Who’s really in charge at No 10?

Downing Street has been likened to the court of Henry VIII. Sean O’Grady takes a closer look at the balance of power

Boris Johnson with Carrie Symonds and their dog (PA)

Rather like his master Boris Johnson, Dilyn the dog doesn’t seem to care where he cocks his leg. Last year, for example, it was allegedly the turn of a handbag belonging to Downing Street adviser Katie Lam to get a golden shower. In the fracas that reportedly ensued in the usually tranquil garden of 10 Downing Street, Carrie Symonds, the prime minister’s fiancée, is said to have intervened to protect the little terrier. According to some possibly fanciful reports, the incident did not endear Lam to Symonds, and may have contributed to Lam leaving her job this month. Poignantly, Lam had some responsibility for HR. More likely, her departure was part of a continuing clear-out of those associated with Dominic Cummings and the Vote Leave campaign. This has resembled not so much a reshuffle as an exorcism.

The other recent victim of the purge was old Cummings ally Oliver “Sonic” Lewis, so-called because of his supposed resemblance to the computer game character, though in fact he looks more like the Duke of Gloucester. He was supposedly briefing against Michael Gove, though Lewis denies it. After a month or so, he is no longer responsible for the union unit. No one is.