Dominic Cummings is planning to destroy ‘clown’ Boris Johnson with bombshell evidence
SHOULD Boris Johnson resign or be dumped over Covid?
Will the Prime Minister who narrowly escaped death from the virus pay the price for the thousands who were not so lucky?
The question sounds absurd as we surge towards Freedom Day on June 21 with a world-beating jab rate, deaths near zero and the PM at the peak of his gravity-defying popularity.
But that will be the stark insinuation from ex-Downing Street guru Dominic Cummings, who apparently aims to destroy the man who once made him the second most powerful figure in the land.
Combative Cummings claims he has bombshell evidence against his old boss, as well as Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
“He’s going to try to napalm him,” says one ally. “He thinks Boris is a clown who failed to learn the lessons of the first lockdown, and even when we had all the data he did nothing.”
Cummings believes Boris put lives at risk by delaying the first lockdown and aiming for “herd immunity” — a policy he brands a “sh*t show”.
The herd immunity charge is fiercely denied by Downing Street and health officials.
But Cummings says he will table documentary proof at a hearing with MPs on Wednesday. The threat has triggered alarm in Downing Street and among former allies.
Cummings made plenty of enemies in his six whirlwind months as, effectively, deputy Prime Minister.
But even his fans are shocked by what they see as blatant revenge for his sacking last November, which he blames on the PM’s soon-to-be-wife Carrie Symonds.
“Vengeance is unattractive,” says a senior Government figure who backed Dom from the outset as Boris’s “iron fist”.
SAVAGE WAR
“It ruins his reputation and undermines all he has achieved.
“The more he attacks, the more he damages himself — a bit like Prince Harry is doing to the Royal Family.”
Another ally who fought alongside Dom through the “Rotten Parliament” — the savage war between Brexiteers and Remainers — is dismayed by Dom’s hostility to the PM.
“He was the best campaigner you could ever work with,” he says. “But I am not enjoying the spectacle of him going after the PM.”
Dom was hired to shake up starchy civil service mandarins, known as “The Blob”, who are seen as the obstacle to long-overdue reform.
As the pandemic broke last year, he quickly discovered crucial departments such as the Cabinet Office civil contingencies unit were utterly unfit to cope with a national emergency.
Despite listing the threat of the pandemic as its highest priority, Public Health England was bogged down with diversity and obesity programmes.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health failed to stockpile crucial PPE protection for frontline nursing staff.
And the NHS made the Covid pandemic worse by dumping infected patients in vulnerable care homes, killing thousands, mostly the frail and elderly.
“We pulled all the levers of power — and nothing happened,” says a source. A public inquiry will examine these failures. But Dom is getting in first by blaming ministers, Sage experts and Boris himself for wasting valuable weeks backing Swedish-style herd immunity.
“After causing a storm over NHS funding in the Brexit referendum campaign, he was not prepared to see hospitals overwhelmed,” says an insider.
The crunch came when Dom was accused of trying to elbow Boris aside and take over Covid decision-making himself.
‘WASTE OF MONEY’
“In the end, it must be the democratically elected Prime Minister who takes decisions,” says a senior minister.
Everyone makes mistakes, some more than others. That applies in EU countries too, not least France and Germany.
It might also apply to Dominic Cummings himself, whose £37billion “Test and Trace” programme was last night branded “a complete waste of money” by a source who was closely involved.
“He accepts praise for everything that goes right and avoids blame for anything that goes wrong,” says the minister
“But in most cases, everyone was trying their hardest with the best of intentions.
“Right now, the Great British Public just want to get on with their lives.”
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BBC's survival
IT might surprise some, but I’d be sorry to see the BBC perish as a result of the Bashir scandal.
The corporation could ensure its survival with one simple step – giving equal time for views that freely challenge its lofty world view on, say, the European Union, climate change, Israel or American politics.
Sadly, Beeb chiefs are unlikely to take this option.
“They tried it during the EU referendum campaign,” says one critic. “And they have never forgiven themselves for the vote to Leave.”