Dominic Cummings calls Carrie Johnson a ‘wrong ‘un’ and says Boris ‘will go next year’

Dominic Cummings says Boris ‘got a wrong’un pregnant’ and Carrie ‘wants to control the UK via him’ in scathing attack on PM’s wife – hours after she gave birth – blaming her for ‘inevitable disaster’ her husband is facing

Ex-advisor to the PM has laid into Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie in Q&A with blog followers this afternoonHe called Carrie an ‘inevitable’ disaster for the Tory leader, claiming that she is trying to run the country‘He’s a shambles but the shambles has been made worse by hooking up with a wrong un’, he saidOn Boris: ‘I know 15 year-olds who’d do a better job at PM’ claiming he is only good at speeches and ‘bulls***’

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Dominic Cummings today declared Boris Johnson ‘got a wrong’un pregnant’ in Carrie Johnson who he claims ‘wants to control the country’ via her husband.     

The Prime Minister’s former chief advisor, who left Downing Street last December after losing a power struggle with Mrs Johnson, claimed the decision to marry Carrie was an ‘inevitable disaster’.

His extraordinary attack on the Prime Minister’s third wife came as she remained in hospital just 24 hours after giving birth to a baby girl – believed to be Mr Johnson’s seventh child.

In a Q&A on his blog, where he urged subscribers to ‘ask me anything’, he said of Boris: ‘He’s a shambles but the shambles has been made worse by hooking up with a wrong un [Carrie Johnson] who wants to control the country via him. He got a wrong un pregnant, listened to her insane advice/screaming, and went into a flat spin’. 

Mr Cummings has been accused of misogyny towards Carrie, a former Tory party communications chief he clashed with repeatedly in Downing Street. His allies were alleged to have referred to her as ‘Princess Nut Nut’, which enraged Mr Johnson and upset her. 

The renegade former No 10 aide also said Boris ‘hasn’t heard the last’ of the Christmas party scandal, claiming there will be pictures proving it took place, and said that he knew teenagers who would be better at the job than the Prime Minister, who he said was only good at speeches and ‘bulls**t stuff’.

Mr Johnson is under pressure to quit over his handling of covid, allegations of multiple illegal Christmas parties and claims he lied about the funding of the lavish Downing Street flat refurbishment including £800-plus a roll gold wallpaper. 

Cummings claimed Mr Johnson ‘throws everybody under the bus’ to save himself but predicted Tory MPs will wield the axe in 2022, adding: ‘I know 15 year-olds who would do a better job at PM in all ways than Boris, except giving a speech – he cant actually do anything other than the words/bullsh*t side of things’. 

‘He’s done, gone by this time next year, probably summer’, he said.

Dominic Cummings left Downing Street after losing a battle with Carrie Johnson, who he called an ‘inevitable disaster’ for the Prim Minister just 24 hours after she entered hospital to have her second baby (right)

Mr Johnson is seen leaving Downing Street this afternoon holding a pink gift bag emblazoned with the words: ‘Hello Baby Girl’

Mr Cummings ran a Q&A on his paid-for blog where he laid into Carrie Johnson and said Mr Johnson’s relationship with her was an ‘inevitable disaster’

Mr Cummings said he didn’t regret working for the PM but again blamed his wife for some of his problems

The former chief advisor at No 10 said the issue of Christmas parties at No 10 will not go away – claiming Boris has been ‘lying’ about not knowing 

He also said that a 15-year-old would do a better job than Mr Johnson at being Prime Minister

Carrie v Cummings: Bitter feud that tore No10 apart and cost advisor his job  

Dominic Cummings was the Prime Minister’s former chief advisor before leaving Downing Street last December after losing a power struggle with Carrie Johnson. The pair have long been locked in a bitter feud that has only worsened since Mr Cummings left the corridors of power. 

Mr Cummings and Mrs Johnson both have a reputation for getting their own way: where Mr Cummings relies on intellect and aggression and confrontation, Mrs Johnson deploys charm and guile. Their clashing personalities quickly led to tension, with Mr Cummings’ allies allegedly giving negative media briefings about Carrie. This included referring to her by the insulting moniker ‘Princess Nut Nut’.  

