30 December 2023 , 20:03
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Rishi Sunak held secret talks with Dominic Cummings on how to win the general election in a desperate bid to cling onto power.
The Prime Minister invited Mr Cummings to his North Yorkshire constituency in July for a top-secret dinner, which was concealed from some of his closest aides, the Sunday Times reported. He was also said to have held covert talks with the Prime Minister and his chief of staff Liam Booth-Smith in London in December 2022, soon after Mr Sunak entered No10.
In a bombshell revelation, Mr Cummings claimed that the PM asked for his advice on how to win the general election and even considered bringing him back into the Tory fold. The controversial ex-No10 aide, who helped mastermind Boris Johnson's 2019 landslide victory and the Vote Leave campaign, claimed he was offered a "secret deal" by Mr Sunak to deliver the election.
But he said Mr Sunak rejected his demands to overhaul Whitehall - one of his main obsessions when he was Mr Johnson's top aide. Downing Street did not deny the meetings took place but insisted Mr Cummings was not offered a job. A No10 source said: "It was a broad discussion about politics and campaigning, no job was offered."
It comes amid long-standing suspicions about the links between the pair. Boris Johnson has previously accused the PM of being a “stooge” installed by Mr Cummings, who was his closest adviser turned nemesis. Mr Cummings has spoken openly about how he began plotting to get rid of Mr Johnson shortly after the 2019 election after branding him a "complete f***wit".
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Mr Cummings told the paper: “He [Mr Sunak] wanted a secret deal in which I delivered the election and he promised to take government seriously after the election. But I’d rather the Tories lose than continue in office without prioritising what’s important and the voters. The post-2016 Tories are summed up by the fact that Sunak, like Johnson, would rather lose than take Government seriously. Both thought their MPs agreed with them, and both were right.”
He added: “I said I was only prepared to build a political machine to smash Labour and win the election if he would commit to No10 truly prioritising the most critical things, like the scandal of nuclear weapons infrastructure, natural and engineered pandemics, the scandal of MoD procurement, AI and other technological capabilities, and the broken core government institutions which we started fixing in 2020 but Boris abandoned.”
The PM reportedly found the prospect of bringing Mr Cummings back too risky and abandoned the plan. Instead he tried revive his flagging poll ratings by presenting himself as the "change" candidate in a speech to Tory conference. But his efforts have failed to make a dent in Labour's commanding poll lead.
Shadow Paymaster General Jon Ashworth said the PM's reliance on "ghosts of Tory past" show he's out of ideas.
He said: "Out of touch Rishi Sunak is asking the wrong question if he thinks the lockdown rule-breaking architect of Boris Johnson’s failed premiership is the answer. After promising to restore integrity to Downing Street, he’s secretly begging Mr Barnard Castle to run Downing Street again. From Cameron to Cummings, the Prime Minister is admitting he’s out of ideas and too weak to come up with his own."