Dominic Cummings, an influential adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has resigned, according to British media. At the same time, one of the main architects of Brexit and the overwhelming victory of the Conservatives in last year’s parliamentary elections was expected to remain in Johnson’s service until the end of the year. At the turn of December and January, the so-called transitional period after leaving the European Union will end.
Cameras and media cameras captured Cummings on Friday as he left the prime minister’s residence on Downing Street. He carried a cardboard box in his hand. The media, including the BBC and Sky News, immediately reported that Cummings had resigned as Johnson’s adviser on Friday, as expected. The Prime Minister’s Office has not yet officially confirmed the information.
In the morning, Cummings told the BBC that nothing had changed in his position, expressed in January, that he wanted to leave his position by the end of this year. It has been speculated in the media that he will leave the position of advisor around Christmas.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News that Cummings had no plans to remain as prime minister’s adviser for much more than a year or more until the end of a transitional period when Britain would cease to be subject to the same EU rules as its union. Negotiations on what the new relationship will look like, but are still not over due to several controversial points.
“He planned, as he himself wrote at the beginning of the year, to become largely redundant this year when he completes the big thing he was working on, which is, of course, Brexit, which is coming to an end after the transition period on December 31,” Shapps said.
Cummings was a central driver behind the referendum on the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU in 2016 and Johnson’s Conservative Party’s landslide victory in last year’s parliamentary elections. According to Reuters, he was even considered Johnson’s “brain” and a man who exerted significant influence.
As Johnson negotiates the future structure of Britain’s relations with the EU27 and is facing a second wave of coronavirus disease, Downing Street is embroiled in internal struggles over who will be the next head of the prime minister’s cabinet. According to The Daily Telegraph, former Finance Minister Sajid Javid should become one.
Johnson’s chief of communications, Lee Cain, who, like Cummings, was a strong supporter of Brexit and a close ally of Cummings from the beginning, announced his resignation on Wednesday.
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