Mrs Johnson and Mr Cummings both had their own prominent Cabinet allies and political hobby horses – fortified by strong personalities. Mrs Johnson joined the Tory Party as a press officer more than a decade ago years ago, was promoted to director of communications in 2017, and worked for senior Tories John Whittingdale and Zac Goldsmith as well as Mr Javid.

She is a skilled networker and environmental campaigner. And her views on animal welfare and the early release of violent criminals influenced Mr Johnson’s stance on the issues – frequently to Mr Cumming’s frustration. There had long been annoyance over claims that Mrs Johnson was running a shadow PR operation, while she was said to have been incensed at the aggressive behaviour of Mr Cummings and his cadre. 

In February last year, they were said to be ‘at war’ over a Cabinet reshuffle, with the PM’s spouse reportedly backing ministers who believed Mr Cummings’ aggressive approach towards ministers, officials and journalists is damaging the Prime Minister. The rift was fuelled by reports that Mr Cummings urged Mr Johnson to fire two ministers with close links to his wife: Chancellor Sajid Javid and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.

Since leaving office, Mr Cummings has repeatedly attacked Carrie in public, including attempting to link her to the ‘Partygate’ scandal by suggesting journalists should focus on an alleged gathering at her flat. Appearing before MPs earlier this year, he accused Mrs Johnson of ‘unethical and clearly illegal behaviour’ when trying to get Downing Street jobs for her friends – as he admitted her dislike of him was a factor in his firing.

The former No10 top aide referred to her only as ‘the PM’s girlfriend’ as he accused her of distracting Mr Johnson and leading him into bad decisions during key moments in the pandemic. As well as the lead up to his resignation late last year Mr Cummings also claimed she occupied the Prime Minister’s attention at a crucial stage of the pandemic in March 2020 by ‘going completely crackers’ over a story in the press about their dog Dilyn.

He described the toxic atmosphere in Downing Street amid claims the pair were at war for months until Mr Cummings and several of his allies were forced out last November. In his marathon evidence session in parliament today Mr Cummings was asked if he was forced out after a ‘power struggle’ in which his ally, Mr Johnson’s director of communications Lee Cain, was blocked from replacing him as a top adviser.

‘My resignation was definitely connected to the fact that the Prime Minister’s girlfriend was trying to change a whole bunch of different appointments in No10 and appoint her friends to particular jobs,’ he said. ‘In particular she was trying to overturn the outcome of an official process about hiring a particular job in a way which was not only completely unethical but which was clearly illegal. ‘I thought the whole process about how the PM was behaving at that point was appalling and all of that was definitely part of why I went.’

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Cummings was kicked out of No 10 following a confrontation with Boris Johnson and claims he briefed against his then fiancée, who his allies were alleged to have called her ‘Princess Nut Nut’. 

Tories today warned ‘patience is running out’ with Boris Johnson as his spin chief was dragged into the ‘partygate’ row, his sleaze watchdog demanded answers on the Downing Street flat refurbishment, and MPs revolt over Covid curbs.

The PM is fighting on a bewildering range of fronts, forced to deny losing confidence in Jack Doyle after claims he gave a speech and handed out prizes at a lockdown-busting and boozy festive gathering in Downing Street last year.

Mr Cummings insisted that he believed the Prime Minister knew about the Christmas party on December 18 2020, and may have even seen it unfolding if he wasn’t at Chequers.

He said: ‘He knew but I think did not attend, tho remember the geography – to get upstairs he has to walk past that area where he could see it’. 

‘Obv he was lying. There were invites sent across whitehall, it was an organised party. The trolley know this and tried to lie his way out but was f***ed by the video’ – a reference to the Allegra Stratton leak.

He added in a tweet: ‘There’s lots of pictures of the parties which will inevitably get out. And invite lists beyond No10, to other departments’. 

Mr Cummings alleged earlier this week there was a bash in No 10 on the evening of November 13 last year, hours after he was kicked out.

Today the Prime Minister apologised ‘unreservedly’ for the offence caused by the footage of his then-spokeswoman Allegra Stratton – who today resigned from the government – at a mock press conference about a party on December 18, 2020.

