DOWNING Street has declined to disclose further details on Dominic Cummings’ plans to leave No 10.
The chief aide had been on the brink of resigning since the departure of No 10 communications director Lee Cain on Wednesday.
READ MORE: Chaos as former Vote Leave chief tipped to become PM's chief of staff
Last night Cummings was understood to have handed the Prime Minister his resignation and will leave his role before the New Year.
No 10 declined to say whether he had formally handed in his notice, whether he had told Boris Johnson of his departure and whether an exit date had been set.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “I don’t have anything for you on that other than pointing back to Dom’s words which are being reported on the BBC. I think they speak for themselves.”
READ MORE: Dominic Cummings to resign from No 10 by Christmas
Tories backbenchers turned against the top aide blaming him for the Conservative Government's chaotic handling of the pandemic which has left the UK having the highest Covid-19 death toll in Europe.
Health experts also blamed Johnson's failure to sack Cummings over the aide's lockdown breaches to Durham in April as weakening compliance in the rules among the wider population.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said that Cummings "will be missed" when he leaves No 10 but "advisers do come and go".
Kirsten Owald, the SNP's deputy leader at Westminster, said the Prime Minister "completely alienated Scotland" by bringing the Vote Leave Brexit campaign to the heart of the UK Government, and trashed his reputation further by refusing to suspend Cummings after he broke lockdown rules.
READ MORE: SNP react to Dominic Cummings's Christmas depature from No 10
Polls published in the aftermath of the Cummings scandal saw the Prime Minister's net approval rating fall to minus 5 (Opinium), with people viewing the Tories as 'incompetent' (43%, +16), 'out of touch' (48%, +11), 'Untrustworthy' (47%, +11) and 'serving their own interests' (48%, +12) (YouGov).
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