Downing Street squabbles add to Johnson's worries

With time to secure a Brexit deal with the European Union running out, and the novel coronavirus death rate continuing to rise, Britain's prime minister, Boris Johnson, has another problem to deal with following the departure of his chief advisor, Dominic Cummings.

A hugely divisive figure, Cummings was one of the main strategists of the Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the EU, and then appointed to a key position within Downing Street.

Cummings, who was not a member of the Conservative Party, was a self-styled political outsider and had huge influence in shaping the policies of Johnson's government, particularly toward Brexit and the pandemic.

He was also known for his abrasive way of dealing with people. Former Brexit minister David Davis told the BBC Cummings had a "very confrontational style", and said he hoped his departure would create a different political atmosphere.

"Lots of my colleagues are hoping for a new relationship, with more openness and interaction with Parliament, and I am told the Cabinet is hoping to get more say, as it were, in events," he said.

Cummings became a household name during the first lockdown in April, when it emerged he had broken lockdown rules to travel the length of the country to his parents' house, rather than self-isolating, when his wife fell ill with the virus, and he too had shown symptoms.

Despite widespread criticism, he refused to resign, and Johnson stood by him, a move seen by many as undermining the government's message to the public about obeying the rules.

Amid a backdrop of increasingly strained relations, and following the departure of his colleague Lee Cain as Johnson's director of communications, on Thursday the BBC reported Cummings would leave his post before the end of the year, and on Friday he was seen walking out of Downing Street, giving every impression he was leaving for the last time.

However, it has been widely reported that what brought this about was not policy disputes, but personal enmity between Cummings and Cain, and Johnson's partner Carrie Symonds.

A former Conservative Party director of communications, Symonds is reportedly playing an increasingly significant role in Downing Street decision-making, and the Mail on Sunday newspaper has published a detailed account of recent events and the alleged personal disagreements.

The Guardian says Symonds had become concerned at how women were sidelined in an ever more male-dominated environment, which came to a head with Cain's treatment of Johnson's new official press secretary Allegra Stratton, who was reportedly reduced to tears by his criticism.

The upheaval could hardly come at a more challenging time for Johnson, and it remains to be seen how it might affect the tone of Brexit negotiations. David Frost, who leads the British negotiation team, is known to be politically close to Cummings and Cain.