But he insisted that he had been repeatedly assured that ‘there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken’. Mr Johnson said he had asked Cabinet Secretary Simon Case ‘to establish all the facts and to report back as soon as possible – and it goes without saying that if those rules were broken then there will be disciplinary action for all those involved’.

Following the announcement, the PM’s former chief adviser tweeted: ‘Will the CABSEC also be asked to investigate the *flat* party on Fri 13 Nov, the other flat parties, & the flat’s ‘bubble’ policy…?’. 

‘The bubble reference is believed to be about the decision to allow Carrie Johnson’s best friend Nimco Ali at Number 10 over the festive period ‘to help support and look after’ the Johnsons’ son, Wilfred. 

Minutes later the PM was asked in the Commons about claims of a Downing St party in his flat after Mr Cummings left No 10. 

He replied. ‘No, but I’m sure that whatever happened the guidance was followed at all time.’ 

There are also claims that on November 27 that Mr Johnson reportedly gives a speech at a packed leaving do for a ‘senior aide’. ’40 or 50 people’ were present. The aide was named as one newspaper as Cleo Watson, Dominic Cummings’ protégé.  

In May, the PM’s former top adviser pulled no punches as he repeatedly attacked Mr Johnson during a marathon evidence session with MPs into the Government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.

The joint session of the health and science select committees was punctuated by a series of astonishing claims which threaten to destabilise Mr Johnson’s premiership.

Mr Cummings stunned Westminster as he said he believed Mr Johnson was ‘unfit for the job’ of PM.

The Vote Leave maverick said it was ‘crackers’ that Mr Johnson ever ended up in Number 10 as he painted a picture of a vain and dithering figure who is obsessed with the media.

How many parties is the Government alleged to have held last year and when did they happen? 

PARTIES IN DOWNING STREET  

November 13: Dominic Cummings alleges that the PM held a gathering at his grace-and-favour flat on November 13 last year, the day the adviser was ousted from Downing Street. Mr Cummings also suggested there had been ‘other flat parties’.    

November 27: The Prime Minister reportedly gave a speech at a packed Number 10 leaving do for a ‘senior aide’. Sources claimed that ’40 or 50 people’ were present.

December 18: Staff in Downing Street are believed to have held a Christmas party, with reports that dozens of people attended the event, some wearing festive jumpers and exchanging Secret Santa presents. London had been placed into Tier 3 restrictions on December 16 – the highest level of curbs on freedoms at the time which banned people from different households mixing indoors. Downing Street has said Boris Johnson did not attend the event.  

Also December: Sources told the BBC that a separate Christmas quiz event was held for Number 10 staff at some point in December. Everyone was apparently invited to attend and to form teams. One source said some people attended virtually via Zoom but others did attend in person and sat in groups of six. Downing Street has insisted the quiz was ‘virtual’. 

… AND ELSEWHERE IN WHITEHALL  

December 10: Then-education secretary Gavin Williamson hosted a Department for Education party for ‘up to 24 people’ on December 10. The gathering, which included food and drink, took place in the department’s canteen. The department has admitted the event happened.  

December 14: About 25 people gathered in the basement of the Conservative party’s Matthew Parker St offices in Westminster. The Times reported last night that advisers at Conservative campaign headquarters held an event with Shaun Bailey, the party’s unsuccessful candidate for mayor of London this May.  

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Mr Cummings told MPs that Mr Johnson kept changing his mind on what to do ‘every time the Telegraph wrote an editorial’.

He claimed Mr Johnson is ‘about a thousand times too obsessed with the media’ and argued it was no wonder pandemic communications had sometimes resembled a ‘disaster zone’ because the PM ‘changes his mind 10 times a day’. 

Ex-Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell warned that the ‘mood of the Conservative Party is sulphurous and we need to see some grip from No10’.

‘The history of the Tory Party is littered with ruthlessness on these occasions but I’m confident that Boris will get a grip,’ he told the BBC. 

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, is treasurer of the powerful 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, delivered a thinly-veiled warning this morning, saying that Mr Johnson must stabilise the ship over Christmas.

‘He’s got to come clean on a lot of the issues that you mentioned in your opening news,’ the veteran MP said.

