Bernard Castle was lit up by fireworks last night as the Prime Minister’s chief aide left Downing Street with his tail between his legs.
Dominic Cummings exited Number 10 carrying a large box on Friday evening following a bitter dispute which also led to the resignation of his fellow Vote Leave veteran Lee Cain as communications chief this week.
Sir Edward Lister was announced as the interim chief of staff pending a permanent appointment.
The Sun reported there was a “shouty” confrontation between Mr Johnson and Mr Cummings over the ousting of Mr Cain and that a “livid” Prime Minister wanted both out “sooner rather than later”.
The BBC reported Mr Cummings’s departure had been brought forward given the “upset in the team” and that the PM wanted to “clear the air and move on”.
Some media reports have said Mr Cummings has quit his post with immediate effect. The PA news agency understands he and Mr Cain will still be employed until the middle of next month, with other reports suggesting Mr Cummings will work from home on projects such as mass testing.
Either way the event was cause for celebration, and his favourite eye testing site didn’t let us down:
Have a great weekend everyone pic.twitter.com/l5XfYBLNTM
— Led By Donkeys (@ByDonkeys) November 13, 2020
Related: Dominic’s next job could be in cyber (he just doesn’t know it yet)