This isn’t the end for Dominic Cummings’ Whitehall shake-up

There has been no sign of contrition from Downing Street as Andrew Sabisky steps down, writes political editor Andrew Woodcock

The hasty resignation of self-styled superforecaster Andrew Sabisky was not in Dominic Cummings’s plans when he sent out his call for “weirdos and misfits” to join him in shaking up Whitehall.

Cummings’ attempt to bypass the standard civil service recruitment procedures appears to have fallen at the first hurdle, as Sabisky’s bizarre views on race and eugenics provoked a firestorm which he proved unable to withstand.

But it would be wrong to assume that the loss of this recruit – apparently hired as a “contractor” to work on an as-yet-unnamed project – means the end of efforts by Boris Johnson’s top adviser to reshape the way government operates.

What has been notable in Sabisky’s departure has been the distinct lack of contrition on the part of Cummings or of Downing Street itself.

Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng may have denounced Sabisky’s views as “racist” and called for a curb on Cummings’ power to recruit as he conducted a round of media appearances on the morning after the resignation.

But Cummings himself was dismissive when asked about the affair, telling a TV crew which doorstepped his London home that they should “read Philip Tetlock’s Superforecasters, instead of political pundits who don’t know what they’re talking about”.

Sabisky’s tweet announcing his resignation was a model of nonchalant indifference. The media, he said, had been “selectively quoting” and there was “no point” in him sticking around if he was going to be subject to “character assassination”, as he had plenty of other things to do.

Meanwhile, Downing Street offered a wall of silence, answering “no comment” to press queries over whether Sabisky had been sacked, whether he had jumped before he was pushed, whether the PM welcomed his departure and whether anyone at No 10 regretted anything he had done or said.

This refusal to comment was perhaps most telling.

It came after a No 10 spokesperson declined more than 30 times to say whether Johnson agreed with his short-lived aide that black people were mentally inferior and that mandatory contraception might prevent the creation of a “permanent underclass”.

And it sent the clear message that the PM was not going to criticise anything Sabisky had said, was happy to go along – in public at least – with the narrative that he had been forced out by a “mad” media in one of its bouts of collective hysteria and would not allow doubts over his appointment to undermine the position of his favourite Cummings.

Dominic Cummings will continue to reshape Whitehall (AFP/Getty)

The subtext of all this is that nothing has changed. Despite a few uneasy noises from Tory MPs, Cummings remains unchastised in his position of near-supreme authority within the heart of the government machine.

Despite the loss of a single foot-soldier, his campaign to reshape government continues, with No 10 now exerting unprecedented control over the Treasury through the creation of a new “joint economic unit” of advisers under his command.

Commissions are being created to devise ways of reining in the courts. The BBC suffers unattributed threats about the loss of its licence fee. The international aid department is virtually subsumed by the Foreign Office, with which it now shares all but one of its ministers. The press are increasingly excluded from contact with the prime minister, even to take his picture or film his statements.

And there is no clarity about how Sabisky was recruited and what his job involved. Or about how many others like him have been signed up by the government in response to Cummings’ appeal.