'At the time he couldn't see it' Ex-chancellor told Johnson he was a ‘puppet' of Cummings

Sajid Javid told Boris Johnson he was a “puppet” of Dominic Cummings before he resigned as chancellor rather than accept a Cummings-led takeover of his Treasury, he has said in an interview about his experiences as a minister.

- Peter Walker

Speaking to the Institute for Government (IfG), Javid also said that his other departure from Johnson’s government-shortly before it collapsed in 2022-was because he had lost confidence in the prime minister after being assured that allegations about lockdown-breaking parties in No 10 were “bullshit”.

Asked to assess the three prime ministers he had served under, Javid, who ran six government departments in eight years, described Johnson as “the least well briefed” compared with David Cameron and Theresa May.

In his first resignation under Johnson, in February 2020, Javid quit after being told by Johnson that he would have to fire his team of Treasury special advisers, known as spads, and work with new advisers selected by Cummings, Johnson’s chief adviser.