Early exit for UK PM's top adviser Dominic Cummings?

Dominic Cummings, the most powerful adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was pictured on Friday walking out of the Prime Minister's residence carrying a box apparently containing his belongings. Despite some subsequent confusion and no confirmation that he was resigning earlier than expected, UK media was adamant that he would not be returning to 10 Downing Street.

"Dom Cummings has left No10 for good tonight, having decided not to stay until xmas," Times Radio's chief political commentator, Tom Newton Dunn, said on Twitter. 

Sky News and senior reporters like the political editors of the BBC and ITV, Laura Kuenssberg and Robert Peston, later reported the same. 

Rumors of discord within the 10 Downing Street team had been swirling for several days, not least owing to the departure of a close ally of Cummings', Lee Cain.  

Johnson's office later issued information to the same senior reporters, quoting a Downing Street spokesman as saying that the position Cain turned down as Johnson's chief of staff would be filled on an interim basis by Sir Edward Lister. It went on to provide "background" information saying that both Cummings and Cain "will continue to work for the PM and No10 until mid-December," but made no mention of what roles they might carry out in the next few weeks. 

Despite the lack of definitive clarity, Robert Peston then took to Twitter to say: "I am told neither Dominic Cummings or Lee Cain will return to Downing Street, so that era is ended."

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Cummings, who managed the Leave campaign in the 2016 Brexit referendum and Johnson's 2019 election win, on Thursday intimated to the BBC that he would likely step out of his role by the end of the year, once the United Kingdom had finalized its negotations with the EU on the second stage of Brexit.

'A busted flush'

The exit of Cummings, who some have dubbed "Johnson's brain," marks a significant change to the Downing Street leadership, and critics say that the announcement marks the end of Cummings' influence on British policy.

He is also leaving 10 Downing Street in the middle of last-gasp efforts for the UK and EU to strike a post-Brexit trade relationship. Based on the current timetable, already spilling into overtime, just days remain to reach an accord.

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"I think that Dom now, so far as Westminster is concerned, is a busted flush," one Conservative lawmaker told Reuters. 

Cummings is credited with coining the Brexit campaign's main slogan, "Take back control," and his strategy was key to moving the initiative forward. Another core component of his campaign were targeted social media campaigning, advertising, and profiling techniques similar to those employed successfully by US President Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election a few months later — with a particular focus on reaching people who might not ordinarily vote.

The politician's handling of the coronavirus pandemic made headlines earlier his year, when he said he had done nothing wrongby driving 250 miles (402 kilometers) from London to his family's rural estate at a time when the country was under a full-fledged lockdown and when he suspected he might have COVID himself. Despite immense public criticism at the time, Johnson stood by him. 

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lc/msh (Reuters, AFP)