Dominic Cummings launches ANOTHER salvo at Boris Johnson branding his ex-boss a ‘gaffe machine’ who is ‘clueless about policy and government’
- Dominic Cummings has renewed assault on Boris Johnson and the government
- Former No10 chief said the PM is a ‘gaffe machine’ who is ‘clueless’ about policy
- Mr Cummings said that was why Mr Johnson avoided doing tricky interviews
Boris Johnson is a ‘gaffe machine’ who is ‘clueless about policy and government’, Dominic Cummings insisted today.
The maverick former No10 chief unleashed another salvo at the PM as he revealed that he prevented him doing intense interviews during the 2019 election campaign.
The latest attack came during a long tirade against media pundits and their inability to analyse politics properly.
Mr Cummings highlighted the refusal to put Mr Johnson up for an interview with Andrew Neil, then a feared BBC interrogator and now working for GB News.
The snub caused anger at the time with the premier accused of dodging scrutiny, while Jeremy Corbyn did agree to a grilling.
But Mr Cummings mocked the idea that it was a ‘huge campaign blunder’.
‘Why the f*** wd be put a gaffe machine clueless about policy & government up to be grilled for ages, upside=0 for what?!’ he wrote.
Boris Johnson (left) is a ‘gaffe machine’ who is ‘clueless about policy and government’, Dominic Cummings (right) insisted today
The latest attack came during a long tirade against media pundits and their inability to analyse politics properly
‘This is not a hard decision… Pundits don’t understand comms, power or management. Tune out!’
Asked if the PM was a ‘gaffe machine’, a Downing Street spokesman said: ‘This is not a characterisation that we would accept.’
The intervention comes after Mr Cummings published a slew of private messages from Mr Johnson as he continues his campaign to expose what he sees as mishandling of the pandemic.
Mr Cummings was ousted from No10 in a power struggle in November, and gave a marathon seven hour diatribe in evidence to a Commons committee last month.
The messages revealed this week were designed to back up his points.
They showed that in one exchange from March 27 last year, Mr Cummings criticised the Health Secretary over the failure to ramp up testing.
Mr Johnson replied: ‘Totally f****** hopeless.’ He then tried to call his senior aide three times without managing to get through.
Another from the same day saw Mr Cummings complain that the Department of Health had been turning down ventilators because ‘the price has been marked up’. Mr Johnson said: ‘It’s Hancock. He has been hopeless.’
On April 27, Mr Johnson apparently messaged Mr Cummings to say that PPE was a ‘disaster’, suggesting that Michael Gove should take charge instead.
‘I can’t think of anything except taking Hancock off and putting Gove on.’
Mr Cummings dropped the incendiary revelations in a lengthy post on the Substack blogging platform just minutes before PMQs.
It included vicious passages condemning Mr Johnson for ‘telling rambling stories and jokes’ instead of chairing crucial meetings properly, and a claim that the PM is intending to quit in order to ‘make money’ rather than serving a full term if he wins the next election.
In an exchange with Boris Johnson from March 27 last year Dominic Cummings criticised the Health Secretary over the failure to ramp up testing
On April 27, Mr Johnson apparently messaged Mr Cummings to say that PPE was a ‘disaster’
Mr Cummings gave a brutal assessment of the performance of the government during an exchange of messages in April 2020
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