The inconvenient truth is that Boris Johnson needs an enforcer

Anyone who has ever worked closely with the Prime Minister will vouch that he cannot bear letting staff go.

Countless aides have come and gone over the years and they have all departed with the echo of Boris Johnson’s voice pleading: “Don’t leave.”

For, despite his beloved bravado, Mr Johnson hates any kind of confrontation whatsoever.

Which is why he hired Dominic Cummings in the first place and why he refused to fire him despite the growing clamour for his resignation.

The inconvenient truth is Mr Johnson needs an enforcer willing to do Downing Street’s dirty work for him. Or to use David Cameron’s description of Mr Cummings: “A career psychopath”; the type of maverick advisor who didn’t seem to give much thought to the consequences of travelling to Durham during lockdown despite his omnipotent role at the heart of Government.

By taking this unprecedented - and some say unwise decision to publicly defend Mr Cummings, Mr Johnson has put his political capital at stake. 

While some may admire such a strenuous show of loyalty, many will justifiably question why the PM has risked his own fate being tied to an adviser famed for his anarchic approach.

But if you want to know why Mr Johnson cannot bring himself to dispense with Mr Cummings, then it is summed up in two simple words, uttered by the Durham-born father of one as he was confronted by the press outside his London home on Saturday.

When asked by reporters whether his actions looked bad, he replied: “Who cares?” before adding: “It’s not about what you guys think.”

Because for the PM, the complete opposite is true. He cares deeply what people think of him. Unlike Mr Cummings, he is not only eminently likeable but also needs to be liked.

As one former aide put it: “Boris is actually quite sensitive. He can’t stand losing people not just because he worries people know things, but also because he just doesn’t like losing people from the circle around him, people he trusts.

“This whole thing will have been consuming him the entire weekend, which is what makes it so problematic - it’s such a distraction. The next three-week lockdown review is due on Thursday and No 10 are dealing with all this nonsense.”

Yet with the story entering ‘day three’ and with further revelations expected on Monday, why not simply cut Mr Cummings loose?

Loyalty has played a huge part in Mr Johnson’s decision to keep Mr Cummings on. It is not an exaggeration to say that the PM feels he owes his premiership to the 48-year-old Oxford graduate. It was Mr Cummings who helped to win the EU referendum, Mr Cummings who helped to rescue Brexit from the clutches of remain rebels, Mr Cummings who helped to suck Labour into calling the general election, and Mr Cummings who helped to win Mr Johnson an 80-seat majority. He sold himself to the PM on the premise he could get things done - not just Brexit and reform of the civil service but delivery of Mr Johnson’s revolutionary legacy. Like him or loathe him, no one can fault Mr Cummings’ work ethic and commitment to the cause.

No wonder then, that Mr Johnson - famed for preferring briefing notes to be as short as possible - has grown so reliant on the man across all the detail.

According to one senior Conservative: “Boris likes other people running stuff. He likes delegating. And of course he has been seriously ill in the middle of all this, so he does need someone doing all the heavy lifting. Don’t forget that Boris got rid of Saj (former chancellor Sajid Javid) on Mr Cummings’ say so. No one realises quite how central Cummings is to the whole operation.”

Mr Johnson's administration has been structured around Mr Cummings and without him, there would be an enormous void to fill.

No 10's top team is not just loyal to the ‘Boss’ but to Mr Cummings, who has surrounded himself with Vote Leave comrades including Downing Street communications secretary Lee Cain and Cleo Watson, his civil service go-between. According to one former Downing Street aide, had Mr Cummings walked, others may well have followed. “Dom’s the kind of person who, if he goes, he’ll detonate everyone else.”

Although Mr Johnson’s fiercely loyal private secretary Ben Gascoigne remains one of his closest aides, insiders say his chief of staff Sir Eddie Lister has been “marginalised”, with everything passing across Mr Cummings’ desk. The recent promotion of Simon Case, who is on secondment from the Duke of Cambridge’s private office, to the permanent secretary leading the Government's response to the coronavirus crisis was seen as a move to make the Government less contingent on Mr Cummings. His all-consuming role has previously sparked tensions with Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill, the UK’s chief civil servant.

Yet whether that will be enough to allay the fears of Tory MPs and cabinet ministers over Mr Cummings’ ever tightening grip on the levers of power remains to be seen.

Although Conservative colleagues were throwing their weight behind the PM’s right-hand man on Saturday, the mood has now distinctly turned against him. “There was a lot of cabinet support before the second story came out but that’s gone now,” said one insider.

“MPs and ministers are asking themselves how are we going to say to people you can’t visit your parents after what Dominic Cummings has been doing?

“He’s not just bringing down the PM’s reputation but the whole party.”

Summing up the mood, one MP said last night: “The PM shouldn’t be doing this. It’s so far beneath him and his office.”

Theirs isn’t the only reputation at stake. Although still in post, some say Mr Cummings’ ‘God-like’ status has been significantly diminished by the debacle. 

“It’s like the Wizard of Oz - the cloak of mystery has been pulled back. Dom has now become exactly like the people he despises. He is now no different to the average politician who says: ‘Do as I say not as I do’.”