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I have tried to answer the question that people have been asking all week: Why is Dominic Cummings so valuable to Boris? Many mistakenly think it& #39;s because Boris has no interest in policy and he needs Dom for vision. It& #39;s a little more nuanced than that https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/uk/boris-johnson-worst-week-dominic-cummings-intl-gbr/index.html">https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/3...
First: Boris loves Dom. He privately acknowledges that his Brexit gamble probably wouldn& #39;t have paid off were it not for Dom. By mythologising Dom, he gave him a rockstar status that meant he couldn& #39;t be a normal advisor & knew this when hiring https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/uk/boris-johnson-worst-week-dominic-cummings-intl-gbr/index.html">https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/3...
"A SpAd usually works with borrowed authority. They are the minister& #39;s person, rather than a person in their own right ... Dom came to the job with a level of authority that few had before him" says @Ommasalma https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/uk/boris-johnson-worst-week-dominic-cummings-intl-gbr/index.html">https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/3...
Dom really is the 2nd-in-command not just on no10 operations, but on the Johnson-Cummings project & the breadth of its ambition. That& #39;s why Boris allowed Dom to have such control of the entire SpAd network, picked Dom over Javid & backed him over Sabisky https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/uk/boris-johnson-worst-week-dominic-cummings-intl-gbr/index.html">https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/3...
It& #39;s not that the vision cannot work without Dom, it& #39;s that he is so across the detail of the project and has hired so many key figures that losing Dom would undermine the project, possibly leaving it dead https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/uk/boris-johnson-worst-week-dominic-cummings-intl-gbr/index.html">https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/3...
Here, it& #39;s important to point out that Boris *is* the leader of his project. He is not outsourcing authority to Dom. They are a team & a successful one at that. Even ministers who find Dom frustrating acknowledge he is crucial to the project https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/uk/boris-johnson-worst-week-dominic-cummings-intl-gbr/index.html">https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/3...
"We are where we are because Boris and Dom won the Brexit referendum and won the election. Anyone who seriously wants to stay in power and doesn& #39;t want that team at the top is making a brave call," said a government minister https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/uk/boris-johnson-worst-week-dominic-cummings-intl-gbr/index.html">https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/3...
However, other senior Conservatives (remember Dom is not a Conservative) fear that keeping him in place will up Dom& #39;s appetite for risk and cause government further long-term problems and force Boris to make this choice all over again in a few months https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/uk/boris-johnson-worst-week-dominic-cummings-intl-gbr/index.html">https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/3...
"Knowing Dom, he will take from this that he is basically invincible," says a senior Conservative figure who has known him for decades. "But the political will of the cabinet might not be there to help him next time he has a scrape." https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/uk/boris-johnson-worst-week-dominic-cummings-intl-gbr/index.html">https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/3...
Which is why even people who admire Dom think it might be best that he goes now. His actions have undermined the government& #39;s core message and cost the PM a lot of political capital. This has cut through at a critical moment and people might not forget https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/uk/boris-johnson-worst-week-dominic-cummings-intl-gbr/index.html">https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/3...
Clearly, PM thinks he can ride this out. Time will tell. "In politics you are always going to be hurt. It& #39;s where you wear the scar that matters," says @Ommasalma. If this story rumbles, Boris might need to lose the man who so often helps heal his wounds https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/uk/boris-johnson-worst-week-dominic-cummings-intl-gbr/index.html">https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/3...
