Dominic Cummings is still trying to get rid of the PM

Boris Johnson’s former adviser has been blogging again

- JOHN RENTOUL

Dominic Cummings, who modestly tells us that he only ever wanted to be called “assistant to the prime minister”, has resumed his attempt to force his former boss from office. He won’t succeed this time, either – but he may get him in the end.

He tried to bring Boris Johnson down in May last year when he gave evidence for seven hours to the health and science select committees. It was an attempt to hold the public inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic in a single day on terms as unfavourable to Johnson as possible.

It failed miserably because, despite some colourful language about the prime minister’s incompetence being responsible for the deaths of thousands, Johnson – even in his absence – could rely on the defence that he had followed the advice of the government’s scientific advisers at all times. Cummings’s case was further weakened by his presence at the heart of government throughout the entire first phase of the pandemic.

Now Cummings has returned to the fray, with the long-promised blog post about potentially rule-breaking parties in 2020. He accuses the prime minister of telling “multiple lies” about parties before Christmas that year, and forcing and encouraging others to “tell the media untrue things”.