatening to resign are invented" after speculation that he would follow communications director Lee Cain in leaving Number 10.

However, Mr Cummings has also said that his "position hasn't changed since my January blog" when he wrote that he hoped to make himself "largely redundant" by the end of 2020.

Speaking of Mr Cummings' expected departure, Dan from Warwick told James: "He has realised that coronavirus has ripped up his plans for his grand funfair of reforming government and public service."

He added: "He realises that, when January hits, there is no wriggle room for any rabbits out of the hat to offset the economic downturn because Covid has already wiped out the purse strings to allow us to do that."

Dan, who accused Mr Cummings of having a "sinister self-interest", also said: "We talk of single-use plastic. I would refer to him as single-use intelligence.

"He uses just enough intelligence and he reads just enough for something that he says or something that wants to do to carry some weight.

"But there's not enough there for him to be scrutinised, which is why being in the position he was perfect because he didn't need to be scrutinised..."

When asked by James why Boris Johnson was so "enthralled" to Mr Cummings, Dan said: "I think he probably just tried to ride off the back of what Cummings was trying to do.

"They got over the line with the [EU] referendum. Johnson didn't expect that [and] thought 'well I'm in bed with him now, I've got to see this through'."