‘We’re all about to go for a Christmas break. If he comes back in the new year refreshed, able to differentiate between his private life and public life, and clarify all the issues and then start to do the really big issues that this country needs… we can really get onto that agenda away from these other, sort of, personal issues, then I think he’s fine.

‘But if we go on having these – what I call personal issues, issues of judgment by the Prime Minister – then I think that’s a very different scenario.’ 

A senior Tory source told MailOnline that there had been a lot of ‘unexploded bombs’ for Mr Johnson up to now.

‘When he spoke to the ’22 over sleaze he notably failed to get the audience back with his normal charm and wit and jovial manner,’ they said.

‘They didn’t respond to it, which was an indication that patience was running short. Now you’ve got this week.’

The Conservative warned that the ‘polls are all going in one direction’ and it will not be a ‘comfortable Christmas’ for Mr Johnson.

‘I don’t think he is in danger this week or over Christmas, but come the end of January that is probably when he really will be in danger – if he is.’

They also pointed to Sajid Javid’s refusal to conduct interviews defending the bombshell video of No10 staff giggling about their party, and the fact the Health Secretary openly admitted afterwards that he had refused. 

‘It was pretty ‘over to you b******s at No10′.’ the Tory said. ‘When you get a secretary of state who’s only just been re-promoted distancing himself in the way he did it is pretty brutal.’  

The baby girl, a younger sister to their son Wilf, one, who was born in April 2020, was born within a couple of hours of Carrie’s arrival at hospital (pictured) with Mr Johnson at his third wife’s side throughout the labour and birth.

The Electoral Commission fined the Conservatives £17,800 for failing to properly declare almost £68,000 mostly used to pay for the refurbishment of the private quarters used by Mr Johnson, his wife Carrie and their son Wilfred. Above: The flat was designed by Lulu Lyttle in a similar style to the above 

There were reports last night that Lord Geidt (left) is on the brink of resigning over claims the PM misled him. Meanwhile, Jack Doyle (right), the PM’s top spin doctor, has been dragged into the ‘partygate’ row with claims he made a ‘thank you’ speech to up to 50 people who attended the Downing Street bash on December 18 last year

YouGov research today found that the PM’s personal ratings have plunged to an all-time low of minus 42, down 11 points in a month

Mr Johnson’s wife Carrie has just given birth to their second child (pictured together in June this year)

YouGov research for the Times showed the Conservatives slumping to just 33 per cent – four behind Keir Starmer ‘s party

Why is Boris accused of lying about Wallpapergate and what is his excuse? 

Adviser on ministerial interests Lord Geidt’s has been investigating claims that Boris Johnson and the Conservatives improperly funded the refurbishment of the PM and Carrie’s Downing Street flat. 

Boris Johnson wanted a charitable trust to cover the huge bill for improvements to the grace-and-favour residence beyond the £30,000 a year that the taxpayer foots. 

Lord Brownlow was drafted in to head the theoretical trust – but the whole idea was later ditched as impractical under government rules.  

In the meantime the Conservative Party had repaid the Cabinet Office for the works using funds provided by Lord Brownlow, and the peer also met other invoices directly. 

The PM subsequently resolved the chaos by paying out of his own pocket, and Lord Geidt concluded that while he had been ‘unwise’ not to keep closer track of how the work was being funded, no rules had been broken.

However, critically the peer’s report noted that officials told him Mr Johnson had not been aware of the ‘fact or the method of the costs of refurbishing the apartment having been paid’ until February this year. 

‘I have also spoken in similar terms to the Prime Minister who confirms that he knew nothing about such payments until immediately prior to media reports in February 2021,’ the report said. 

That seemed to clash with an Electoral Commission investigation published yesterday, which revealed that Mr Johnson WhatsApped Lord Brownlow in November last year asking him to authorise work on the flat. 

‘The Prime Minister messaged Lord Brownlow via WhatsApp asking him to authorise further, at that stage unspecified, refurbishment works on the residence,’ the commission stated. 

‘Lord Brownlow agreed to do so, and also explained that the proposed trust had not yet been set up but that he knew where the funding was coming from.’ 

No10 insists the premier messaged Lord Brownlow in his role as head of the supposed trust, and did not know the source of the money.

