PM blamed both Dominic Cummings and his wife to disguise his own reluctance to take difficult decisions, author claims
It also argues that Cummings increasingly cut Johnson out of the decision-making process in his own government. It states that Cummings would tell officials and ministers: “Don’t tell the PM” or “Oh, don’t bother him with this”. The book claims it eventually led to the extraordinary outburst from Johnson: “I am meant to be in control. I am the führer. I’m the king who takes the decisions.
Gove is featured in the book describing how relations between Cummings and Johnson soured soon after the 2019 election victory, which saw them secure an 80-strong majority for the Conservatives.
Cummings also barred Johnson from meeting Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs, it states. “It was a very odd insight into the mentality of No 10 and resulted in a grovelling phone call of apology,” said Brady. “Cummings had contempt for our MPs and thought that we should be grateful for being in government, for the general election result, and that our job was now merely to behave.
Cummings ultimately left Downing Street in November 2020 after losing out in a power struggle with Carrie Johnson. However, officials told Seldon that both Cummings and the former prime minister’s wife were used by Johnson to deflect responsibility. “It suited him to make people think she was to blame for things not happening,” an official is quoted as saying. Another aide said: “He played us all off against each other. He would tell us that she was impossible to deal with, she was mad, crazy and he couldn’t control her, would do whatever she wanted. Then he’d go upstairs and tell her that we were impossible and he couldn’t control us. He liked to pour petrol on both sides and see what happened to the fire.
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