No. 121 - The Cracks are Emerging!

Dear James,

On Monday the black hand of Dominic Cummings was at work again in Whitehall. Full of the usual manufactured optimism and hand jerking calls to action, poor Boris was strutting his stuff at a Press Conference to set out the UK’s stance on the future trade negotiations. He performed well enough for the believers but, as usual, he fumbled and fluffed the question session afterwards, unable to answer any of the straightforward questions from journalists. It reminded us why Boris and his master, Dominic Cummings, fear press scrutiny. It was embarrassing. 

But worse was to come. At a Press Briefing, a little later in Downing Street, members of the press corps were lined up in two separate rows behind the big black door. On one side were the ‘Friendly press’. On the other the ‘Non-friendly press’. Once assembled, the friendlies were ushered further into the building and the others asked to leave. For those who know their German history, this was a grotesque version of  ‘Aussortierung’ – the ‘selection’ process to separate the ‘wheat’ from the ‘chaff’, the ‘good’ from the ‘bad’… and I won’t go on. It is classic Cummings. Fortunately for everyone, the press refused to be involved in such an outrageous tactic and, sticking together, walked out en masse. But the message was clear. Boris and Cummings are following the example of their mentor, Donald Trump, who ended White House briefings in 2018 and is now trying to close down the free and independent press of his own nation. In our country Boris and Cummings are doubling down on avoiding scrutiny. After the boycotting of the BBC, the nation is now offered the vetted questions of the ‘People’s PMQ’s’ direct from Downing Street and uninterrupted by those pesky questions from a free press. If I didn’t have more confidence in the resilience of free speech in our country I would be fearing that we are approaching the end of Weimar Mark 2. 

The good news James, is that at least some within your party are showing guts. Sajid Javid is resisting. He remembers when Mr Cummings ejected his personal adviser, Sonia Khan last year without prior reference to him. Now, the Chancellor is accusing Cummings of briefing against him ahead of the cabinet reshuffle next week. It is said that the relationship between him and Cummings has broken down ‘irrevocably’.

The other resistance has come from Claire Perry O’Neill, Boris’s original choice to head up COP26, the Glasgow conference on climate change in November. She was sacked on Monday, probably at the behest of Mr Cummings. He does not like independently minded people and he likes them even less if they have the gumption to hit back. Today Mrs O’Neill said that Boris does not really ‘get’ climate change. I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Unfortunately for us all, Boris is merely the ‘relatable face’ of our new era James. Behind him, at the heart of your government, we have an unelected, unaccountable chief adviser who is determined to disrupt in order to deliver unto us his very own ‘brave new world’. He is a ‘control freak’ who cares nothing for the opinions or feelings of others and by implication knows that he is a genius of the first ranking. According to one source, he even suggested changing the layout of number 10 by knocking down some walls and putting himself with Boris at the centre of a circle of subordinated desks. Fortunately, this move was nullified by No 10 being a Listed Building! 

Something will have to give. Cummings is the modern Robespierre, the man who introduced the ‘Law of Suspects’ during the ‘Terror’ period of the French Revolution. Mr Cummings displays the same fanatical adherence to his own ideas. Everyone who is not with him is a suspect. 

So I’m afraid James, Boris’s new era is not getting off to a very good start. I am guessing that you and your fellow MPs are experiencing a mixture of fast diminishing post election joy and utter trepidation at what will come out next. When the crunch does come either Cummings or the resisters will emerge victorious. If the former we will have a supine cabinet enacting every whim of this ‘political genius’. If it is the resisters, Boris will be left swinging in the breeze. The Great Experiment will be left rudderless and chaotic. Disruption itself will be disrupted 

Sorry to rain on your parade James but better now to face facts - or rather cracks - than to regret them later at your leisure? 

Kind regards,  

BH - Your Concerned Constituent