Inside Politics: Dominic Cummings assumes complete control

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Friday 14 February 2020 08:47 GMT

Sajid Javid explains his resignation

Nightmare news for parents with young children. The BBC’s chairman has warned the end of the licence fee would mean the end for CBeebies – the hypnotic, spell-casting pacifier bringing order to living rooms across the land. No 10’s remote controller Dominic Cummings – a big fan of kids’ cartoons – believes he has brought some order to Downing Street. He has manage to pacify the Treasury by ousting Sajid Javid, and expects the new cabinet to remain under his hypnotic spell. Boris Johnson? Don’t worry about him – he’s parked safely in front of the TV watching Teletubbies and Moon and Me. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing.

Inside the bubble

Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick on what to look out for today:

The new cabinet will meet for the first time today, minus one former chancellor who triggered Boris Johnson’s first real crisis since the election by quitting rather than be neutered by Dominic Cummings and his lust for absolute power. Meanwhile, Emily Thornberry will learn whether she has secured the required backing from 33 local Labour parties in order to get on the ballot and stay in the leadership race – with Friday the deadline for doing so.

Daily briefing

ROGUE ONE GOES SOLO: Sajid Javid’s shock resignation offered up all the ingredients of a classic cabinet reshuffle: power, betrayal and greasy cheeseburgers. By several accounts Johnson actually thought Javid would agree to sack his own team and put up with a joint No 10-Treasury team of advisors (under Cummings’ ultimate control, of course). The pair reportedly spoke in front of officials about future plans for 30 minutes, before the PM dropped the bombshell power-grab plan. It forced a private meeting in the study before Javid’s exit out the back door. Back home, The Saj complained that no “self-respecting” minister would have accepted the conditions – and treated himself to a Five Guys delivery. Quite right. His replacement Rishi Sunak is expected to go along with a No 10-plotted “giveaway” Budget. A friend of Javid’s claimed Sunak had “knifed him in the back”. But the weapon of choice was surely a lightsaber. Star Wars freak Sunak had been photographed with his arm around Javid at the recent Rise of Skywalker premiere. They’ll always have that special night on the red carpet.

YE SHALL OBEY: Labour accused Cummings of installing his own “stooge” at No 11. But the efforts to instil compliance in cabinet didn’t end there. No 10 cleared out “tall poppies” who spoke their mind a bit too much – namely Geoffrey Cox and Julian Smith. The surprising exit of Smith from the Northern Ireland Office caused horror on both sides of the Irish border. Smith was suddenly a saint, a legend – a great man of history. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar called him “one of Britain’s finest politicians of our time” while DUP leader Arlene Foster said “his dedication to the role was incredible”. Other causes for concern include the appointment of Anne-Marie Trevelyan as international development secretary. She doesn’t actually appear to like international development, having said “charity begins at home” in the past. Suella Braverman – a former chair of the European Research Group (ERG) of EU-hating Tories – replaces Cox as attorney general. She recently wrote about how unhappy she is at the “the shrinkage of politics and the ascent of law”, so it looks like she’s fully on board with No 10’s plans to cut the judiciary down to size.

PALE, MALE AND STALE: We were told for weeks how Johnson and Cummings were about to promote female Tory “talent”. But it turns out the new cabinet is more male, white and expensively educated than the last one. According to The Times, 46 per cent of them attended Oxford or Cambridge – up from 36 per cent. Christine Jardine, the Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for women and equalities, said: “It’s almost unbelievable that Boris Johnson has managed to find a way to make his cabinet even more male-dominated,” said the Lib Dems’ Christine Jardine. Alok Sharma, the new business secretary, has been handed the role of running the COP26 climate change conference. Environmentalists will be delighted to know he is a supporter of airport expansion at Heathrow and Gatwick. “Alok is a very good person,” said his predecessor Claire O’Neill. That’s the main thing, I suppose. Being a good person as the planet burns.

PRE-LUNCHTIME PINTS: Still seven weeks to go in the Labour leadership contest. Seven weeks! Emily Thornberry lost all track of space and time when the fab four contenders appeared on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme. Asked a question she said: “What? Sorry, I zoned out there.” Thornberry managed to gather herself to accuse Rebecca Long-Bailey – again – of not speaking out on antisemitism. She said she “didn’t remember” Long-Bailey ever bringing the subject up at shadow cabinet. Asked if they were all great friends, really, Lisa Nandy looked up at the clock (it was still well before noon) and said: “I would go for a pint with any of these people. In fact, right now probably.” Meanwhile, Rosena Allin-Khan, who is running to be deputy, has called for both contests to be suspended to sort out data controversies – after Labour suddenly refused access to full membership lists. Would it mean dragging out this hell even longer?

THE MUSTIQUE MYSTERY: Well, well, well. One for ze little grey cells, as Hercule Poirot would say. Labour’s Jon Trickett has now formally asked the parliamentary commissioner for standards to get to the bottom of who paid for the prime minister’s 10-day luxury holiday on the Caribbean island of Mustique. A spokesperson for David Ross – declared on the register of members’ interests as having covered the £15,000 cost – initially denied the wealthy businessman had paid for it. But the spokesperson later said Ross had “facilitated accommodation” and “therefore ... Mr Johnson’s declaration to the House of Commons is correct.” Let’s see if the parliamentary commissioner can figure it out. An investigation is expected to begin in the coming days.

On the record

“I believe it is important as leaders to have trusted teams that reflect the character and integrity that you would wish to be associated with.”

Sajid Javid makes pointed reference to Dominic Cummings in his resignation letter to the PM.

From the Twitterati

“Fair play to Sajid Javid for having some self-worth.”

The Guardian’s John Crace salutes the departing chancellor for refusing Cummings’ demand...

“You know how I was saying respect to The Saj. Well on the other hand we have [justice secretary] Robert Buckland. Told his Spad “Dom wants you out so I’m going to have to let you go”. What a piece of work.”

...while The Mail on Sunday’s Dan Hodges says Buckland was only too happy to do Cummings’ bidding.