Dominic Cummings has launched his latest criticism of those in Government, claiming decision-making in the corridors of power at Westminster was like "the blind leading the blind."
In an outspoken attack on his former boss Boris Johnson and his cabinet, the former aide said that if decision-making in Whitehall was publicised “everyone would sell everything and head for the bunker in the hills”.
The Prime’s former chief aide made the comments on Monday in an online question and answer session, which subscribers are required to pay to access, in the latest of his sustained war of words with the Prime Minister.
Mr Cummings called his once long-standing ally Mr Johnson a “gaffe machine” last week, just days after releasing text messages from the early stages of the pandemic in which the Prime Minister was critical of Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
The Prime Minister’s former chief aide made the comments on Monday (Oli Scraff/PA)
Mr Cummings, who left Downing Street in November following a behind-the-scenes power struggle, recently launched a profile on Substack, a platform that allows people to charge for newsletters.
In response to a question on his experience of being “close to power and the opportunities it provided”, Mr Cummings said: “Fascinating but very troubling.
READ MORE: Matt Hancock dismisses PM’s ‘hopeless’ jibe as ancient history
“The world is so dangerous, there are so many very smart and able people – when you watch the apex of power you feel like ‘If this were broadcast, everyone would sell everything and head for the bunker in the hills’.”
In his latest attack on Whitehall, he added that it is “impossible to describe how horrific decision-making is at the apex of power” and that it is “generally the blind leading the blind”.
On Friday, Mr Cummings claimed that Tory officials did not put Mr Johnson up for an interview with veteran broadcaster Andrew Neil during the 2019 general election campaign because he was “clueless” on policy.
The Conservative Party leader was accused of “running scared” from scrutiny when he dodged the one-to-one BBC interview with Mr Neil, who is now chairman of GB News.
Mr Cummings claimed to reveal the strategy behind this in a Twitter rant against political pundits, writing: “Pundits: not doing ANeil ‘a huge campaign blunder’.
“Me: why the f*** wd be put a gaffe machine clueless about policy & government up to be grilled for ages, upside=0 for what?! This is not a hard decision.”
7/ Pundits: not doing ANeil 'a huge campaign blunder'Me: why the fu*k wd be put a gaffe machine clueless about policy & government up to be grilled for ages, upside=0 for what?! This is not a hard decision…Pundits don't understand comms, power or management. Tune out!
— Dominic Cummings (@Dominic2306) June 18, 2021
Asked about the remarks, a Downing Street spokesman said on Friday: “Of course that is not a characterisation that we would accept.”
Earlier that week, Mr Cummings used a blog post to accuse Mr Johnson of publicly supporting the “fiction” that he has been in agreement with Mr Hancock throughout the crisis.
The former chief aide argued that the messages showed otherwise, as did moves by the Prime Minister to carve up some of Mr Hancock's’s responsibilities and hand them to others.
READ MORE: Downing Street silent on Cummings claims
Mr Cummings published one screenshot from WhatsApp in which the Prime Minister described the Health Secretary as “totally f****** hopeless” in an exchange about coronavirus testing.
In another message about struggles to procure ventilators, Mr Johnson responded: “It’s Hancock. He has been hopeless.”
Appearing on BBC Breakfast on Monday, Mr Hancock acknowledged that people say “all sorts of things in private” when they are under pressure, but insisted that he and Mr Johnson work “very strongly together”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel