DOWNING Street was in chaos yesterday morning, with Boris Johnson’s closest advisers at each other’s throats.
On Wednesday night, Lee Cain announced he would step down as director of communications after Tory ministers and advisers, including Johnson’s partner, blocked his planned promotion to chief of staff.
That resignation led to rumours that Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s right-hand man, could also quit, though at the time of going to print he was still in place. The two men were close allies, having worked together on the Vote Leave campaign.
Reports suggest that Johnson offered the new chief of staff position to Cain last week.
That followed claims the former Mirror journalist had been mulling over quitting Number 10 in part because of clashes with Allegra Stratton – the new Downing Street spokeswoman, who is due to host the new televised press conferences from January.
Cain isn’t universally liked and a number of MPs and special advisers protested the possible promotion, which would have made him one of the most powerful men in the country.
Johnson’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds – who is a former head of communications for the Tories – also opposed Cain’s appointment.
Sir Charles Walker, vice-chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench Conservative MPs, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the resignation was a good thing: “I think there has been unhappiness about the Number 10 operation for some time.
“Members of Parliament have felt excluded from the decision-making process, and that’s no secret.
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“The real opportunity here is for the chief of staff position to be filled by someone who has good links with the Conservative Party and its representation in the House of Commons.”
Jake Berry, MP for Rossendale and Darwen, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that the Prime Minister was stamping his “Johnsonian authority across the Number 10 operation.
“The departure of Lee Cain does show, I think, that the Prime Minister is taking back control of his government. As we go past that grim milestone of 50,000 deaths from this appalling disease, it’s high time that there was a bit of a change of guard in Number 10.
However, allies of Cain said he had been acting as de facto chief of staff for some time and had “absolute loyalty” to the Prime Minister.
SNP Westminster deputy leader Kirsten Oswald called the Downing Street civil war “shameful”.
She said: “The UK faces a growing Tory unemployment crisis, a devastating global pandemic, as well as the looming end of the Brexit transition period.
“It is a shameful distraction that senior members of the Tory Government are wasting time fighting among themselves”.
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