Tory MPs welcome Dominic Cummings’ likely exit as PM’s chief adviser

The prime minister’s controversial aide is expected to leave his role by the end of the year, following the resignation of his fellow Vote Leave veteran Lee Cain as communications chief.

Mr Cummings insisted to the BBC that “rumours of me threatening to resign are invented” after it was suggested he would exit in protest over the treatment of his ally. But Mr Cummings said his “position hasn’t changed since my January blog” in which he said he hoped to be “largely redundant” by 2021.

Tory backbenchers urged No 10 to use the exit of the aide whose mid-lockdown trip to Durham cemented his notoriety as an opportunity to restore the values of “respect, integrity and trust”.

Senior Tory MP Sir Bernard Jenkin said it is time to restore “respect, integrity and trust”, which he said have been “lacking in recent months” between No 10 and Tory MPs.

“It’s an opportunity to reset how the government operates and to emphasise some values about what we want to project as a Conservative Party in government,” the chair of the Commons liaison committee told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“I’m not surprised in a way that it is ending in the way it is. No prime minister can afford a single adviser to become a running story, dominating his government’s communications and crowding out the proper messages the government wants to convey.”

Conservative former Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers welcomed “a good opportunity for a fresh start”.

“Clearly there are concerns about the dismissive attitude sometimes shown by Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings towards people in government and MPs on the backbenches.”