Dominic Cummings is a very Canadian figure, though that probably would not occur to him, and he's British. He is the political consultant who more-or-less runs Boris Johnson's government. Previously he was the behind-the-scenes director of the Leave campaign in the Brexit referendum, played by Benedict Cumberbach in the movie that followed.
It's still somewhat unusual in Britain for an unelected spin doctor to hold such power. But to followers of Canadian politics, Cummings looks a lot like familiar Canadian figures like Kory Teneckye, David Herle, and Gerald Butts -- that is, unelected consultants who hold more power than MPs or cabinet ministers so long as their client is in power.
In a Canada-style parliamentary world, one where the leader is everything and political consultants make the leaders -- something Britain is rapidly becoming -- a Dominic Cummings can be top dog.
Except, maybe not. Suddenly he is in trouble. In March, while actually coming down with Covid-19 (he survived), Cummings defied strict British regulations, promulgated by Johnson's own government, against unnecessary travel. He secretly roamed on personal and family errands between London and Durham in the north of England, and many people were exposed to him.
Since the news got out, public outrage over rule-makers who exempt themselves from the rules has been intense. Until now, Cummings has seemed too important to the Johnson government to suffer consequences. He has been vigorously defended by the prime ministerial team, which has tied its own credibility to his.
Except. Turns out there is still some spine in British backbenchers. Johnson is a recently elected prime minister with a large majority. But right now enough Conservative backbenchers have revolted over the Cummings scandal to put their party's majority at risk. The Guardian:
Johnson’s former political secretary [now a loyal-hack MP] laid out a political truth: “No 10 won’t budge, so calling for DC to go is basically declaring no confidence in PM.”And many of his fellow MPs, not so hackish, said, okay. let's do that.
More than 35 MPs have so far gone public to call for Cummings to go. However, even the rebels admit they need the number to increase before they have any chance of success. “There’s no chance of No 10 listening to us until it’s closer to 80,” said one MP. Though they already have almost enough MPs to wipe out Boris Johnson’s majority were any vote to take place, they feel they need this higher number to show it’s a rebellion that won’t peter out if a few people fall into line.Johnson is likely to win this struggle and perhaps Cummings will hold on to his job. But that such a challenge to the leader could surface among party MPs will be shocking to most Canadian politicians observers, and consultants. Farces like the Conservative leadership "race," decided already by which consultant-run campaign has invested the most in the purchase of party memberships, still set the (abysmal) standard of Canadian political accountability.
Couldn't happen here. Pity.