The Downing Street position might be bolstered by the fact Lord Geidt’s report stated: ‘Lord Brownlow behaved in a confidential manner consistent with his own experience of blind trusts.’ 

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In one of the potentially explosive situations for the premier, there are reports that Lord Geidt, his Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests, is considering his position.    

Mr Johnson previously assured Lord Geidt, a former private secretary to the Queen, that he did not know who was paying for the refurbishment – which was ordered by his wife Carrie Johnson – until February.

But an official report by the Electoral Commission yesterday revealed that the Prime Minister had texted Tory donor Lord Brownlow in November asking for more works to be signed off. 

The findings open the door for yet another probe into the ‘Wallpapergate’ scandal, exposed by the Daily Mail.

Downing Street insisted Mr Johnson had not lied to his adviser, pointing out that Lord Brownlow was head of a proposed trust that was meant to raise money for the refurbishment – although the idea was later abandoned – and the premier did not know the source of the money. 

The PM’s official spokesman said today that Lord Geidt is ‘liaising’ with Downing Street.

‘We are liaising with Lord Geidt to any answer further questions he may have,’ the spokesman said.

The commission fined the Conservative Party £17,800 for failing to declare donations properly over the saga, although it is mulling an appeal. 

According to the Daily Telegraph, the standards adviser could quit if Mr Johnson does not satisfactorily explain why he did not share vital information with him – although the BBC said sources had played down the prospect of an imminent departure. 

Dominic Cummings, who was in Downing Street when the expensive redecoration works were being planned for the living quarters above No 11, has waded into the spat again.

He wrote on Twitter that he had told the PM ‘in extremely blunt and unrepeatable terms’ in January and the summer of 2020 ‘his desire for secret donations to fund wallpaper etc was illegal and unethical’. 

Mr Cummings said: ‘He pursued it throughout the year trying to keep me/others in dark and lied to Geidt/CCHQ [Conservative Party headquarters] to cover it up.’

He added: ‘I’ve said repeatedly for months: a) obviously PM lied to Geidt, b) Geidt could only conclude as he did by … not interviewing anybody actually involved with the flat!’

The new revelations plunge the PM further into crisis after his Government was rocked by news earlier this week that an ‘illegal’ Christmas Party was held at Downing Street when the capital was in Tier 3 lockdown restrictions last year.

Mr Doyle, then the PM’s Deputy Director of Communications, is said to have made a ‘thank you’ speech to up to 50 people who attended the bash on December 18 last year.

ITV News claimed that Mr Doyle also handed out paper certificates to members of the communications team as part of a ‘joke awards ceremony’.

The former journalist has been overseeing the response to the allegations, with Number 10 denying that it amounted to a ‘party’. But extraordinary leaked video footage of a mock press conference showed Downing Street staff giggling about the ‘cheese and wine’ gathering, sparking the resignation of spokeswoman Allegra Stratton.

What happened in the  ‘Wallpapergate’ scandal?

What work was done?

interior designer Lulu Lytle transformed the living quarters from what the PM’s wife Carrie reportedly felt was a ‘John Lewis furniture nightmare’ left behind by Theresa May. The new look included gold wallpaper costing £840 a roll.

How much did it cost?

The designer was paid £112,549.12.

Who paid for it?

Initially the Cabinet Office settled the bill. But because it was significantly above the £30,000 annual public grant for work to the flat, officials set up a charitable trust for donations to cover the costs. 

The Tory party repaid the Cabinet Office, then Tory donor and trust chairman Lord Brownlow and his firm made a donation to the party as well as paying some money directly to the supplier. Eventually the PM paid the designer personally.

Did this break any rules?

The Electoral Commission has found that the Conservative Party broke the law by failing to declare most of the money it received from Lord Brownlow as a donation.

What about the PM’s role?

He had been cleared by sleaze watchdog Lord Geidt of breaching the ministerial code on the basis that he claimed he knew nothing about the complex funding arrangements until February. 

This has been called into question as the Electoral Commission has found evidence that Mr Johnson messaged Lord Brownlow asking for money the previous November.

What happens next?

Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone may choose to investigate Mr Johnson for breaking the MPs’ Code of Conduct by failing to declare donations.

