Some of the most important historical moments were sparked by a high-impact break-up. For Henry the 8th, his divorce from Catherine of Aragon led to the reformation of the Church. In the 90s, viewers in living rooms around the world were shaken by the break-up-but-not-really of Ross and Rachel in Friends, which defined a new era of grey-area dating. Today, the break-up on everyone’s lips, at least if you call the UK home, is that of the prime minister, Boris Johnson, and his once most treasured political aide, Dominic Cummings.
Hell hath no fury like a woman — or in this case special adviser — scorned. As Cummings sits down today to give evidence on the government’s handling of the Covid crisis in front of MPs, it is clear that he has one thing only in mind: revenge. It comes after weeks of politicking and vigorous back and forth between Cummings and No.10, with the former threatening to expose the prime minister’s failings during the early days of the pandemic, by publishing private conversations between the two of them.
Cast your mind back to this time last year, when a belligerent Cummings sat in the Rose garden of No.10 amid a very public scandal causing many to call for his resignation. At that time the public perception was that — for reasons unbeknownst to the electorate — Cummings was untouchable, relying on the perceived unfaltering support of his boss. So how did we get from there to here? How did one of Boris’s most trusted allies become one of his chief decriers?
How did one of Boris’s most trusted allies become one of his chief decriers?
The catalyst, if media speculation is to be believed, was the PM’s fiancée, Carrie Symonds, with whom Cummings is said to have had a long-standing feud.
But where did Dominic Cummings' fall out with Carrie Symonds begin?
Reports first emerged in February 2020 in the Daily Mirror that a ‘feud’ had emerged between the two, owing to objections by Symonds about the handling of a cabinet reshuffle, and Cummings' 'heavy-handed treatment of ministers, officials and journalists', worrying that it was 'harming the Prime Minister's image'. Not just this, but reports also suggested that Cummings was 'looking to remove several Tory ministerial special advisers', some of whom were reportedly close to Symonds.
Nonetheless, Cummings survived another eight months in his position, before leaving in November amid another scandal involving Symonds. According to reports at the time, the final straw in the breakdown of relations between the PM and his aide came in the form of a leaked WhatsApp conversation between Cummings and Lee Cain, Johnson’s former director of communications, in which they referred to Symonds as 'Princess Nut Nuts'.
Aside from the gross gender-stereotyping of this horrific nickname, it was apparently a step too far for Johnson — although the circumstances of Cummings’ departure left unclear whether he fell or was pushed.
Fast-forward to recently, when reports first emerged in the press that the Electoral Commission was looking into how the PM and Symonds had funded their home renovations, which were alleged to have exceeded the £30k permitted. It was widely reported, much to the internet’s amusement, that the upgrades to No.10 had been driven by Symond’s desire to get rid of the 'John Lewis furniture nightmare'. The PM’s office hit back by accusing Cummings of being responsible for any leaks to the press.
Cummings claimed that Symonds went 'completely crackers' about a story that had appeared in the press about her and the PM’s dog, Dilyn.
Later, in a blog post, Cummings accused the PM of seeking to block an investigation into who had leaked information on the UK’s second Coronavirus lockdown after learning one of Symonds’ close friends had been implicated. The PM vehemently denied the charge.
Signs of the feud show no signs of abating based on Cummings' comments this morning in front of MPs, when he claimed that Symonds had distracted the PM at a key moment during the pandemic. Cummings claimed that Symonds went 'completely crackers' about a story that had appeared in the press about her and the PM’s dog, Dilyn, a Jack Russell cross.
According to The Times report in March 2020, 'Downing St dog to be reshuffled', the rescue puppy was at risk of being rehomed after house-training issues - denied by Carrie, who tweeted at the time::a['There has never been a more loved dog than our Dilyn'.]{href='https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dilyn-the-dog-is-just-a-pawn-in-battle-of-the-downing-street-briefings-7tslfxp58' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'}
Mr Cummings said today of the situation: 'It sounds so surreal it couldn't possibly be true', explaining the PM's fiancee anger came on the day he told the PM that there were 'big problems coming' because of Covid and SAGE experts predicted up to 500,000 people might die from Covid-19.
He told MPs: 'So we had this sort of completely insane situation in which part of the building was saying are we going to bomb Iraq? Part of the building was arguing about whether or not we're going to do quarantine or not do quarantine, the Prime Minister has his girlfriend going crackers about something completely trivial.'
The boring implication that a woman would be responsible for a man’s action notwithstanding, it’s clear that Symonds and Cummings are not fans of one another. And with speculation mounting in the press of Cummings’ plans to topple the PM, it’s not hard to assume that the ballad of Carrie and Dom ain’t over yet.
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