BORIS Johnson is an “unthinking Unionist” who wants to reverse devolution, according to his former chief adviser Dominic Cummings.
The PM’s former aide told our sister title, The National, that Johnson sees both devolution and the Scottish Parliament as a “disaster”, as was reported widely last year.
Johnson said at the time that his words were “not entirely accurately” reported after it was alleged he told a Zoom call of northern English Tory MPs that he considered devolution to be a “disaster”.
He insisted he is not opposed to devolution itself, but the “way the SNP have handled devolution in Scotland”.
However his former chief adviser Cummings, who left Downing Street one week before the disaster comments were reportedly made, says the Tory leader does indeed view devolution negatively.
Asked what Johnson really says about the constitutional set-up behind the scenes, Cummings told The National: “He's an unthinkign [sic] unionist. Thinks devolution/Scottish parliament was a disaster, wd like to reverse it but wont dare try...”
Former Vote Leave chief Cummings left Number 10 last year following a bitter power struggle.
He has since been using his Substack website to launch a series of attacks on the way the Government operates.
This morning, he wrote a blog post saying how in 2016 Boris Johnson told him that it would be “ludicrous” for him to become Prime Minister.
Mr Cummings claimed in a blog post on Monday that he knew that Mr Johnson was “unfit to be PM”, adding: “We also knew that he knew too, since he’d told us.”
Mr Cummings wrote: “On 24 June 2016 in Vote Leave HQ, just after Cameron had resigned, Boris pulled me into the odd little room where the ‘campaign within the campaign’ was run. What now?
“Boris told me with a laugh, ‘Obviously it’s ludicrous me being PM — but no more ludicrous than Dave or George, don’t you think?’
“I agreed and reminded him of the main elements of the deal we’d agreed with (Michael) Gove about what to do next.”
The SNP and Scottish Conservatives have been contacted by The National for comment.
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