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The controversial gathering is now the subject of an internal investigation by the Cabinet Office, along with another leaving do where Mr Johnson is said to have given a speech. 

Mr Johnson has flatly denied being aware a party had happened, but the apparent attendance by one of his closest aides raises fresh questions. 

The leader of the Scottish Conservatives said he would have to quit if he was found to have lied about the party when he denied it had taken place in the House of Commons. 

Asked if the PM had confidence in Mr Doyle, his official spokesman replied: ‘Yes.’

On whether Mr Doyle had offered his resignation, the spokesman said: ‘Not that I’m aware of.’

The spokesman also said Mr Johnson retains full confidence in adviser Ed Oldfield after he appeared in the leaked footage that prompted Allegra Stratton to resign.

Mr Cummings said on Twitter Mr Doyle was a ‘gonner’ (sic) but predicted Mr Johnson would keep him on staff until after the Cabinet Secretary’s inquiry, then use him ‘as the sacrifice’He said on Twitter: ‘Also there’s lots of pictures of the parties which will inevitably get out. And invite lists beyond No10, to other departments…’

Boris Johnson was accused last night of lying to his own sleaze watchdog about the lavish makeover of the Downing Street flat.

An official report revealed that the Prime Minister had texted Tory donor Lord Brownlow asking for more cash more than a year ago.

But Mr Johnson previously assured Lord Geidt, the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests, that he did not know who was paying for the £112,549 refurbishment at the time.

He could now face yet another probe into the ‘wallpapergate’ scandal, exposed by the Daily Mail, in the wake of the damning findings by the Electoral Commission.

The commission yesterday fined the Conservative Party £17,800 for breaking political finance law over the saga.

Downing Street insisted Mr Johnson had not lied to his adviser and said: ‘The Prime Minister has acted in accordance with the rules at all times and he acted following discussions with Lord Geidt. He has made all necessary declarations.’

But the PM was put under fresh pressure by his former right-hand man Dominic Cummings, who was in Downing Street when the expensive redecoration works were being planned for the living quarters above No 11.

He wrote on Twitter that he had told the PM ‘in extremely blunt and unrepeatable terms’ in January and the summer of 2020 that ‘his desire for secret donations to fund wallpaper etc was illegal and unethical’.

The web of connections in Downing Street, which has been reeling from factional infighting during the coronavirus crisis that led to Team Cummings being broken up and booted out of No 10

‘Patience is running out’: Tories turn on PM as he backs spin chief accused of giving out prizes at ‘illegal’ Xmas party 

Tories today warned ‘patience is running out’ with Boris Johnson as his spin chief was dragged into the ‘partygate’ row, his sleaze watchdog demanded answers on the Downing Street flat refurbishment, and MPs revolt over Covid curbs.

The PM is fighting on a bewildering range of fronts, forced to deny losing confidence in Jack Doyle after claims he gave a speech and handed out prizes at a lockdown-busting festive gathering in Downing Street last year.

Meanwhile, the the row over the No11 residence is blazing again, following the Electoral Commission’s revelation that Mr Johnson personally messaged a Tory donor to ask for works to be underwritten. The premier’s spokesman said ministerial adviser on standards Lord Geidt is ‘liaising’ with officials over the disclosure, which contrasts with the peer’s previous report on the issue.

Tories are also in open revolt about new coronavirus restrictions to combat the surging Omicron strain, while long-running sleaze accusations appear to be hitting the party in the polls ahead of a crucial by-election in North Shropshire next week.

Despite his huge 80-strong majority won just two years ago, Mr Johnson – who must contend with sleepless nights after becoming a father again yesterday – is now facing serious speculation about his future.

Ex-Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchel warned that the ‘mood of the Conservative Party is sulphurous and we need to see some grip from No10’.

‘The history of the Tory Party is littered with ruthlessness on these occasions but I’m confident that Boris will get a grip,’ he told the BBC.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, is treasurer of the powerful 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, delivered a thinly-veiled warning this morning, saying that Mr Johnson must stabilise the ship over Christmas.

‘He’s got to come clean on a lot of the issues that you mentioned in your opening news,’ the veteran MP said.

