Boris Johnson should be walking on water right now – instead he’s drowning in petty squabbles

The government has won a massive majority, so why is still in fight mode, asks Andrew Grice

The PM needs to reflect on the wisdom of maintaining a war footing (PA)

After such a huge election victory, Boris Johnson should now be enjoying a “walking on water” phase. Although his opinion poll ratings are improving, they did not break through the darkening clouds at Westminster. “We have had a bad week,” one senior Tory admitted.

Even Johnson’s wins are being called into question. While aides had highlighted the prime minister’s skill in avoiding a breach with Donald Trump over Huawei, the plaudits proved premature: it has now emerged that the US president was “apoplectic” at Johnson in a tense phone call. Although the PM’s aides describe this version of events as “overblown”, that is not a denial.

It should have been the week when Johnson deployed his bouncy optimism to launch plans for the UN COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November, widely seen as the world’s last chance to tackle global warming. It will be a huge test for the UK’s diplomatic mettle to broker a compromise between China, India and the EU. The universally loved Sir David Attenborough was booked to appear alongside Johnson at Tuesday’s launch.

But it was eclipsed by Johnson’s decision to sack the former Tory minister Claire O’Neill as president of COP26. With exquisite timing, O’Neill took her revenge by going public with her wounding claim that Johnson did not “get” climate change, which might have been true in the past, but now seems out of date. With hindsight, the outspoken O’Neill was never going to go quietly; her departure should not have been left so relatively late in the day.

Her sacking was administered by Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s senior adviser. His fingerprints were also detected after two slaps around the face of the media. Firstly, Downing Street excluded several outlets, including The Independent, from a technical briefing on the UK-EU trade talks. Secondly, ministers confirmed the BBC’s licence fee will be unlikely to survive its charter renewal in 2027.

A common theme that worries some Tory MPs is Team Boris’s desire to pick unnecessary fights (though they have laid the blame firmly at Cummings’ door, rather than Johnson’s). Although these MPs acknowledge the need for a debate about BBC funding in the new media landscape, they are reluctant to attack an institution that, while imperfect, is still cherished by the public.

The war against the 250 Westminster-based lobby journalists baffles these Tory MPs. “Totally counterproductive,” one told me. “At this stage, we should be milking positive coverage after the election and Brexit. But we have alienated the messengers for no reason.”

Even some inside No 10 were said to be alarmed when the Daily Mail, which should be Johnson’s biggest cheerleader, condemned “this crude attempt at censorship” and urged him to prove he believed in a free press. The paper said the ban on ministers appearing on BBC programmes such as Radio 4’s Today is “starting to look childish,” adding that the “abrasive” Cummings “should be put firmly in his place”.

That view is also held by some Tories who admire Cummings for winning the 2016 referendum and 2019 election, but think his bellicose approach is not suited to what should be a more peaceful era, given the party’s big majority.

Some Tories believe this week’s damaging headlines will result in Cummings’ influence being reduced. “I think we have passed peak Dom,” one told me. His critics claim that, despite his reputation as an all-powerful Svengali, Cummings has apparently suffered a run of defeats. He opposes the £106bn HS2 rail project, but it looks set to be given the go-ahead regardless. He was unhappy about allowing Huawei a 5G role. His proposals to shake up Whitehall departments and pare back the size of the cabinet in a reshuffle expected next week seem to have been shelved. His attempt to personally recruit “weirdos and misfits” to No 10 appears to have fallen foul of civil service recruitment rules.

As he seeks a new role without a referendum or election to fight, Cummings is heavily involved in preparations for the 11 March Budget. Which, inevitably, has raised the hackles of Sajid Javid, the chancellor.

Some Whitehall officials think they have seen off the threat posed by Cummings, and that the government will now settle down to something resembling business as usual.

Yet predictions of his demise may prove premature. Indeed, there should be room in the system for a breath of fresh air, a free-thinker and disrupter ready to challenge the status quo and, notably, the civil service. But to make such a role work, Cummings will need to rein himself in, or be reined in by Johnson.

As his critics recalled this week, when Cummings took on the education establishment as special adviser to Michael Gove, it ended with Gove’s demotion from education secretary because he was seen as “toxic”. Johnson doesn’t want to follow in Gove’s footsteps – he wants to be loved.