Back in the thick of it? Cummings and the 'friendly chat' with Brexit foe Farage

Civil servants may wish to dust off their CVs. Members of parliament, brace, brace, brace. Dominic Cummings - the political weather-maker behind the tide that delivered Brexit and raised and drowned Boris Johnson - is eyeing up a Westminster comeback, of sorts.

- Daniel Boffey

"I might spend more time on SW1 depending how things play out," Cummings told the Guardian after speculation about his intentions in the Westminster postcode, "but I do not want a job there - my efforts will only be helping people of any party pushing in what I consider a good direction, I'm happy living away from SW1 and SW1 for sure feels the same about me."

The trigger for a renewed interest in the beanie-wearing politico from Durham, portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in Brexit: The Uncivil War, has been the recent revelation of a secret dinner with Nigel Farage shortly before Christmas.

It has prompted much excitement in Westminster. The two men were daggers drawn for years, partly as a result of a clash between their organisations (Cummings's Vote Leave, of which he was campaign director, and the Farageist Grassroots Out) over which would be the official Brexit campaign group.

Farage described Cummings, who went on to be Johnson's chief adviser in Downing Street, as a "horrible nasty little man". Last summer, Cummings said the re-emergence of Farage on the political scene was "depressing", adding that "15% of the country [is] pretty much like Farage and hates everybody else". He said Farage didn't offer solutions.

It was something of a surprise, then, for the two men to break bread. Of the dinner, the Reform UK leader has said only that they talked "about the blob and what were the practical problems of coming into government and not being able to do what you wanted to do".