‘We’re all about to go for a Christmas break. If he comes back in the new year refreshed, able to differentiate between his private life and public life, and clarify all the issues and then start to do the really big issues that this country needs… we can really get onto that agenda away from these other, sort of, personal issues, then I think he’s fine.

‘But if we go on having these – what I call personal issues, issues of judgment by the Prime Minister – then I think that’s a very different scenario.’

A senior Tory source told MailOnline that there had been a lot of ‘unexploded bombs’ for Mr Johnson up to now.

‘When he spoke to the ’22 over sleaze he notably failed to get the audience back with his normal charm and wit and jovial manner,’ they said.

‘They didn’t respond to it, which was an indication that patience was running short. Now you’ve got this week.’

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Mr Cummings said: ‘He pursued it throughout the year trying to keep me/others in dark and lied to Geidt/CCHQ [Conservative Party headquarters] to cover it up.’ He added: ‘I’ve said repeatedly for months: a) obviously PM lied to Geidt, b) Geidt could only conclude as he did by … not interviewing anybody actually involved with the flat!’

In February this year this newspaper told how Mr Johnson’s wife Carrie had been plotting against a ‘female Whitehall official who refused to sign off a large taxpayers’ bill for her refurbishment of the Downing Street flat, including expensive wallpaper’.

The Mail then revealed how secret plans had been hatched to get Tory donors to pay for the decoration by eco-friendly interior designer Lulu Lytle, as the PM privately complained he could not afford the ‘gold wallpaper’ Mrs Johnson was buying.

There was also a scheme to set up a charitable trust for the maintenance of the historic Downing Street buildings, with Tory donor Lord Brownlow made its chairman.

Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, who learned of the machinations through this newspaper, began investigating and passed his findings to ministerial watchdog Lord Geidt.

In May Lord Geidt cleared the PM of breaching the ministerial code, only saying that he had ‘unwisely’ ‘allowed the refurbishment of the apartment at No 11 Downing Street to proceed without more rigorous regard for how this would be funded’.

This conclusion was based on Mr Johnson telling him ‘that he knew nothing about such payments until immediately prior to media reports in February 2021’.

But a separate investigation by the Electoral Commission, which published its findings yesterday, uncovered evidence that on November 29, 2020, the Prime Minister ‘messaged Lord Brownlow via WhatsApp asking him to authorise further, at that stage unspecified, refurbishment works on the residence’.

The report provides the most detailed account yet of the complex web of payments, totalling £112,549.12, involved in doing up the flat.

The Cabinet Office paid the invoices initially, the money was subsequently repaid by CCHQ and then Lord Brownlow and his firm Huntswood Associates made donations to the party to cover the costs. In order to clear up the mess, Mr Johnson settled the bill directly with the designer earlier this year – so she had to pay back those who had originally paid her.

The Electoral Commission found that the majority of the £67,801 given to the Tories by Lord Brownlow’s firm last October should have been reported as a donation, but was not.

The party was fined for ‘failing to accurately report the full value of the donation’ and ‘contravening the requirement to keep proper accounting records’.

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: ‘The Prime Minister must now explain why he lied to the British public saying he didn’t know who was behind No 11 flat refurb – all the while he was WhatsApping the donor asking for more money.

‘He’s not only broken the law but made a mockery of the standards we expect from our prime ministers.’ She has asked Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone to investigate the discrepancy between what the PM told Lord Geidt and what the Electoral Commission found.

A spokesman for the watchdog’s office declined to comment.

A CCHQ spokesman said: ‘We have been in constant contact with the Electoral Commission and have sought their advice as to how the transaction should be reported since it was made. We are considering whether to appeal.’

Who’s who in the civil war between Cummings’ Brexit Boys and the ‘Carrie Symonds crew’ 

Cummings pictured outside Downing Street in one of the outfits that has made him an unlikely style icon 

TEAM CAIN 

Dominic Cummings 

Age: 48

Official title: Chief Adviser to the Prime Minister 

Boris Johnson’s maverick Svengali, who gained national notoriety for his lockdown-breaking trip to Barnard Castle to ‘test his eyesight’ before a trip back to London. 

