An interesting day in UK politics!

Isn't this guy the puppet master behind Boris?

Jenifer (Zarknorph) said:

Isn't this guy the puppet master behind Boris?

He's an IT wonk, linked to the Facebook spying scandals.

If he was a politician, he'd be very dangerous and nasty - but I think he's more interested in the science of propaganda.

1999–2015
From 1999 to 2002, Cummings was campaign director at Business for Sterling, the campaign against the UK joining the Euro.[1][6] He then became Director of Strategy for Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith for eight months in 2002, aiming to modernise the Conservative Party (of which he was not a member); however he soon left in frustration at the introduction of what he saw as half-measures, labelling Duncan Smith "incompetent".[9][10] With James Frayne, he founded the New Frontiers Foundation think-tank as its director; it launched in December 2003 and closed in March 2005.[11] Cummings was described as a "key figure" in the successful campaign against a North-East Regional Assembly in 2004,[12] after which he moved to his father's farm in County Durham.[6]

Cummings worked for Conservative politician Michael Gove from 2007 to January 2014, first in opposition and then, after Andy Coulson’s departure as a special adviser (spad) in the Department for Education (DfE). He was Gove's chief of staff,[9] an appointment blocked by Andy Coulson until his own resignation.[13][14] In this capacity, Cummings wrote an essay titled "Some thoughts on education and political priorities",[15] about transforming Britain into a "meritocratic technopolis";[9] the essay was described by Guardian journalist Patrick Wintour as "either mad, bad or brilliant – and probably a bit of all three".[14][16]

At the DfE, Cummings became known for his blunt style and "not suffering fools gladly";[6][9] he railed against the "blob", the informal alliance of senior civil servants and teachers who, in Cummings's opinion, sought to frustrate his attempts at reform.[12] Cummings was also outspoken regarding other senior politicians, describing Nick Clegg's proposals on free school meals as "Dreamed up on the back of a cigarette packet",[17] and David Davis as "thick as mince" and "lazy as a toad".[12] Patrick Wintour described the Cummings–Gove working relationship: "Gove, polite to a fault, would often feign ignorance of his adviser’s methods, but knew full well the dark arts that Cummings deployed to get his master’s way".[17] In 2014, Prime Minister David Cameron described Cummings as a "career psychopath",[18] although the two had never met.[17]

During his time as an official working for Gove, Cummings received a warning from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for use of private Gmail accounts to deal with government business, saying it should be 'actively discouraged'.[19] The ICO uncovered an email from Cummings in which he said: 'i will not answer any further emails to my official DfE account or from conservatives.com – i will only answer things that come from Gmail accounts from people who I know who they are' [sic].[20]

In 2014, Cummings left his job as a special adviser and noted that he might have a go at opening a free school.[13] He had previously worked for the New Schools Network charity that advises free schools, as a volunteer from June 2009 and then as a paid freelancer from July to December 2010.[13][21] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Cummings

A good analysis of the situations as it stands at the moment!

YouTube

Cummings Makes a Right Mess of His Press Conference

Dominic Cummings attempted to put a stop to calls for him to be sacked by staging a press conference at Downing Street yesterday. If it was designed to impro...

He says it all!

YouTube

The Tale of Dominic Cummings

Pie is let out of lockdown to do a report about the Dominic Cummings debacle. https://www.jonathanpie.com/