UK: Cummings at Downing St amid reports of leaving

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s top adviser Dominic Cummings arrived at Downing Street Friday morning as it emerged he planned to step down at the end of the year. It followed a bruising battle for influence at the heart of the British government fueled by tensions over Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid speculation that he would leave government, Cummings late Thursday night told the BBC that he planned to be “largely redundant” by Christmas. Political commentators had suggested Cummings would step down after one of his allies was denied an appointment as Johnson’s chief of staff.

Cummings, a chief architect of the campaign to have Britain leave the European Union, has been a divisive figure inside the Conservative government since Johnson became prime minister 18 months ago. His position weakened earlier this year after he drove hundreds of miles across England after contracting COVID-19, violating national lockdown rules.

The episode fueled complaints from senior members of Johnson’s Conservative Party that Cummings and other unelected advisers in the prime minister’s Downing Street office were effectively running the government, sidelining ministers and Parliament.