The former Vote Leave director backed his former campaign staffer Lee Cain to take over as the PM’s chief of staff – prompting a bitter wrangle with Carrie Johnson, who warned it would be a ‘mistake’. 

Cummings, who is known for his acerbic demeanour and preference for hoodies and ‘slob’ style jackets over suits, eventually lost the vicious tug-of-war, prompting Cain’s resignation. 

He is known to have a difficult relationship with Carrie, with reports suggesting she was opposed to his aggressive approach to politics and tendency to ‘pick unnecessary fights’ which could harm the PM’s image. 

Mr Cummings was born in County Durham and is married to Mary Wakefield, a senior journalist with the Spectator magazine, a Tory bible that Boris Johnson once edited. 

Cummings ally Cleo Watson seen outside No10 

Cleo Watson 

Age: 31

Official title: Head of the Prime Minister’s Priorities and Campaigns

It has become a familiar ritual in Downing Street: photographers clamour to take pictures of elegant Cleo Watson as she strides towards the No 10 door with a dishevelled Dominic Cummings, the pair looking, as one wag put it, like ‘a gazelle with a pit pony’.

Watson was Cummings’ special adviser and the pair share a close relationship, with one Whitehall source describing her as ‘the Cummings whisperer’ because she is one of very few people who can calm him down when he flies into a rage.

Watson is one of five high-achieving sisters from an extraordinary family whose story could come from a Jane Austen novel. Indeed, she is the second of her siblings to work closely with a Tory leader. Her sister Annabel, 41, known as Bee, was Theresa May’s Chief of Staff. 

Watson worked with Vote Leave during the 2016 EU referendum, before landing a top job in the policy unit in No 10 during May’s premiership.  

Oliver Lewis is another Vote Leave member to now work in No10 

Oliver Lewis (nickname ‘Sonic’) 

Age: Late 20s

 Official title: Brexit policy adviser

A former Vote Leave staffer, Brexit policy adviser Oliver Lewis is a close ally of Cummings – who is known to address him by the nickname ‘Sonic’. 

Oxford-educated Lewis has been working closely with Michael Gove on No Deal preparations, and was inspired by Cummings’ love of science to construct an enormous spreadsheet to model difference scenarios styled on techniques used by NASA. 

He has also worked closely alongside chief Brexit negotiator David Frost, and earlier this year was accused by EU sources of repeatedly trying to shut down negotiations. 

CARRIE’S CREW  

Carrie Johnson – seen at a Remembrance Day service in Whitehall – has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in Downing Street 

Carrie Johnson

Age: 32

Official title: NA

Boris Johnson’s wife and a former Conservative Party head of media, she has emerged as a force to be reckoned in No10. 

She is known to have a difficult relationship with Cummings and blocked his bid to install his ally Lee Cain as the PM’s chief of staff, insisting this would be a ‘mistake’ given how the campaign against the pandemic had gone so far.

A brutal stand-off ensued before Symonds emerged as triumphant – with Cain announcing his resignation and Cummings said to be also considering his position. 

Symonds grew up in west London and attended Godolphin and Latymer School, an independent day school for girls, and the University of Warwick. 

She worked for the Tory party from 2009, before hitting the headlines when her affair with Mr Johnson, 56, came to light. 

A passionate conservationist, she had a direct impact on government policy after a badger cull in Derbyshire was called off, a move that saved thousands of the animals. 

Munira Mirza is the phenomenally-bright head of No10’s Policy Unit 

Munira Mirza

Age: 42

Official title: Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit

Munira Mirza is the highly respected and phenomenally bright head of the Downing Street policy unit. 

A long-time Boris aide dating back to his time as London mayor, she prefers to work away from the limelight, but is also said to have made her opposition to Cain’s appointment clear. 

The Oldham-born academic is a popular figure around No10. ‘She has a huge brain but wears it lightly. Boris listens to her,’ according to one source.

Mirza’s family came to Britain from Pakistan, with her father finding work as a factory while her mother taught Urdu part time. 

She attended Breeze High School and Oldham Sixth Form College, where she was the only pupil to gain a place at Oxford, where she  studied English Literature. 

A former member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, Mirza is now one of the members in Johnson’s circle, and was named by the PM as one of the five women who have shaped his life.  

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