nick what's going on well it's a case
of a power struggle continuing even
after the resolution of that power
struggle
so the accounts of what happened today
are completely at logger
loggerheads so i've been told by
authoritative sources and indeed
versions of
this account are on the front pages
tomorrow that relations today between
the prime minister and his departing
aides that's
dominic cummings and lee kane that those
relationships as i was told
completely went off a cliff edge so what
i was told was that at around about two
o'clock
the prime minister's team learned that
from within downing street the dominic
cummings team were briefing against the
prime minister
describing him as indecisive which i was
told his code for
he didn't agree with dominic cummings i
was also told that they had heard
that that team had briefed against the
prime minister's partner
carrie simons um for speaking out
against the appointment of lee kane as
chief of staff
that was obviously the issue that
created this row all this week
the prime minister later on called a
meeting and said i was told words the
effect of
i know what you're up to it is time to
leave
and then we saw obviously that abrupt
departure that account
is strongly disputed by the team who've
left downing street described to me
as a total lie yes there was a 45 minute
between the prime minister and dominic
cummings and lee kane it was described
to me as very friendly and very warm
the prime minister reportedly said to
them i want to get the band back before
the next general election lee kane
presented the prime minister with those
famous gloves from the general election
which said get brexit done he gets it
down he signed them for lee kane
um after dominic cummings left uh there
was a meeting in the press office
the prime minister came down gave a
speech about lee kane
and then lee kane was banged out that's
what happens in the world of newspapers
you get banged out of an office
and the prime minister reportedly
characterized what had happened as
we have good relations but the
relationship is over
and therefore you cannot live under the
same roof you can't live together
described as there being no ill will so
today
i've been looking at how dominic
cummings reached the
end of the road for now
[Music]
a forlorn retreat though with a
characteristic flourish
an exit through a door fit for
presidents and prime ministers
as dominic cummings made one last play
for the limelight the british people
have spoken and the answer is
we're out a partnership which changed
britain forever with the brexit vote
came to an abrupt end at tea time out of
number 10
after boris johnson finally tired of his
abrasive lieutenant
bitter number 10 power struggle ended in
emphatic failure
for the remnants of the vote leave
campaign in downing street
who had fought hard to preserve their
influence
past glories in masterminding the leave
campaign
counted for nothing as past personal
missteps
added to recent political failings with
a series of u-turns
persuaded the prime minister of the need
for a fresh start
all a far cry from the days of dominic
cummings unassailable position a year
ago
he ended the tory brexit civil war by
leading the purge of the one nation wing
dared to prorogue parliament the court
is bound to conclude their fault
and then pressed for the gamble of an
election which delivered boris johnson a
majority
and brexit a victim of the tory one
nation purge
hopes the departure will mark a change
donna cummings was a very very
successful campaigner
but his style was abrasive and combative
and involved attacking institutions
in a way that was very unconservative
and in terms of effectiveness in of the
government
i don't think his record is particularly
strong so
this is an opportunity now for boris
johnson to change things
to adopt a different tone a different
approach i hope he takes that
opportunity
a leading brexit party figure mourns the
departure
of dominic cummings dominic cummings
certainly
had seemed to me to have an insight into
why people voted to leave the european
union
in that sense he understood something
about popular sovereignty
and it's obviously the case that when
for example the red wolf fell
that was an indication of a really
genuine desire to see
their democratic will seen through and i
just i'm worried that if
dominic cummings who i personally have
little interest in
is being kicked out whether what he
symbolizes as the person who said take
back control is being kicked out that's
the bit i'm not sure about
the self-proclaimed outsider takes leave
of life on the inside down for now
but unlikely to depart the wider stage
[Music]
nick what there so it's been an
extraordinary week will the downing
street
p45s change the path of brexit or is
this about a fundamental change in the
diplomatic weather
coming from joe biden's america policy
editor lewis goodall
reports
[Applause]
you all laughed at me well i have to say
you're not laughing now are you thank
you very much
from this day forward it's going to be
only america first
america first
been an age of disruption of old
certainties fading
as if politics were smelted down and
being cast anew
but if ever there were a
counter-revolution it is surely this
emerging before our eyes the glimmers of
the old order re-emerging
with that order maybe claiming the scalp
of our own downing street jacob
the architect of so much of the
revolution of recent years
dominic cummings his party says it's
time to move on
dominic cummings isn't a member of the
conservative party
he was instrumental in delivering the
leave vote of the referendum and he's
joined the government
and he's been instrumental in delivering
a full brexit which will be achieved
by the time of his departure it's a
natural time for him
to to move on mr barnier will we get a
deal this week
but brexit isn't done yet and it is here
that cummings absence attracts most
feverish attention sources in the eu
read this as a prime minister heading
for a crunch week who is about to back
down
it's possible but others are more
cautious
they're negotiating with the british
government and british negotiators
are negotiating on a mandate that was
given to them handed to them by the
prime minister
what his advisers think at the end of
the day is irrelevant
could it lead to the prime minister
changing his mind on some of the brexit
positions that they have so far
possibly but again it would be the prime
minister who owns those changes
not dominic cummings it may be the end
of an era but in some ways it isn't the
departure of cummings himself that
matters most
but that of donald trump's this week a
former democratic white house official
lambasted johnson's
congratulations to joe biden calling him
a shape-shifter
it was meant as an insult but in many
ways that is precisely what boris
johnson is
he has shifted his political form again
and again
from liberal mayor of london like it or
not the free market economy
is the only show in town to a born again
populist
kipper it's possible that it's happening
once more he will shift uh um just as if
you
were sailing a boat you'd shift
according to the wind
so of course he will he will go on
shifting but
really he has instinct and he
he likes to fight a war of movement and
he doesn't like to be tied
to a great many fixed positions
johnson is already preparing for this
new biden-led world
i'm told that we should expect a
significant speech on climate change
from the prime minister
in the coming weeks but as for the rest
of policy cummings or not
there is a huge question mark the
question on everyone's
lips is what difference to policy a
johnson government
absent comings will make and the answer
is well it'll be quite difficult
to tell because on a whole array of
domestic
issues it's not as if dominic cummings
or johnson have developed
comprehensive new sets of proposals now
part of that of course
is the pandemic but part of it is also
the story of a premiership
which still lacks definition which
beyond the fact
of brexit and the talk of leveling up
still
hasn't articulated how it will begin to
achieve
many of its aims but what there probably
will be without comings is a change in
tone
an end the politics of the permanent war
footing
this may be an interregnum for the
politics of disruption
rather than an ending but 2021 for all
sorts of reasons
is looking to be more polite all around